This year is marking the 20th anniversary of a movie that sneaked into our cinemas without making lots of noise but it eventually changed the curse of science-fiction and action movies. The movie was entitled The Matrix (1999), and it was written and directed by the back then called The Wachowski Brothers, whose experience in the movies industry was the screenplay of the interesting Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas action flick Assassins (1995), and the underground sexy thriller instant classic Bound (1996).
It is impossible that somebody who is reading this text hasn’t heard of The Matrix (1999), The Agents, led by Agent Smith, Keanu Reeves as computer programmer Thomas Anderson, known in the hacking scene by his alias Neo, the mysterious and future partners in the quest of saving the world Morpheus and Trinity… All wrapped up in a dystopian future where humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, The Matrix, created by thought-capable machines to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. The movie that made an entire generation questioning if we are leaving reality or just a fantasy, the perverse truth behind a deja-vu, and the crucial dilemma of which pill you would choose, the blue one or the red one?
Many things have passed in the 20 years following the release of The Matrix (1999). The Wachowskis made 2 sequels of the movie, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003), that didn’t have the impact of its predecessor. They also wrote and directed a few movies always under the umbrella of fantasy like Speed Racer (2008), Cloud Atlas (2012) and Jupiter Ascending (2015), created the science-fiction TV series Sense8 (2015–2018), and wrote another instant classic that James McTeigue went to direct, V for Vendetta (2005). But, in my opinion, nothing could get compared with the effect The Matrix (1999) had in all of us.
For years, rumors of a reboot for The Matrix have been floating around. 2 years ago we even got the confirmation that a new Matrix project, led by screenwriter Zak Penn, was in development. But all of that seems to be scratched out now that the follow-up of the original Trilogy has been announced. Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures again will produce together with NPV Entertainment and Village Roadshow Pictures.
For the new movie, with a provisional working title of The Matrix 4, or The Matrix: Mortality, depending on the sources, Lana Wachowski has written the screenplay together with Aleksandar Hemon and David Mitchell, who already worked with the filmmaker as part of the creative team of Sense8 (2015–2018). Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss will reprise their roles of Neo and Trinity, with the only extra cast addition confirmed of Daniela Harpaz in an unknown yet role. In the words of Lana Wachowski, “many of the ideas Lilly [Wachowski] and I explored 20 years ago about our reality are even more relevant now. I’m very happy to have these characters back in my life and grateful for another chance to work with my brilliant friends”.
We all are also happy to have Neo and Trinity back, and we are thirsty of more adventures and battles between reality and fantasy. To have The Matrix back in the hands of Lana Wachowski, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss is indeed very good news.
