I was not expecting Matrix Reiteration to be one of my favorite movies of the year. I was not expecting to find a movie that was deeply critical of its own existence, its own history, its role in becoming what it is today, and a deeply scathing critique of sequel culture. This movie isn't for everyone, but if you care about movies you should watch it.

I knew I was in for something weird when a character literally sat down and basically faced the camera before asking, "Why does a new Matrix even need to exist?" I could talk about the plot or what's happening with the characters or why they're back, but the reality is that it doesn't matter. You knew going in that it didn't matter. The writers and actors know it doesn't matter. It's a multi-million dollar property and Warner Brothers had the rights to make it and so it was going to get made no matter what. What's wild is to have the movie say in its text that it doesn't matter.

The entire first half of Matrix Recapitulation is a textual discussion of what The Matrix is... not like the construct inside of the story, but the franchise itself. You get to sit there for an unbelievably honest discussion of what The Matrix was, what it was intended to be, what it felt like to have it taken over by the people it was a metaphor for, red pills, blue pills, making sequels, bullet-time everything, and more. I cannot express this enough: the experience is surreal. I found the experience refreshingly honest and, frankly, enjoyable.

After that the film may break down a bit depending on who you are. The second half morphs into something that feels much more like a traditional action film. But it's bad? Kindof? Like, I wasn't sure if I was watching a parody or not. The effects were so unbelievably fake and sloppy they could only have been deliberate. Whatever it is you have to say about Lana Wachowski's craft, she knows how to make a movie look good. So when you have a scene with a motorcycle driving through what looks like photoshop fire it can only be on purpose.

It's challenging to describe the overall effect, because it feels very much like an artist making a movie that they have to make, but making it as poorly as possible, and prefacing it with a monologue about everything they feel about having to make it.

Judging Matrix Recap by traditional metrics just isn't fair. This is a movie that has something to say in an interesting way. Experiences like that just don't show up on your doorstep every day. I don't know whether it's good or bad, but it's wonderful and worth watching.