Warning! This post contains spoilers for The Matrix Resurrections.
The Matrix Resurrections features an end-credits scene that completely insults the movie it follows as well as the fans its meant to entertain. The fourth movie in the Matrix franchise follows Thomas Anderson/Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, as he learns that he is back in the Matrix, living in a new simulated life designed to keep him trapped. Nearly 18 years since the release of The Matrix Revolutions, the highly anticipated fourth installment was simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max, just in time for the 2021 holidays. While familiar faces like Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Jada Pinkett-Smith returned to reprise their roles, Resurrections also introduced new characters and brought in new actors to portray updated versions of some characters.
In Resurrections, Neo is living in a new Matrix controlled by a program called the Analyst (Neil Patrick Harris). As Thomas Anderson, he is now the creator of a popular video game series called The Matrix, which tells the story of the first three films, sending Anderson into flashbacks that the Analyst convinces him are delusions. He begins to question his reality when he sees Trinity (Moss), living as an unhappily married woman named Tiffany. Soon, he is pulled out of the Matrix by a code version of Morpheus that he designed, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and a woman named Bugs (Jessica Henwick) who was awakened when she once saw Neo fly. Their goal becomes to rescue Trinity and challenge the new Matrix, which has been designed to manipulate the humans with emotion. Like many popular films released in the past decade or so, The Matrix Resurrections ends with an end-credits scene.
Instead of a scene that provides a hint about what’s next for the Matrix franchise, the Resurrections end-credits scene is a pointless scene that doubles down on the meta trope that much of the beginning of the movie focuses on. The game developers at Anderson’s firm, with whom he was working on the Matrix 4 game, are back in their boardroom pitching ideas. One of the developers suggests they put out a series of videos called “The Catrix,” because of the popularity of cat videos online. The end-credits scene turned out to be a stupid joke that takes the meta theme of the movie too far and ends up being a big disappointment for fans who have been waiting for the Matrix’s return for nearly two decades. It also seems to insult the very fans that support the franchise.
People wait for end-credits scenes to find out more about the film’s universe or get a hint for the next installment. This end-credits scene seems to do neither. In the boardroom, Zen (Purab Kohli) and GJ (Cooper Rivers), two of the game developers who had been working on The Matrix 4 game with Anderson, comedically pitch the idea for The Catrix. There is no new Matrix information given, and the scene instead continues to play with the meta trope that permeates much of the movie. It’s supposed to be funny to watch these guys pitch ideas for “The Matrix 4” while watching the real-world “Matrix 4". In this scene, it simply isn't.
Another problem is that the scene opens by insulting the modern movie-going audience, suggesting that modern audiences are impatient and prefer the instant gratification of online video. The very premise is absurd in an end-credits scene, which audiences sit patiently after the ending and wait for. It’s clear that GJ and Zen aren’t supposed to be taken seriously, and that their takes are supposed to be bad. However, their bad takes are all that is offered, making for a seriously disappointing end-credits scene that risks pulling audiences out of the movie they just sat through. Online fans who enjoy theorizing about the franchise would have obviously wanted something that hinted at what the future holds for Trinity and Neo, especially if there are no plans for a Matrix 5.
While The Matrix Resurrections is full of nostalgia and sends the Matrix franchise in a new direction, the end-credits scene does nothing to explain to audiences what that direction is. It's unclear who the scene is for, as it provides no new information that longtime fans would want. It feels like a scene that should have been left on the cutting-room floor.