Later this year, sci-fi fans get to revisit a classic with The Matrix 4. In 1999 Lana and Lilly Wachowski teamed up to create one of the best sci-fi action films of all time. They were heavily inspired by the anime Ghost in the Shell. The unique style of their film, along with its prescient story about technology, made the movie an instant hit.
The Matrix spawned a video game series, an animated tie-in, and two sequels. Though nothing garnered the same praise as the original film, everything connected to it had its appeal. Some regard the animated film Animatrix more highly than the film's live-action sequels. The Matrix-themed video games are still remembered fondly all these years later.
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The Matrix: Revolutions concluded what was a trilogy, and that movie came to theaters eighteen years ago. Despite the almost two-decade lapse, the Wachowskis seem confident bringing their world back to life with The Matrix 4. Most franchises would struggle to maintain their relevance after such a long absence, but The Matrix remains, by design, timeless.
Characters in The Matrix series straddle two separate worlds. There is the computer-generated world of the Matrix itself. This is the prison constructed by machines to keep humans docile so they can be farmed for energy. When most people remember The Matrix, they think of the scenes in this world. Here the film wrapped itself in black leather and bashed its way through streams of baddies. The other world is the real world, where humans who have escaped their digital prison live.
While the world inside the Matrix evokes strong 1999 vibes, the real world feels unhinged from time. Humans live underground in caves and carved out tunnels. They were most gray and black shapeless shirts and pants. A layer of dirt and grime covers everything in sight. This is human civilization after the machine apocalypse.
The real world of The Matrix could exist any time at all. In fact, it might be a very old world, repeating the same cyclical pattern over and over. (Look to the sequels if that idea is confusing.) Real human civilization in The Matrix would also look at home in a movie like The Road or even an installment in the Terminator franchise.
The Wachowskis created a sci-fi future that won't age itself into irrelevance. As long as there are machines learning to be smarter, the future of The Matrix will seem like a possibility, if a distant one. If the Wachowskis had created a flying-car utopia, The Matrix would have a harder time coming back in 2021. Likewise, if they'd kept their story locked in the alternate 90s of the Matrix, their film would be locked into nostalgia-vibes. Instead, the Wachowskis invented a future that feels as scarily likely today as it did back in 1999.
Fans really don't know what to expect from Matrix 4. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are returning, but their world will be different. For one thing, Morpheus won't be in it. After the dramatic conclusion of The Matrix: Revolution, it's hard to imagine that society will be the same inside or outside of the Matrix itself.
Because the Matrix is just a computer simulation of the real world, it's likely that the Matrix in this new film will look more like 2021 than 1999. That's not to say the characters won't still be dressing in their iconic leather, but the cell phones they use to communicate might get an updated look.
Neil Patrick Harris, who is playing a top-secret role in the new film, has said The Matrix 4 presents a stylistic change for the series. What this visual shift will mean for The Matrix 4 remains to be seen. Fans haven't seen even a peek of what the new film will look like. The Wachowskis haven't let out so much as a hint about their main villain, who is a topic of rapid speculation among Matrix fans.
Its future might still be eerily possible, but for The Matrix 4 to maintain relevance in 2021, it needs to update the series both visually and thematically. The Matrix pushed boundaries. The film stretched what CGI could accomplish in action movies. It brought anime visual elements to a western audience and even presented a trans allegory inside a mainstream movie.
People remember The Matrix for many things, but mostly because it was so wildly inventive. The Wachowskis created something special in 1999. Few directors would attempt the revival that The Matrix 4 represents, but the Wachowskis have proven time and time again they know how to handle risky film moves. Their grim dystopia showed a war between humans and machines that seems even more possible today than it did in 1999, but we'll have to wait and see if audiences respond as strong as they did the first time around.