Fans know to stay put through the credits on a Marvel movie, but maybe not on a Matrix movie. However, they definitely should when it comes to The Matrix Resurrections, which is now in theatres and streaming on HBO Max.
Resurrections is the long-awaited sequel to the original Matrix trilogy (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions) which brings back Keanu Reeves as Neo and Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity. Both characters died in Revolutions, or so we thought — but co-writer and director Lana Wachowski explores what happened next in her new film.
And after all of The Matrix Resurrections’ action and drama, there’s the credits. If you’re like most people, you probably stopped the film there. But Wachowski has a cheeky little surprise at the end and here’s what happened.
If you’ve seen the movie, you know that in this new version of the Matrix, created by the machines to house Neo and Trinity after Revolutions, Thomas Anderson created a hugely successful franchise of games called… The Matrix. And now the company’s owner, Warner Bros., wants him to make a fourth game. Something he said he’d never do. All of which mirrors, exactly, what Lana Wachowski went through with The Matrix films.
After the credits, we revisit a scene that happens early in the film, and we see that Anderson’s braintrust is still trying to break down what a fourth Matrix should be. Now, whether or not this is still actually happening in the Matrix of the movie — since at the end, Neo and Trinity are no longer under the control of the Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris) — we don’t know. Maybe it is maybe it isn’t. But either way, one of the employees mentions that “Movies are dead. Games are dead. Narrative? Dead.” They believe media is nothing but a series of neural triggers. And the answer? Cat videos. “What we need is a series of videos that we call The Catrix.” He sits back with dumb confidence.
Like The Matrix Resurrections itself, the scene is a joke that works on a few levels. The basic one being the idea is so incredibly stupid, therefore it’s funny. However you have to think the scene is also probably Wachowski commenting on both her general disdain for modern, mainstream entertainment and maybe even previous ideas people have pitched her on doing a fourth Matrix. Ideas that are so stupid and random, they might as well have been the Cat-rix. Hopefully no one specifically ever pitched The Matrix with cats, but if you sub in cats for “Any Random Popular Thing,” it becomes more clear.
Anyway, it’s a fun little addition to the film and, in case you missed it, there it is. The Matrix Resurrections is now playing.
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