The Matrix 4 uploads first footage to interactive fan site — here's how to watch
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Welcome back to the Matrix. It's been nearly 18 years since the last time we plugged into that simulated reality from the Wachowski siblings, and now fans are invited to once again take the red pill through a unique and personalized first look at the fourth movie.
WhatIsTheMatrix.com, an interactive fan website dedicated to The Matrix Resurrections, launches Tuesday and it comes with the first footage from the film. You just have to know where — and when — to look.
The choices users make on the website will determine what in fact they see. The site offers the option of picking the red or blue pill — red being the pill that freed Keanu Reeves' Neo from the Matrix in that first movie all those years ago, while the blue pill would have kept him comfortably in his fabricated reality. Which pill you choose and what time of day you're using the website will determine which teaser video you get to see.
One teaser features the return of Reeves to the acclaimed sci-fi role as the voice of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Candyman, Aquaman) says, "This is the moment for you to show us what is real. Right now you believe it's..." his character says the time you accessed the site "...but that couldn't be further from the truth. Could be this is the first day of the rest of your life, but if you want it, you gotta fight for it."
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There are more than 180,000 video variations, each one featuring footage from The Matrix Resurrections and narration from the movie's cast. Those in attendance at CinemaCon this year got to see the film's trailer, but this site now offers the first snippets of footage made available to the public with a promise that the full trailer will arrive online this Thursday.
The glimpses we receive include looks at characters played by Abdul-Mateen (who's sporting a bald head and gazing into a mirror), Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist) brandishing a gun with short blue hair, Jonathan Groff (Frozen, Hamilton) with his mouth melting shut (a nod to the first movie), and a glowing image of Neo reuniting with Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity.
Warner Bros. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Warner Bros. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Warner Bros. Jessica Henwick in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Warner Bros. Jonathan Groff in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Warner Bros. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
A different voice from a separate teaser on the fan site asks, "Do you remember how you got here?" in a very Agent Smith-style timbre. "You've lost your capacity to discern reality from fiction. What's real is here and now." He then mentions the time on the clock and continues, "Anything else is just your mind playing tricks on you. It becomes a problem when fantasies endanger us. We don't want anyone to get hurt, do we?"
The various teasers also reveal scenes that call out to the past films. One moment shows Neo getting pummeled by what appears to be an agent, just as Agent Smith's super-speed punches battered Neo in the first movie. Then, Reeves and Abdul-Mateen have a martial arts sparring session, reminiscent of Neo and Morpheus' training sequence in the first movie.
We also see a black cat, which is a signal for deja vu, a.k.a. a glitch in the Matrix.
Warner Bros. Keanu Reeves in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Warner Bros. Keanu Reeves and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in 'The Matrix Resurrections'
The first Matrix movie of 1999 introduced a futuristic world in which sentient machines farm human beings for energy, which they do by keeping them blissfully unaware of their existence through a simulated reality known as the Matrix. Neo, the codename for a computer programmer, was liberated from the Matrix because he was prophesied to be The One, who carries within him a special code that allows him to manipulate the world of the Matrix. This was followed by sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions in 2003, an anime anthology film titled The Animatrix, and multiple video games.
Story details for The Matrix Resurrections are still being unearthed, but we know Lana Wachowski directs solo this time.
Jada Pinkett Smith will also return as Niobe, a member of the human resistance in the original trilogy who piloted the ship known as the Logos. In fact, a ship is seen zipping along in one of the teasers.
Warner Bros. 'The Matrix Resurrections'
Laurence Fishburne, who played Morpheus, said he wasn't contacted to return. Christina Ricci (The Addams Family, Sleepy Hollow), Priyanka Chopra (Quantico, The White Tiger), Neil Patrick Harris (A Series of Unfortunate Events), and a whole lot more have also been cast.
The Matrix Resurrections will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously starting Dec. 22.
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