Neil Patrick Harris | Screenlife Reviews

Sequels to long dormant franchises are all the rage these days, but if there was one franchise that was expansive and confusing enough to truly warrant the sequel/reboot treatment it was The Matrix. Well that time is now, with one half of original directing team Lana Wachowski returning to the reality-questioning world of Neo and Trinity with a lot to say about the current landscape of entertainment and how audiences approach it. Whilst that extremely heavy-handed commentary doesn’t work as well as Wachowski thinks, the story that is told is a refreshingly straightforward affair for a franchise that became so bogged down in overly complex world-building. It isn’t a return to the form of that original film but Resurrections is a fun enough, if forgettable trip back into the Matrix.

Now living as the celebrated game designer behind “The Matrix” – a trilogy of video games that adapt the original trilogy of movies – Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is in a creative rut, forced by management to revisit his seminal franchise to produce “The Matrix 4”. A test run of code for the game opens up Thomas’ world to Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and a program that soon reveals himself to be a reincarnation of Morpheus (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) questions the reality of Thomas’ situation. When Thomas starts to notice similarities between Tiffany (Carrie-Anne Moss) – a woman he sees at a local coffee shop – and the Trinity character from his game, the world around him begins to unravel, ultimately leading to Morpheus and Bugs once again extracting Thomas from the Matrix into the real world, where the legend of Neo looms large. Once again at war with the machines and a smarter, more deadly version of the Matrix, Neo sets out on a desperate attempt to rescue Trinity from captivity, knowing that only together will they be able to end the war once and for all.

Wachowski clearly has an agenda when it comes to Resurrections, taking aim at the surge of sequels, reboots and spin-offs that took the entertainment industry by storm since her original trilogy was at its height in 2003. To call this commentary on the nose would be an understatement, with the story going extremely meta in name checking Warner Bros as wanting this very sequel as a result of corporate greed. The rare few times where this works is when the film embraces humour in a way the franchise never previously did, with an amusing montage poking fun at every hot-take and analysis piece written about The Matrix. Mostly though, the film takes any chance it can to skewer the trend, even going so far as to having a returning character spit on the very idea of a “sequel franchise spin-off”. Does that character even need to be in the film? Not at all, but that in itself just another layer of ridicule and scorn that Wachowski constantly assaults the viewer with.

Where it loses the viewer is in the incoherence of its message, with Wachowski heavily borrowing elements from these hated reboot/sequels; copying action beats from her earlier films and even going so far as to include a cute, infinitely marketable fist-bumping robot. Is it all just one big joke on the viewer? Much like the world of the Matrix it’s impossible to tell at times, which gives the whole film a rather cold, empty feeling. Is this a genuine attempt to return to a beloved franchise and should we actually care about anything going on or is this just a spoof on what audiences have become accustomed to from blockbuster filmmaking? The very concept of the previous trilogy as nothing more than a blip in the larger narrative, reduced to a simple video-game by the newly developed Matrix, devalues the audience investment to a degree – why should we get excited about what very well could be a new series of films if they can simply be wiped away in the future, fans be damned? Sure you could argue Marvel movies commit a similar sin, cheapening deaths by reviving characters but it seems hard to be believe that Wachowski has such an issue with this that she bastardised her beloved franchise to present what amounts to one big rant about the state of film.

The first half of the film is where this commentary reigns supreme but thankfully this levels out once Neo is removed from the Matrix once again. What makes it so easy to push that cynicism aside and simply enjoy the ride is Keanu Reeves, who plays the unassuming Neo so endearingly earnestly that it is impossible not to root for this everyman once again thrown in way over his head. New franchise recruits Jessica Henwick and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II are fantastic, fully committing to the characters and world in a way that makes them feel like they have been apart of the franchise since the beginning. On an action level is where Resurrections is at its most disappointing, eschewing the visceral close combat and inventive stylings of earlier instalments in favour of the quick-cut nonsense of modern action films; failing to properly showcase the impressive fight choreography Reeves is more than capable of. It only serves to further muddy Wachowski’s point, turning her once-revolutionary action franchise into just one of the many poorly shot action films that exist today, devoid of any truly standout set-pieces that were once the franchises bread and butter.

