'The Matrix Resurrections' Is a Messy, Imperfect Triumph

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( movie review [The Matrix Resurrections Is a Messy, Imperfect Triumph]( Directing solo for the first time, Lana Wachowski creates a thrillingly romantic blockbuster that expands the possibilities of the form. Photo: Warner Bros. After all this time, what does the blockbuster have left to offer? At its platonic ideal, a big-budget, mass-marketed movie induces pleasure. With swift and bright characterization, it allows actors to operate in a grander register, aching to fill the space of the dizzying visual landscapes around them. Bombast and awe on all fronts. Maybe it’s difficult to identify an ideal blockbuster in contemporary Hollywood, drawn as it is to weak craft, characters with little interior dimension, and an understanding of representation that reduces gender, race, and sexuality to items on a marketing checklist, rather than world-building attributes of a story. This is the cinematic reality into which The Matrix Resurrections enters, over 20 years after its original incarnation debuted in 1999: a universe laden with sequels and reboots and constantly updated IP. A universe in which imagination has curdled into what can most easily be bought and sold. And yet here is Lana Wachowski, pushing back against the tired form and offering audiences something fresh, curious, and funny as hell. [Read The Story »]( Holiday Sale: [Subscribe today for just $3 per month]( and get unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • [Hawkeye Season Finale:](A 30 Rock Christmas • [Emily in Paris:]( Out of Office • [The Bachelorette Season Finale:]( Well Suited • [Emily in Paris Season Premiere:](I Did Something Bad • [Deadwood:]( The Blessing of Legal Standing [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Vulture’s 20 Most-Read Stories in 2021 The one place you’ll find Rachel Lindsay, Scott Rudin, and Trisha Paytas together.]( [The Matrix Taught Superheroes to Fly It laid the template for the gritty, gravity-defying, self-seriously cerebral modern blockbuster.]( [TikTok Is Watching Tracy Joseph’s Every Move Meet the 20-year-old behind many of the year’s viral dances.]( [How The Matrix’s Red Pill Became the Internet’s Delusional Drug of Choice It has inspired a whole pharmacy’s worth of memes and cyberideologies — some playful, some hateful.]( [Operator Gives the Phone-Sex Industry the Wolf of Wall Street Treatment The podcast chronicles the rise of and fall of ATN, a key player in the phone-sex world.]( [The King’s Man Is Here to Tell an Origin Story No One Asked For Ralph Fiennes stars in a prequel to the Kingsman movies that guesses what fans really want is less humor and more brooding.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Vulture Recommends We consume it all so you don’t have to. Photo: HBO Whether you’re drawn to the familial machinations, high-society satire, or glamorously incisive look at wealth and power, here are [11 books to fill the Succession-size hole in your heart.]( [Read more from Vulture]( If you enjoyed reading Vulture’s daily newsletter, forward it to a friend. Or dive deeper into the Vulture universe with our other newsletters: • [1.5x Speed](: Podcast recommendations and listening notes from Nick Quah, sent every Wednesday. • [Buffering](: Joe Adalian reports on the streaming industry, sent every Thursday. • [The Housewives Institute Bulletin](: For dedicated students of the Reality TV Arts and Sciences, sent every other Friday. [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved