Resurrections doesn’t just have a lot of the cast in common with Sense 8 - it has a lot of concepts and subplots that have great ideas behind them but few are ever given the space to land. So for all of the fun of the enjoyably relaxed meta commentary in the first act, there’s almost no payoff for the Neo/Trinity reunion despite Reeves & Moss’ best efforts. It tries to be two films but Lana Wachowski has such a vague grasp of her narrative (and much less of a budget) it ends up accomplishing very little other than offering a nostalgic look at beloved characters who aren’t given room to breathe. The reunion is technically enjoyable but serves no dramatic purpose, and Weaving and Fishburne’s absences are problematic. The new faces have their own problems - the lovely NPH and gorgeous Groff, both are intensely watchable but NPH plays dastardly in a franchise that’s more akin to The Terminator, and Groff’s reimagined Smith makes almost no sense, as compelling as he is on screen. What does work is the early implicit anti-capitalist commentary - the machines have resurrected and reabsorbed Neo and Trinity, who begin with no awareness of their previous adventures. Reeves as a games designer of those stories is actually cute, and the chemistry he and Moss immediately demonstrate is enjoyable - as a reboot it starts out fun and clever. If the purpose of their resurrection is to snark at us about how similar that is to capitalism, and how most people don’t care it’s a valid point but deserved much more insight than the slow first act allowed. The Winter Soldier managed that. The return to the old continuity on the other hand is deeply clumsy from the first appearance of ‘Morpheus’ and mostly falls flat, with disappointing CGI and no compelling narrative purpose. The adventures and exchanges that follow are occasionally very likeable indeed but Wachowski squanders any goodwill with a ferocious 2 ½ hour running time, extended by expositional bursts, with mystifying mad zombie chases throughout the final act that do nothing to move the plot forwards. There’s essentially no character development for Reeves or Moss, whose final act real world reunion turns out not to be a sufficient payoff for the bloated running time. Both are actually resurrected yet neither is shown to be affected by such a dramatic change, and not a single remaining human seems bothered that countless of their number are still enslaved. Matrix 4 certainly does do Matrix feels but with a lazy script never settles on what it wants to be and does both reboot and sequel half heartedly, never really justifying its existence.