The Matrix: Resurrections ultimately ends up like the other sequels, taking one step forward towards furthering the franchises and the bevy of interesting ideas behind it, before taking two back by cluttering an already confusing world; this time with a meta commentary so muddled that it is impossible to tell what beats are meant in earnest and which are poking fun at the state of modern film. Keanu Reeves remains this series’ strongest element, once again giving an enrapturing performance as Neo which is only strengthened by a solid supporting cast. When the film is pared back to its roots of inventive sci-fi action is when it is at its best, a solid enough ride that will leave you with a smile on your face at the fact that yes, after all these years, Keanu Reeves still knows kung-fu.

The Matrix: Resurrections stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jada Pinkett Smith, Christina Ricci & Neil Patrick Harris – In cinemas now and streaming on HBO Max in the US.

6/10

Star Wars is in a strange place at the moment. One of the biggest film franchises of all time, the series has seen its movie endeavours come to a temporary halt after the disappointment of 2019’s sequel trilogy-capper The Rise of Skywalker, whilst its efforts in other mediums like The Mandalorian and video game Jedi: Fallen Order show that fans are desperate for more galactic adventures that feel different and take advantage of everything the wider world of Star Wars has to offer.

Disney+’s latest offering, Visions might just be the property’s most out-there Star Wars content to date, handing the treasured reigns over to seven Japanese animation studios and tasking them with crafting unique stories in the galaxy far, far away. The results are largely successful, with striking animation across the board drawing from all corners of classic to modern stylings, emotional, impactful stories and some of the best interpretations of those classic Star Wars elements since the original trilogy.

Rather than review the series as a whole, we’ve decided to tackle each episode individually, ultimately ranking them. Whilst you should definitely watch the entire show if you have the chance, if you are short on time or just looking to dip your toe into these anime interpretations of Star Wars then this is the way.

9. The Village Bride

While none of the Visions episodes are bad, The Village Bride is the least successful in coalescing its myriad of big ideas into something that works both as a story and an expansion of the Star Wars universe. Following rogue Jedi, F (Karen Fukuhara) who finds herself in the middle of a small village where tradition dictates a young girl must be handed over to separatist warlords as a protection payment, the episode simply tries to juggle too much; throwing cross-cultural commentary and an examination of nature on top of an otherwise unsurprising story.

Fukuhara tries her best to instill some life into proceedings through her voice work and there are attempts to flesh out F’s backstory but the character is too bland to win us over; the supporting characters too familiar and the story too safe to elicit much of a response from the audience.

8. T0-B1

On its face T0-B1 may appear eerily similar to Japanese cartoon icon Astro Boy, sporting a similarly stunning style of animation and a very child-friendly tone – almost like a Chibi version of Luke Skywalker. Couple this with a Pinnochio-esque story of a robotic boy who must fend for himself after his master his eliminated by a Sith lord and the short can feel a little throwaway. But as the story encroaches into darker territory on its way to delivering a fist-pumpingly heroic finale, its purpose becomes clearer. This is one of the most simple, purest forms of Star Wars storytelling and, for someone, it will potentially be their introduction to this world.

On that level, T0-B1 is successful in delivering that visceral Star Wars thrill of watching a character go from humble nobody to hero, all wrapped up in an incredibly stylish package. It might not be very dissimilar from Luke Skywalker’s story, but it is inspiring and enraptures you in the world of T0-B1, and to some young person out there, that might be enough to create a lifelong Star Wars fan.

7. Tatooine Rhapsody

Easily the most unique of all the stories told within Visions, Tatooine Rhapsody follows the exploits of Jay (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an outcast Jedi following the fall of the Jedi Order who finds belonging within a band of miscreants, together forming a literal rock band. When their leader Geezer (Bobby Moynihan) is taken prisoner by Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and brought to Tatooine to fulfil a debt to iconic crime lord Jabba the Hutt, the band springs into action to rescue their bassist, endearing themselves to a whole new fanbase in the process.

