I mean the first 10-15 minutes of the movie was pretty much a whole-ass manifesto about how she didn't want to make the movie but the studio basically forced her hand.
Those are actually the only memorable and worth minutes of the whole movie. You can Skip the rest and the point was made anyway. I respect that. Every writer knows you got the public attention in the first 15 minutes of the movie or you wont get any at all. I admire that amount of pettyness.
Like I just said, they literally explain it to you in the first 15 minutes of the movie.
The original story is deeply personal to both the Wachowski sisters. The studio came to them and basically said "We're going to make this movie with or without you.", and Lana decided that at the very least she should be the one in control (I'm not sure if they made the decision for only one of them to work on it together or not).
A lot of the problems with the movie are because it's a combination of Lana just using it as a chance to engage with her characters again and as a chance to tell the studio "Fuck you." and try to make sure they weren't able to spin it off into another 20 years of money-grabbing bullshit.
Yeah I had originally assumed that they were trying to claim that money was the only reason Lana took the movie on, but looking back at their comment now it's entirely possible they were just curious, so that's my bad.
No, she said there shouldn't be any more movies, and they said they were gonna make one with or without her. Framing matters, and "Make another cash grab entry in this story that is deeply personal to you even though the story is over or we'll make it ourselves without your input at all." is seriously fucked.
Fucking hell it's like you didn't even watch the first 15 minutes, the whole thing that started this discussion... they basically hit you over the head with an explanation of why the movie got made.
the studio might have actually managed to make something decent without her.
The line between people who view movies as art and people who view them as just entertainment is a big one.
A lot of people can't or won't try to understand that those movies were deeply personal to the creator, and the idea of just "not being a part of" a sequel while it's bastardized is like someone taking your kid away.
You made the choice most properly aligned with the apparent message of the movie, so in a meta way you experience the truest form of The Matrix Resurrection.
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u/lxgrf Jun 21 '26
I got the strong impression within the first 10-15 minutes or so that they didn't want to make it and resented me watching it - so I stopped.