Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 29, 2021)
NOW PLAYING WHAT’S IN THE THEATERS AROUND EASTERN OREGON 15 DECEMBER 29, 2021�JANUARY 5, 2022 ‘Matrix Resurrections’ is loud, joyful, stylish fun By Chris Hewitt Star Tribune THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS MPAA rating: R (for language and briefl y bloody violence) Running time: 2:28 Where to watch: In theaters and streaming on HBO Max Wednesday I s “The Matrix Resurrections” a kung fu movie? A techno-thrill- er? A shoot-’em-up? A comedy? A sequel that’s also a satire of sequels? Or a love story? Well, Lana Wachowski’s boldly entertaining “Resurrections” combines all those elements, while mixing in fl ashbacks from the three previous “Matrix” fi lms. There’s a lot happening on- screen, but it’s so deftly balanced that it doesn’t even matter if, like me, your memory of the other “Matrices” is dim and you’re oc- casionally not sure exactly what’s going on, At its core, “Resurrections” is a rescue movie. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is a San Francisco game designer who still fi nds himself slipping into an alternate reality where he’s regarded as a once- in-a-lifetime hero. He struggles to appease his snake of a boss (Jonathan Groff ) and to make sense of his trauma with his therapist (Neal Patrick Harris), Warner Bros. Carrie-Anne Moss (left) and Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix Resurrections.” but he’s in a bad place because, “They took my life and turned it into a video game.” “Resurrections” returns a few other characters from earlier outings, including Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity (although there’s not enough of her and her im- peccable cheekbones until the climax) and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Gen. Niobe. The movie also benefi ts from a batch of newcomers, includ- ing Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an incarnation of Laurence Fish- burne’s mysterious Morpheus (Fishburne is only glimpsed in fl ashbacks). Mateen (“The Watchmen”) is a charismatic addition, especially when he materializes in the form of a life- sized piece of pin art or dem- Stop by the Chamber office for your free gift Take a picture of you and your family at the Conestoga Wagon at the viewpoint above Prairie City and tag us on Instagram @grant_county_oregon_chamber! onstrates Morpheus’ fondness for vintage discowear circa 1975. Another great newcomer is Jessica Henwick as Bugs, a fi erce Neo fangirl who joins his attempt to rescue lost love Trin- ity from oblivion. Previous “Matrix” movies have veered into self-serious- ness but Wachowski has a light touch here, even making fun of herself for agreeing to do this sequel. (Neo’s boss warns him that a new “Matrix” game is inevitable, threatening, “Warner Bros. is going to make a sequel to the trilogy, with or without us.”) She and sister Lilly, who didn’t participate in the new movie, always have created fantastical, stylish worlds, and this fi lm is ready to tell us what sunglasses we’ll be wearing for the next several seasons. But there’s a new confi dence and hopefulness in “Resurrec- tions,” which takes us to the brink of apocalypse but also imagines a not-far-off day when diff erences in racial or gender identity are so universally ac- cepted that they’re not even remarked upon. It’s true that not a lot of new ground gets covered, story- wise, but “Resurrections” is a big, loud, joyful movie and when one character says, “You’ve lost your capacity to distinguish reality from fi ction,” it may make you think, “Duh. Isn’t that what going to the movies is about?” Here to help you Ring in the New Year! Chamber of Commerce www.gcoregonlive.com 301 W. Main Street, John Day, OR 541-575-0547 214 W North St. • Enterprise, OR • 541-426-4824