If you’re a fan of mind-bending sci-fi films, The Matrix Resurrections is definitely a movie you don’t want to miss. The film follows the protagonist as he navigates his way through a world where the line between reality and virtual reality is blurred. With its stunning visual effects and thought-provoking plot, The Matrix Resurrections is sure to keep you entertained from beginning to end. However, our Neo played by Keanu Reeves has gone through some serious threats lately.
What is the matter?
Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves has received the threats of “Chinese nationalists” threatening to boycott his film The Matrix Resurrections in retaliation. All this happened after the star Keanu Reeves agreed to join the Tibet House U.S. Benefit Concert in March. The backlash from angry Chinese patriots is known as “little pinks”.
Founded in 1987, Tibet House is a New York-based educational nonprofit committed to the preservation of Tibetan culture. The group was established by supporters of the Dalai Lama and Beijing authorities have labelled it as a separatist organization advocating Tibetan independence, according to DNA. The Chinese government maintains that Tibet is a part of China, though many people in the region believe that they are ruled by the Dalai Lama, whom China considers a separatist threat.
Here are some noted attacks against Reeves
“How can Keanu Reeves not understand this and take part in a pro-Tibet independence concert?” CHINAD8, an account on the Chinese social media site Weibo posted according to the publication. “Aren’t these celebrities afraid of losing the China market?”
Another Weibo user posted, “‘The Matrix Resurrections’ can be taken down,” while another wrote “get out of the Chinese market, thank you,” Variety reported.“These high school graduates in Hollywood can’t even identify where Tibet is on the map, but they ‘care’ if people there are leading a good life,” another user wrote on Weibo.“He’s already a has-been. What kind of market value does he have?” one user questioned. “Tibet belongs to China,” another account stressed.
There are other western actors who met threats after supporting Tibet
It is not Revees who is the first to have been met with this opposition. There were other Hollywood actors who met the same situation after having contact in any form with Tibet.”Several western celebrities have seen their personal brands iced out of China’s massive entertainment market after voicing support for Tibet in the past. Richard Gere has been banned from Chinese screens for years over his vocal support for Tibet, a fact that he has said caused him to lose movie deals in Hollywood, where studios previously coveted the growth potential of the China market” DNA points out.
Brad Pitt was also banned for nearly two decades after starring in the film ‘Seven Years’ in Tibet in 1997. Lady Gaga functionally has been prohibited from performing in the country ever since she met with the Dalai Lama in 2016. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves previously accounted for a sizable number of fans in China, thanks to both to his Chinese ancestry and the fact that he filmed his directorial debut, `Man of Tai Chi`, in the country, with support from the state-backed China Film Group.
Step back into the Matrix with this new poster for The Matrix Resurrections. Watch it in theaters and on HBO Max* this Christmas. #TheMatrix pic.twitter.com/85le51WcRg
— The Matrix Resurrections (@TheMatrixMovie) November 17, 2021
A critical review of The Matrix Resurrections
Rotten Tomatoes gave an approved rating of 62% based on 315 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The site’s critics consensus reads: “If it lacks the original’s bracingly original craft, The Matrix Resurrections revisits the world of the franchise with wit, a timely perspective, and heart.”
The Independent gave the film 4 out of 5 and wrote, “The Matrix Resurrections ends with a literal call to the powers of sentimentality, empowerment and freedom – it ponders whether humanity finds any value in them which, in turn, seems to really ask whether audiences still have any interest in blockbusters of this purity and ambition. For my own stake, at least, I hope they do.”
The Guardian gave the film 2 out of 5 and wrote: “Really, Resurrections doesn’t do much to remove the anticlimax that hung like a cloud over the cinema auditorium at the end of the third film in 2003. This movie is set up to initiate a possible new series, but there is no real creative life in it. Where the original film was explosively innovatory, this is just another piece of IP, an algorithm of unoriginality.”