I remember the buzz when the first film came out in theaters. I was still a university student and the dystopian storyline of how some individuals try to break free from the system, i.e. the Matrix, was simply fascinating. Especially to a rebel at heart like me. In a future, dominated by self-aware artificial intelligence, with major influences from martial arts and anime, the characters of Morpheus, how ironical a name, Trinity, another word pun, and their team try to save Neo, a hacker, and ultimately the human race, from the virtual reality they are immersed in. Morpheus explains to Neo: "You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes"... Ah, that rabbit hole! Will Neo choose to take the red pill? Or the blue one? What would happen next? What consequences will his choice(s) have? The urban culture around the blue and red pills has thrived for more than 20 years now. If we are to examine where we stand today, did our choices as a human race catapult us forward? Or did the opposite happen? We are currently trapped in a world of bizarreness, to say the least. Where science cannot be refuted or discussed, and fallacious argumentation seems to have taken over... In 1999, The Matrix created a hype among philosophers and theologists from various backgrounds. People were worried about the millennium bug and I remember several of my friends digging out Plato's Allegory of the Cave to be discussed. And so it was with some sort of excitement, that when in 2003, The Matrix - Reloaded, and later that same year, The Matrix - Revolutions, were released, people flocked to watch how that story would unfold. I remember watching only Reloaded and generally not being thrilled by it, for a reason that was pretty vague in my mind. I loved the freeway chase and didn't recall much of the rest. So when the fourth flick came out in 2021, I had to go through a marathon of The Matrix to make sure I remembered the narrative correctly. And if I would enjoy the releases of 2003. That wasn't the case. I think the best is still the first motion picture. And with each following feature, I got more and more bored. I barely finished the third. I took several days' break to start Resurrections. I even tried to stop and continue watching on a different day. To no avail. I couldn't even bring myself to finish it, because it seemed so insipid and mainly focused on the relationship between Neo and Trinity more than anything else. If you are not a Matrix fan, I wouldn't recommend you waste your time. Watching the original would amply suffice...
Red or Blue pill.. Which is it going to be?
