The newest entry in the beloved Matrix series, Lana Wachowski's The Matrix Resurrections, is fast approaching and just released a new trailer that gives the most comprehensive look at what to expect yet. This is true both literally and in a thematic sense as it shows that the newest film has much of the past on its mind. It features a litany of callbacks and references to the original series that place them in conversation with the new story.
It all offers up some rather interesting new implications for where the story could go and what it will say about its origins. There is a lot to unpack as it seems as though the story is one that will reflect on the previous loops of time and how it will unravel in the present.
Whether you’re familiar with the series or not, there is no better time like now to break down all that the new trailer had to offer with what it may mean. However, if you haven’t seen the original series, this piece may contain some discussion of the details of the story up until now.
[Spoiler Alert: The following contains some spoilers for the original Matrix trilogy.]
Trinity Lost In Time
The first moment where we get a glimpse of the past comes early, within the first ten seconds of the trailer. As the film’s new Morpheus, mysteriously played by the outstanding Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, monologues about how everyone is “all trapped inside these strange repeating loops” we see our first glimpse of one such loop.
We see Neo (Keanu Reeves) looking at Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) exiting a coffee shop, something he apparently does in this new world when not taking a bath with a rubber ducky on his head. The two exchange a glance of recognition as she exits while looking back at him. The trailer then cuts to a scene from the second Matrix film, The Matrix Reloaded.
The scene it flashes back to is a significant one, especially in looking back at the dialogue the two shared. It came early in the second film when Neo and Trinity were able to have a moment alone in an elevator after a dangerous mission. The two lovingly kiss until they are interrupted by the elevator door opening and a mass of people waiting for Neo.
They are seeking salvation from him, believing him to be The One that can provide healing and support to those they love that are suffering. One woman asks him to watch over her son Jacob. Neo is silent before saying he’ll try, clearly overwhelmed at what is being asked of him. As Trinity moves to walk away, he turns to her and asks her to wait.
Trinity says, not unkindly, that “it’s all right, they need you.” Neo responds by saying “I need you.” Trinity then says “I know, there’s time” before exiting the frame to leave Neo with all those seeking his support.
This reference in the new trailer carries a lot of weight as it echoes the time Neo was lost and uncertain about the future. In both instances, he looks to Trinity as a source of strength and guidance. It seems that the “time” she referred to in that moment is now here, when she will have to help him find a path forward yet again.
The Menacing Agent Smith
Soon after that, we see yet another familiar face though this one is much less welcome. The trailer shows a glimpse of Jonathan Groff’s slimy new villain who gives a monologue while overlooking the city.
“Billions of people just living out their lives…oblivious.”
He was not the first to say this. In fact, this line was first heard in Hugo Weaving’s frightening register as he played Agent Smith. He gave this monologue in the first The Matrix in which he continued on to explain the origins of the world and how it existed to control the broader civilization.
Smith is coldly calculated and in complete control, just as Groff now appears to be playing his character. The trailer cuts back ever so briefly to that monologue with Weaving’s mouth synching up with what may be his newest iteration.
It is a terrifying moment to call back to, made all the more so as Smith was saying it right as he was about to torture and interrogate Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus who had been captured. It appears it is now Neo who finds himself in a similar predicament.
Lips Remain Sealed
The next visual reference comes as Neo sits across from this newest foe in what is ostensibly a sit down meeting that he doesn’t know the full danger of. However, a brief flash of uncertainty passes across his face that indicates he knows something is amiss.
Sure enough, the trailer cuts back to when Neo was being interrogated in an isolated room by Agent Smith at the beginning of the first film. In that scene, Neo pushed back against Smith’s methods and demanded he get a phone call.
In response, Smith asked the simple question “what good is a phone call, if you’re unable to speak?” Neo’s mouth then began to seal shut, the skin preventing him from uttering a word. He then leaped back up from the table, terrified at what was happening.
The newest trailer offers a glimpse of this moment before showing how Groff’s character's mouth is sealed just as Neo’s was. He seems less scared than Neo was, coming across as more perturbed as he moves his jaw back and forth as if annoyed by the inconvenience.
Blue Pill or Red Pill
The next moment is the iconic scene where the old Morpheus first explained the nature of Neo’s reality to him in the first film. The trailer shows the scene projected on a screen in an exact replica of the room where he first took the leap of faith that was being offered to him by taking the red pill.
It shows the moment where Morpheus extended the pills to Neo, offering him the choice to either return to his life of being asleep or open his eyes to the nature of the reality around him.
In this context, the trailer shows the new Morpheus playing this for Neo to see. He is watching a movie of himself back. It appears that same offer is now being made once again with the line “this is the moment for you to show us what is real.”
Waking From the Dream
After this offer is made to him, Neo is shown reaching out towards a mirror. The trailer then splices in the scene from the first film where he did the same thing and woke up from his reality.
In the original film, he reached out with his two fingers and touched the mirror that unexpectedly gave way to the pressure. He pushed into it and pulled back, the substance of the mirror clinging to his fingers.
While he did this in the first film, the old Morpheus began to ask him questions about his dreams and what he knows about the world from those experiences.
“Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?”
Neo is still initially skeptical about what is going on and the mirror begins to consume his entire body. In the first film, his new companions have to pull him out before he is completely subsumed. He then awakens in a vat where finds himself plugged into a variety of tubes and countless other people trapped there right alongside him.
Neo stares in horror at how massive these structures are, with it going on endlessly above and below him. It is a moment of body horror and existential dread as the tubes are all removed. He is dumped from the vat, after which he is rescued by Morpheus and the others.
In the trailer, after Neo replicates this moment of when he touched the mirror, we see brief flashes of memory of the vat from which he emerged in the first film. He has awoken once again, opening his eyes in the bright light of more awareness and more hair than the first time around.
Mr. Anderson
The next significant reference comes when Groff’s character shouts the repeated name that Agent Smith used to refer to Neo: Mr. Anderson.
It was a name that was so simple but still quite unnerving as it marked the moment when you knew Neo would have to confront his nemesis. The new trailer shows the moment when he shouts it in the rain, put alongside Weaving shouting the same line in a similar setting.
It appears that history, or at least what we think of as history, is indeed repeating itself for Neo. He will again have to confront that past that is manifesting itself in the present.
‘I Still Know Kung Fu’
The last reference of the trailer is, you guessed it, that Neo still remembers his training and his most iconic line.
The “I know kung fu” line is one of the classics from the original film and came when he had been preparing to fight against all the evil forces in the Matrix. He essentially spent hours learning via a plug in his brain and now that memory of his training is still deep within his mind.
The trailer shows Neo saying the line after one particularly notable fight scene towards the end. It is delivered by Reeves with an appropriate level of humor that is predicated on him knowing his own past and what will come in his own future.
You can watch the full trailer for yourself below then check out the film when it is released in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22.