Warner Bros. had a great CinemaCon, with the newest footage from their films Dune and The Batman getting plenty of love from the audience. While those two releases have already received plenty of marketing, Warner also made sure to highlight a film that they haven't really said much about, at least until now. Audiences saw a full trailer for Lana Wachowski's fourth Matrix film, a sequel to 2003's The Matrix Revolutions.
Officially titled The Matrix: Resurrections, the film features franchise heavyweights Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively. Other returners include Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe, Lambert Wilson as The Merovingian, and Daniel Bernhardt as Agent Johnson. The trailer starts by highlighting a newcomer to the franchise, Neil Patrick Harris, who appears to be playing Neo's therapist. Neo has returned to the simulated reality of the Matrix, but he's starting to question his environment: "Am I crazy?", he asks Harris' character.
RELATED: The Matrix 4 Can Do One Thing To Be Relevant In 2021
Neo runs into Trinity in a cafe, but it's not immediately clear if she recognizes him or not, asking him the mysterious question "Have we met?". A character described as a "younger Morpheus" also appears, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II rather than the original trilogy's Lawrence Fishburne. He's shown offering Neo a red pill, much like his counterpart did in the first Matrix film, and telling him it's "time to fly." Another direct homage to the original Matrix: Jefferson Airplane's 1967 song "White Rabbit" plays, over a scene showing blue pills spilling down a sink drain.
The trailer packs in a ton of the anime-inspired action choreography The Matrix is known for, mixed in with some more enigmatic scenes (one particular shot shows Neo appearing to change into an old man as he looks in the mirror). Included alongside the trailer was a making-of featurette featuring interviews with Reeves and Moss. Reeves describes hearing the sentence "The Matrix changed my life." He says in response "Thank you, it changed mine too."
In an age of remakes and reboots, fans may be concerned that The Matrix: Resurrections won't live up to the original film. However, based on this footage, the latest in the series seems closer both in style and spirit to its inaugural work than the previous two Matrix films were. But as far as pioneering new special-effects techniques, winning multiple Academy Awards, and completely reinventing the film industry? That's going to take some serious spoon-bending.
The Matrix: Resurrections will be available in theaters and streaming on HBO Max starting on December 22, 2021.
MORE: Lilly Wachowski Reveals Why She Didn't Take Part In The Latest Matrix Sequel
Source: Deadline
