The Matrix Resurrections trailer 1 has been released by Warner Bros — does it bode well for December’s release?

So, Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) are back in the next (rebooted / sequel…) Matrix movie and we’ve a trailer. It doesn’t tell us everything, but it does tell us a lot, and it’s told fans of the franchise even more. There’s one core question…

Is Matrix Resurrections a real ‘Matrix’ film and does the trailer help decide?

So, here’s a thing. If you get all the ingredients for a stew, chuck them all in a pot, stir then tip them onto a plate, is it still just a bunch of ingredients or a satisfying meal? Is this adding something to the Matrix trilogy, a homage, a follow-up or just an attempt to relive past glory?

Call us sceptical, but we feel Matrix Resurrections needs to take us somewhere. There’s a level at which it looks like The Matrix: CGI, martial arts, bullet-time, men in dark glasses, bending the laws of physics and so on. We even have Neo and Trinity back, though they have no memory of what we’ve seen before as the audience. There’s a whole reprise of the White Rabbit / pills / reality testing of Neo, and all accompanied by Jefferson Airplane. But… is that it? Is this just the same film with older actors and better movie making?

Here’s where fans have become fascinated. There’s long conversations about blue tints / green tints and the whole look being wrong. Here’s a problem. If you make a movie now, do you slavishly copy everything or update, including making it all look more 21st century? This latter choice is the one we see in the trailer, and it jars with expectations. Is that a bad thing?

We’ve mixed views, and will wait to see future trailers (this is labelled official trailer 1), until then, why not watch it for yourself, then follow your own white rabbit. Matrix Resurrection arrives in cinema December 22.