• Directed by Lana Wachowski, 2021

A two-and-a-half-hour act one, overly burdened with the dozens of plates it has to spin just to get us moving again after twenty years. Ends just when it starts.

I wish that Wachowski had committed to the confusion, and had Neo played by his alter ego of the old man during the initial Matrix scenes. Imagine: we begin the film following the story of a man we don’t recognize. But there is more to this man below the surface. He trudges through his life. Goes to therapy. The therapist tries to tell him, you’re not him. You’re not Neo. But he knows he is. He falls in love with the woman at the coffee shop who is not Trinity. But she is. They have an instant connection. They both identify deeply with this story. Not-Neo knows there is something more to this. When Morpheus catches up with Not-Neo, he looks in the mirror and sees… Keanu Reeves. You realize the Matrix are hiding him, even from himself. He turns into the Neo we recognize. “I am the FBI.” We’re back, baby.