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‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Ending Explained: How Neo and Trinity Break Free From The Matrix

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‘The Matrix Resurrections’ Ending Explained: How Neo and Trinity Break Free From The Matrix

It has been 18 years since the conclusion of The Matrix trilogy, the genre-blending action-meets-cyberpunk science-fiction franchise created by the Wachowski sisters, Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski. The latest installment, The Matrix Resurrections, resurrects — quite literally — two of the most iconic action heroes of all time, presumed dead at the end of The Matrix Revolutions: Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). In Resurrections, it has been 60 years since the events of Revolutions, and Neo and Trinity are alive again — but they are far from the iconic duo we once knew.

At the start of The Matrix Resurrections, the truce between humans and machines has been broken and most of humanity — including Neo — is trapped inside the Matrix. Neo, now known once again as Thomas Anderson, is a deeply troubled, renowned game developer known for his hit video game series called The Matrix. He is kept docile by his prescribed “blue pills” from his therapist (Neil Patrick Harris), but he still is experiencing, what he believes to be, breaks in his reality. He finds himself drawn to Tiffany (A.K.A. Trinity), a wife and mother who reminds him of the Trinity from his game.

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When Bugs (Jessica Henwick), the captain of the hovership Mnemosyne and “true believer” in the legend of Neo, introduces him to the new Morpheus — now a program, played by newcomer Yahya Abdul-Mateen II — Neo begins to question his sanity. They manage to free him from the Matrix, where he wakes up in a pod (sound familiar?) except, this time, Trinity is in a pod next to him.

At its core, The Matrix Resurrections is a love story in which the overarching plot is fueled by Neo and Trinity’s longing to find each other again. In fact, as we learn, their love is powering the Matrix — literally! How, you might ask? Let’s unpack that ending.

RELATED: ‘The Matrix’ Trilogy Recap: Everything You Need to Remember Before Watching ‘The Matrix Resurrections’


What happens at the end of The Matrix Resurrections?

Neo’s therapist reveals himself to be the Analyst, the creator of the current version of the Matrix following the Architect (Helmut Bakaitis). After he watched Neo and Trinity die at the end of the Machine War, the Analyst created resurrection pods to study them. He studied Neo’s resurrected body for years trying to activate his source code with no success. It was then that he discovered that individually, Neo and Trinity are not particularly special or important. Together, however, they have the power to alter the entire Matrix system. The Analyst figured out that he could keep the system in balance if he kept Neo and Trinity near each other, but not close enough to make contact. Unlike his predecessor, the Architect, the Analyst realized that the human race thrives on emotions, particularly desire and fear. The key to the Analyst’s Matrix — one which he claims to be a rousing success with zero resistance — is Neo and Trinity’s love.

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Neo strikes a deal with the Analyst to allow Trinity to be freed from the Matrix but agrees that if she doesn’t want to, then he will return to the Matrix himself. Trinity turns Neo down and allows her family to lead her away. But, as she turns around and looks at Neo one last time, she finally recognizes herself as Trinity, not Tiffany. A fight breaks out and just as the Analyst prepares to kill Trinity, the “new” Smith (now played by Jonathan Groff) intervenes — a temporary, but surprising alliance is forged from the fact that when Neo was freed by Bugs and her crew, Smith was freed as well — allowing Neo and Trinity to push through the crowd and reunite.

Neo and Trinity escape on Trinity’s motorcycle, but not before the Analyst activates “Swarm mode” and all of the San Francisco residents turn into AI bots, some even launching themselves out of buildings like human bombs. Neo and Trinity escape to the roof of a skyscraper where they take a leap of faith and jump off, expecting Neo’s ability to fly to manifest itself. Instead, Trinity saves them, having developed the ability to fly herself.


In the final scene, Neo and Trinity confront the Analyst one final time, now fully suited up in their Matrix ensemble. Trinity has developed a new set of powerful skills. Not only can she fly now, but she is able to slice the Analyst’s throat then immediately bring him back to life. The Analyst tells them that the Suits (the machines who are holding humanity captive) tried to activate the fail-safe, but he knew that would be impossible without Neo and Trinity’s source code now that they are no longer in their pods.

