The Matrix Resurrections: It's Time To Return To Wonderland
"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember: all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." - Morpheus to Neo, The Matrix (1999)
This summer, a superb exhibition at London’s V&A Museum explored the influence of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, from its origins, over 150 years ago, to the global phenomenon that we know today.
The repeated references that The Matrix makes to Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel are unmissable, from the "white rabbit" and "down the rabbit hole" to Neo’s very own "Wonderland".
It is therefore perhaps fitting that the trailers for The Matrix: Resurrections make so many obvious reference to the earlier films of its own franchise. From pill-popping and ‘bullet time’ to wall-walking, leaps from tall buildings and super-human kung fu, the trailers have it all.
Produced under the codename "Project Ice Cream", principal photography began in February 2020 only to be suspended within a month due to COVID. Lana Wachowski apparently contemplated leaving it as her 'unfinished symphony' but, 6 months later, filming recommenced in Germany and eventually wrapped in November 2020.
Set Twenty years after The Matrix Revolutions, Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is now living an ordinary life with the help of a shrink who is overly happy to prescribe the blue pills that counter the mind-warping illusions he experiences.
Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and Venus Castina Productions “The Matrix Resurrections"
When he feels a connection with a strange woman and meets the shadowy Morpheus, should he take the red pill and join a group of rebels to fight a new enemy, or, remain oblivious in his current world?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Morpheus in the Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and Venus Castina Production “The Matrix Resurrections"
Released in 1999, The Matrix changed the filmography of action films forever. Resurrections doesn't need to do the same, as long as we get to see see Neo, Trinity and Morpheus take another cinematic dive in to the rabbit hole.
Neo/Thomas Anderson in Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures and Venus Castina Productions’ “The Matrix Resurrections"
By the way, have you have seen the first trailer for Resurrections? If so, did you recognise the music? It is "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. It seems that Alice's influence on the world of The Matrix continues.
The Matrix Resurrections is released on 22nd December 2021.
Merry Christmas!
Adam and the Art of the Movies team.
