Feelings of deja vu were never the same after the release of the original Matrix movie in 1999. That feeling of 'I've been here before' actually meant that the evil machines had changed something within the code of the artificial world known as the Matrix. It was just one of the ways in which the Wachowskis' blew our minds and got us to look at reality in a different way. Does that feeling of familiarity, in fact, indicate that we're all pawns in a dangerous simulation, one that's meant to disguise the true nature of our existence?
While we leave you to speculate on that, we're presenting an exciting new deja vu-themed trailer for The Matrix: Resurrections, which reinstates the pivotal image of the black cat from the initial movie. The cat was the symbol that indicated imminent danger for Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and others, although the notion of 'changing things' now appears to have much wider implications.
The trailer cleverly overlays imagery from both Resurrections and the first movie to thoroughly scramble our brains. There are two crucial lines that are audacious in their self-awareness, almost talking directly to us, the audience: "Why use old code... to make something new?... Maybe this isn't the story we think it is..." It almost seems like a direct rebuke against those who expect Resurrections to simply be a soft reboot of the first movie.
Clearly, there's something more insidious going on, which is what we've come to expect from master stylist Lily Wachowski (now going it alone in the absence of sibling Lana), and screenwriter David Mitchell, author of the time-spanning Cloud Atlas. Personally, we're still grappling with the revelation that the formerly deceased Neo and Trinity, both of whom sacrificed themselves in 2003's The Matrix Revolutions, are apparently live and well. And we're even more intrigued by the presence of the now-youthful Morpheus, played by Candyman's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
The Matrix: Resurrections is released in Cineworld cinemas on 22nd December. If you can't wait that long, don't miss The Matrix in IMAX, screening in Cineworld from 3rd December.