Still, the Suits didn’t purge him because he knows the system the best. Most importantly, he knows human beings. According to the Analyst, Neo and Trinity may feel like they hold all the cards because they can now do whatever they want in this world, but his “sheeple” aren’t going anywhere. Unlike Neo and Trinity, he says, his sheeple don’t want “sentimentality” or freedom – they want to be controlled. They crave the comfort of certainty that the Matrix provides for them.

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Neo and Trinity, cool and composed, laugh: they are not there to negotiate. They are on their way to remake his world. They only stopped by to thank him for giving them something they never thought they would have: another chance. They slide on their sunglasses and fly off into the sunset.


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Review: SAMARITAN, A Sly Stallone Superhero Stumble

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Review: SAMARITAN, A Sly Stallone Superhero Stumble

Hitting the three-quarter-century mark usually means a retirement home, a nursing facility, or if you’re lucky to be blessed with relatively good health and savings to match, living in a gated community in Arizona or Florida.

For Sylvester Stallone, however, it means something else entirely: starring in the first superhero-centered film of his decades-long career in the much-delayed Samaritan. Unfortunately for Stallone and the audience on the other side of the screen, the derivative, turgid, forgettable results won’t get mentioned in a career retrospective, let alone among the ever-expanding list of must-see entries in a genre already well past its peak.

For Stallone, however, it’s better late than never when it involves the superhero genre. Maybe in getting a taste of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) with his walk-on role in the Guardians of the Galaxy sequel several years ago, Stallone thought anything Marvel can do, I can do even better (or just as good in the nebulous definition of the word).

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The property Stallone and his team found for him, Samaritan, a little-known graphic novel released by a small, almost negligible, publisher, certainly takes advantage of Stallone’s brute-force physicality and his often underrated talent for near-monosyllabic brooding (e.g., the Rambo series), but too often gives him to little do or say as the lone super-powered survivor, the so-called “Samaritan” of the title, of a lifelong rivalry with his brother, “Nemesis.” Two brothers entered a fire-ravaged building and while both were presumed dead, one brother did survive (Stallone’s Joe Smith, a garbageman by day, an appliance repairman by night).

In the Granite City of screenwriter Bragi F. Schut (Escape Room, Season of the Witch), the United States, and presumably the rest of the world, teeters on economic and political collapse, with a recession spiraling into a depression, steady gigs difficult, if not impossible, to obtain, and the city’s neighborhoods rocked by crime and violence. No one’s safe, not even 13-year-old Sam (Javon Walker), Joe’s neighbor.

When he’s not dodging bullies connected to a gang, he’s falling under the undue influence of Cyrus (Pilou Asbæk), a low-rent gang leader with an outsized ego and the conviction that he and only he can take on Nemesis’s mantle and along with that mantle, a hammer “forged in hate,” to orchestrate a Bane-like plan to plunge the city into chaos and become a wealthy power-broker in the process.

Schut’s woefully underwritten script takes a clumsy, haphazard approach to world-building, relying on a two-minute animated sequence to open Samaritan while a naive, worshipful Sam narrates Samaritan and Nemesis’s supposedly tragic, Cain and Abel-inspired backstory. Schut and director Julius Avery (Overlord) clumsily attempt to contrast Sam’s childish belief in messiah-like, superheroic saviors stepping in to save humanity from itself and its own worst excesses, but following that path leads to authoritarianism and fascism (ideas better, more thoroughly explored in Watchmen and The Boys).

While Sam continues to think otherwise, Stallone’s superhero, 25 years past his last, fatal encounter with his presumably deceased brother, obviously believes superheroes are the problem and not the solution (a somewhat reasonable position), but as Samaritan tracks Joe and Sam’s friendship, Sam giving Joe the son he never had, Joe giving Sam the father he lost to street violence well before the film’s opening scene, it gets closer and closer to embracing, if not outright endorsing Sam’s power fantasies, right through a literally and figuratively explosive ending. Might, as always, wins regardless of how righteous or justified the underlying action.