The episode wins points on the strength of its premise alone, leaning into the weirdness that the galaxy has to offer and away from the conventional Jedi vs Sith storytelling that the rest of the series favours. It wears its anime influences on its sleeve; full of zany, over-the-top characters and larger-than-life musical moments, a lot of which will have you wincing from the cringe-inducing lyrics. If you can get past this however, you will be rewarded with a simple but touching story of friendship that offers a glimpse into the ground level stories of regular people within the galaxy.

6. Akakiri

An ode to a more old-school form of Japanese animation, Akakiri presents the stylish hand-drawn adventure of Jedi Tsubaki (Henry Golding), who returns to his childhood planet to aid long-lost love Misa (Jamie Chung) in recapturing the planet from Sith ruling. Traditional in its form as well as art-style, Akakiri is largely a road movie, following the pair and two goofy, overly superstitious guides (George Takei & Keone Young) as they travel across the planet and sneak into the Sith’s castle, narrowly avoiding capture at every turn.

The simple premise works thanks to terrific voice-acting, especially Takei and Young, who bring the most humour to the entire series with their oafish guides’ constant babbling about the events transpiring. Golding and Chung have excellent chemistry, their dialogue hinting at a complicated past, without the need to dig too deeply into it before a shocking ending twists the narrative on its head, unafraid to leave you without a happy resolution in favour of forcing you to think about the complex moral choices that are so often glossed over in Star Wars.

5. The Twins

The Twins could easily function as one of Marvel’s recent What If episodes, telling the story of a set of twins (not dissimilar from Luke and Leia) born through the Dark Side of the Force and tasked with subjecting the galaxy to their rule. One of these twins Karre (Neil Patrick Harris) defects from the pair’s evil plan, stealing a necessary component to a Death Star style weapon and sending sister Am (Alison Brie) into a blind rage, culminating with the siblings thrown into all-out war with each other.

On its face this is essentially “what if Leia went to the Dark Side” but what makes The Twins so fascinating to watch is the way it embraces the craziness of anime such as Dragon Ball Z and Gundam with a battle for the ages; full of explosions and over-the-top twists. A normal lightsaber fight? Try a robotic suit of six lightsaber whips against an entire X-Wing out in the vacuum of space. It is this total commitment to full-tilt insanity that makes the episode so enthralling, with each new development in the battle a showcase of the creativity and inventiveness that the franchise helped inspire in the first place.

4. Lop & Ochō

Another hand-drawn tale – this time from Japanese studio Geno – Lop & Ochō blends not only its in-episode worlds, with a small, heavily Japanese-influenced city overrun by an Imperial regime, but its story influences, drawing on the original trilogy’s fondness for found family storylines and the political overtures of the prequel trilogy to particularly potent effect. Alien slave Lop (Anna Cathcar voices the anthropomorphised rabbit) is rescued by Ochō (Hiromi Dames) and her village-leader father Yasaburo (Paul Nakauchi), and adopted into the family as a sister to Ochō, who is next in line to lead the clan. When an Imperial occupation divides the clan from within – with Ochō choosing to join the Empire in order to stave off her village’s destruction and Yasaburo opting to fight for their freedom – Lop is forced to step in to stop the Empire and reconcile her broken family.

The stakes are certainly epic in scope, but Lop & Ochō favours a more focused approach to the storytelling, detailing the ground level struggle of the village and the particularly tough situation it finds itself in: desperate to be free of Empire rule but unable to function without it thanks to years of resource mining. It’s a high concept wrapped up in the distinctly human struggle of Yasaburo’s clan and the emotional beats between the central trio hit home, despite the relatively short runtime. Lop, Ochō and Yasaburo are all given enough time to let their ideas breathe and you can understand each party’s viewpoints, making Lop’s ultimate decision that much more emotionally impactful, as only the the best Star Wars stories can be.

