THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS: WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD … AGAIN By KEVIN H. MARTIN
Images courtesy of Warner Bros. and DNEG. TOP: DNEG referenced Geof Darrow’s original sketches from the first film in helping to recreate and enhance various environments being revisited in The Matrix Resurrections. These locales include the gel-filled pod containing Neo’s living body. OPPOSITE TOP: The Dojo sequence was a callback to the Neo/Morpheus fight in the first film, and stylistically differed from the look of the real world and the matrix world. OPPOSITE MIDDLE AND BOTTOM: DNEG added environmental effects to provide nuances such as rippling water and falling leaves.
If the original Star Wars stood as the iconic representation of visual effects innovation for the last decades of the 20th Century, then 1999’s The Matrix surely had taken up that standard in the intervening years. Two sequels – also written and directed by the Wachowskis – may have diluted some of its impact, but the sheer excitement of the first film’s innovative bullet-time scenes raised the bar on VFX in a no-going-back-from-here way that was much aped, but rarely equaled. Working alone this time, writer-director Lana Wachowski’s return to the franchise with The Matrix Resurrections effectively subverts expectations of both fans and casual moviegoers, choosing to focus on character over flash while still managing to expand on both ‘real’ and virtual realms. For visual effects, this meant revisiting some creatures and environments from the original trilogy, but endowing them with greater verisimilitude; in equal parts, this called for creating new characters from a combination of on-set motion capture and CGI. As a veteran of the original two Matrix sequels, Visual Effects Supervisor Dan Glass offered an informed perspective on the new film’s place in the Matrix pantheon. “There was some trepidation,” he admits, “in terms of meeting audience expectations. But the goal was always to treat the film as its own entity; while it was written as a continuation, Resurrections also presented its own solid story. Visually and aesthetically, there was a deliberately chosen departure in its approach, something quite apart from its predecessors.” Part of that visual distinction came from Wachowski’s intent to shoot more in the real world and rely less on static compositions that harken back to graphic novels. “We used previs on a limited basis, mainly for the fully CG shots, so we understood how they laid out and how a camera might move through them,” states Glass. “There were also previs studies to figure out logistics in bigger sequences, but the main stylistic difference comes from being out on location rather than being studio-based, and Lana wanting to have tremendous freedom with the camera. So this one has a lot
26 • VFXVOICE.COM SPRING 2022
PG 26-32 MATRIX.indd 26
2/28/22 12:59 PM