It’s what superhero audiences want, apparently, and what Samaritan uncritically delivers via a woefully under-rendered finale involving not just unconvincing CGI fire effects, but a videogame cut-scene quality Stallone in a late-film flashback sequence that’s meant to be subversively revelatory, but will instead lead to unintentional laughter for anyone who’s managed to sit the entirety of Samaritan’s one-hour and 40-minute running time.

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Samaritan is now streaming worldwide on Prime Video.

Samaritan

Cast
  • Sylvester Stallone
  • Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton
  • Pilou Asbæk

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Matt Shakman Is In Talks To Direct ‘Fantastic Four’

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According to a new report, Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct the upcoming MCU project, Fantastic Four. Marvel Studios has been very hush-hush regarding Fantastic Four to the point where no official announcements have been made other than the film’s release date. No casting news or literally anything other than rumors has been released regarding the project. We know that Fantastic Four is slated for release on November 8th, 2024, and will be a part of Marvel’s Phase 6. There are also rumors that the cast of the new Fantastic Four will be announced at the D23 Expo on September 9th.

Fantastic Four is still over two years from release, and we assume we will hear more news about the project in the coming months. However, the idea of the Fantastic Four has already been introduced into the MCU. John Krasinski played Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The cameo was a huge deal for fans who have been waiting a long time for the Fantastic Four to enter the MCU. When Disney acquired Twenty Century Fox in 2019 we assumed that the Fox Marvel characters would eventually make their way into the MCU. It’s been 3 years and we already have had an X-Men and Fantastic Four cameo – even if they were from another universe.

Deadline is reporting that Wandavision’s Matt Shakman is in talks to direct Fantastic Four. Shakman served as the director for Wandavision and has had an extensive career. He directed two episodes of Game of Thrones and an episode of The Boys, and he had a long stint on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There is nothing official yet, but Deadline’s sources say that Shakman is currently in talks for the job and things are headed in the right direction.

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To be honest, I was a bit more excited when Jon Watts was set to direct. I’m sure Shakman is a good director, but Watts proved he could handle a tentpole superhero film with Spider-Man: Homecoming. Wandavision was good, but Watts’ style would have been perfect for Fantastic Four. The film is probably one of the most anticipated films in Marvel’s upcoming slate films and they need to find the best person they can to direct. Is that Matt Shakman? It could be, but whoever takes the job must realize that Marvel has a lot riding on this movie. The other Fantastic Four films were awful and fans deserve better. Hopefully, Marvel knocks it out of the park as they usually do. You can see for yourself when Fantastic Four hits theaters on November 8th, 2024.

Film Synopsis: One of Marvel’s most iconic families makes it to the big screen: the Fantastic Four.

Source: Deadline

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Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase Star in ‘Zombie Town’ Mystery Teen Romancer (Exclusive)

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Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase have entered Zombie Town, a mystery teen romancer based on author R.L. Stine’s book of the same name.

The indie, now shooting in Ontario, also stars Henry Czerny and co-teen leads Marlon Kazadi and Madi Monroe. The ensemble cast includes Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch of the Canadian comedy show Kids in the Hall.

Canadian animator Peter Lepeniotis will direct Zombie Town. Stine’s kid’s book sees a quiet town upended when 12-year-old Mike and his friend, Karen, see a horror movie called Zombie Town and unexpectedly see the title characters leap off the screen and chase them through the theater.

Zombie Town will premiere in U.S. theaters before streaming on Hulu and then ABC Australia in 2023.

“We are delighted to bring the pages of R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town to the screen and equally thrilled to be working with such an exceptional cast and crew on this production. A three-time Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award winner with book sales of over $500 million, R.L. Stine has a phenomenal track record of crafting stories that engage and entertain audiences,” John Gillespie, Trimuse Entertainment founder and executive producer, said in a statement.

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Executive producers are Trimuse Entertainment, Toonz Media Group, Lookout Entertainment, Viva Pictures and Sons of Anarchy actor Kim Coates.  

Paco Alvarez and Mark Holdom of Trimuse negotiated the deal to acquire the rights to Stine’s Zombie Town book.

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