10 Movie Sequels Way Better Than They Had Any Right To Be

Given how long it took the first batch of Matrix sequels to get their flowers, we can probably pencil in 2040 for when folks finally realise just how unique and special 2021's The Matrix Resurrections actually was.

A fiercely defiant treatise on love, loss, and rebirth, Resurrections was one of the most cathartic cinematic experiences to emerge in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the story coming to Lana Wachowski following a year of profound loss in which her parents and a close friend passed away. Finding love and warmth in revisiting the characters of Neo and Trinity, Wachowski crafted a tale that reiterated what The Matrix has always meant to her as its co-creator - a story that was equal parts romance and resistance.

Wachowski's elegant and sincere resurrection of The Matrix did not start out life as such, however. Following the conclusion of the initial trilogy in 2003, Warner Bros. had ostensibly badgered both Wachowski sisters to develop another entry in the series. Eventually, after years of rejections, WB decided to proceed with a Matrix reboot without their involvement, pursuing a new film because it was IP to be mined rather than because of any genuine desire from filmmakers to tell a new story within the mythos Lana and Lilly Wachowski had created.

It was with this context in mind - and the tragic losses that hit the Wachowskis - that one sister returned to develop what would become The Matrix Resurrections, a film that steadfastly reiterated what the original series was by defying nostalgia and laying the cynical corporate desires of the Hollywood studios bare for all to see. Critics will point to the lack of Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving as hefty chinks in Resurrections' armour - as well as the change in approach to action - but these absences are evolutionary in function, serving to convey the shifting forms of good and evil while ensuring that it doesn't fall into the tedious pitfalls of its nostalgia-soaked contemporaries.

It is completely understandable why The Matrix Resurrections didn't endear itself to everyone, but as a project borne out of a cynically-minded studio attempt at franchise expansion, it's frankly incredible that what it became was one of the most defiant and vulnerable blockbusters ever made.