3. The Ninth Jedi

When young Jedi Ethan (Masi Oka) answers a mysterious beacon from the shadowy Juro (Andrew Kishino) offering him one of the ancient weapons of the Jedi – a lightsaber – he finds he is part of a large group of outcast Jedi who have answered the call. As the group debate over the true identity of their host, young Kara (Kimiko Glenn) is forced to go on the run after bounty hunters storm the house she shares with her father, murdering him in an attempt to steal the lightsabers he has created for Juro. Seeking shelter at the only other place she knows, Kara finds herself on a course to interrupting the Jedi’s gathering, with her arrival setting off an unpredictable chain of events.

The Ninth Jedi is one giant exercise in challenging iconic Star Wars preconceptions, steadily building tension towards a reveal that throws the audience for a loop but never feels like a cheap trick. Instead it invites us to look at how we view the franchise as a whole, at how we have been conditioned to think a certain way about how certain characters look or behave and how that behaviour pigeonholes them as a certain type of character. That might sound overly political or preachy but The Ninth Jedi never feels that way, with its slow burn of intrigue and action-packed side story intersecting in an explosive finale.

2. The Elder

A simple but extremely effective episode, The Elder focuses on a master Jedi and his Padawan as they investigate a disturbance on a nearby planet, plunging them into a deadly battle with an ancient Sith enemy. Immediately the animation grabs you; an intricately detailed and polished style that sets the scene for a more mature episode than what has come before. Once the duel swings into full effect it is stunning to behold: a dimly lit, rain-soaked affair brightened only by the vivid greens, reds and blues of the participants lightsabers, with fight choreography as impressive as many of the franchise’s best.

The relationship between Jedi’s Tajin (David Harbour) and his apprentice Dan (Jordan Fisher) will be instantly familiar to fans of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn’s bond in The Phantom Menace, creating an immediate connection to the characters that adds to the tension of the final showdown. It might not pack the heavy thematic notes of other episodes but The Elder is a fine example of how the fundamentals of Star Wars can create something engaging and investing without the need for complex worlds or backstory; how the choreography and movement of a fight alone can tell a compelling and gripping story.

1. The Duel

George Lucas has long spoken about the influences he drew on when creating Star Wars and like Lucas’ original films The Duel wears those influences of Japanese samurai culture and Westerns on its sleeves, combining them with a visually striking, black and white art style to create something wholly unique to the Star Wars canon. We follow our largely silent Ronin hero (Masaki Terasoma) as he wanders into a small village seeking shelter and sustenance. When a group of Stormtroopers, led by a mysterious Sith warrior, arrives to subjugate the village, a group of bounty hunters employed by the villagers bravely fight back unaware of the power of their Sith opponent. Overpowered and on the brink of the defeat, the village must place their faith in the shadowy Ronin to defend them.

As with the best Western stories, The Duel challenges the morality of its hero, not staying beholden to the dichotomy of Jedi and Sith as the episode presents the possibility of the Ronin being tuned to both the Dark and Light side of the Force. Visually he appears to be a Jedi, but as events unfold you understand that, unlike the art style, this world isn’t that black and white. Exploring the murkier underbelly of the Star Wars galaxy is something fans have long been clamouring for, and The Duel shows that Jedi and Sith exist without being wholly good or evil like heroes and villains of the past.

The visuals are, simply put, stunning; resembling a living painting with the way the line work of the hand-drawn style shifts as characters move. Vibrant blue laser bolts and vivid red beams of lightsabers pop against the muted background, creating scenes so visually stunning they could be hung as artwork. As the first episode in the anthology, The Duel is tasked with setting the tone for things to come and it succeeds the most in balancing all the elements at play, from the Anime craziness of the Sith’s umbrella lightsaber, the classically Japanese Ronin hero to an R2-D2-like droid that provides some much-needed humour. A perfect introduction to an exciting new chapter in Star Wars.

S

Star Wars: Visions stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Alison Brie, Neil Patrick Harris, Henry Golding, Jamie Chung, David Harbour, Jordan Fisher, Masi Oka, Kimiki Glenn, Anna Cathcar, Hiromi Dames, Paul Nakauchi, George Takei, Bobby Moynihan, Temuera Morrison & Karen Fukuhara – Streaming on Disney+ Now.