Review: Lana Wachowski’s ‘The Matrix Resurrections’ is a deeply felt, colorful remix

The Times is committed to reviewing theatrical film releases during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the Wachowski siblings, Lana and Lilly, changed the film landscape forever with 1999’s “The Matrix,” a philosophical sci-fi film that questioned the very nature of existence itself, it was no surprise that Warner Bros., the studio behind the movie, asked them to make a few more. Lana’s sister Lilly sits out “The Matrix Resurrections,” but Wachowski has brought on writer David Mitchell, who wrote the novel “Cloud Atlas,” which the Wachowskis adapted to the screen in 2012, and a writer on their Netflix series, “Sense8,” to co-write the script. But this time around, he’s a video game designer, the brains behind a revolutionary game called “The Matrix,” the narrative of which is essentially the first trilogy of films. Wachowski brings this unapologetic earnestness and sense of pleasure to “The Matrix Resurrections,” which is also a welcome reminder that big action films can be well lit, stunningly designed and, yes, colorful too.