Small Details You Missed In The Matrix: Resurrections Trailer

The first full trailer for "The Matrix: Resurrections" — one of the most highly anticipated sequels in recent memory — has finally arrived, and fans are going absolutely wild over all of the tiny details packed into this brand new footage.

After the first film by the Wachowskis, "The Matrix," hit theaters in 1999, the sci-fi film led by Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss became an instant sensation, spawning a franchise that included video games, anime prequels, and two sequels. Though the 2003 sequels "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions" didn't fare quite as well with fans and critics, moviegoers who loved the world of "The Matrix" — a world in which humans unwittingly inhabit a virtual reality until they "free" themselves from the simulation — still wanted more.

Now, nearly two decades later, Reeves, Moss, and fellow original trilogy alum Jada Pinkett-Smith are reprising their original roles as Neo, Trinity, and Niobe, respectively, alongside newcomers to the franchise like Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Christina Ricci, and other famous faces. With original creator Lana Wachowski at the helm, fans will likely be able to expect plenty of Easter eggs and references to the original movies scattered throughout this new installment, and that begins with this new trailer. Here are some small details you probably missed in the first full trailer for "The Matrix: Resurrections."

Just about forty five seconds into the trailer, you can see a business sign to the right as Neo walks down a city street. The sign reads "Corky's Massage," which to most people probably seems meaningless. For this detail, Wachowski isn't actually calling back to anything from previous "Matrix" films. Instead, this is a reference to a past film that the Wachowskis worked on all the way back in 1996, even before "The Matrix."

Written and directed by the Wachowski siblings, 1996's "Bound" was actually their feature-length directorial debut, so the movie holds a lot of significance for them. In "Bound," the protagonist is an ex-criminal named Corky, who is played by Gina Gershon. The movie is a neo-noir crime drama in which Corky helps a woman named Violet, played by Jennifer Tilly, get away from her violent, mafia-associated boyfriend Caesar, played by Joe Pantoliano, all the while falling in love with the woman herself.

The Corky's Massage sign is only a small detail in the new trailer, something very few people might notice, but it's a great little callback for both the director Wachowski and longtime fans of her and her sister's work.

Sometimes a seemingly innocuous object can mean a lot more that you'd realize on the surface level. Look, we all love a good bath accessory, so sometimes a rubber ducky is just a rubber ducky. But sometimes it's more than that and we have a sneaking suspicion that's the case when we see Thomas Anderson relaxing in the tub for a good soak. About 30 seconds in, our hero is reclining in a very modern-looking bathtub in what appears to be a pretty sweet looking penthouse. Perched atop his head is a rubber duck and he looks to be very contemplative indeed.

It all looks normal, unless you factor in the programming tactic of rubber duck debugging. Wait, what? According to Thoughtful Code, it's a method coders use to figure out exactly what's wrong with something that just refuses to compile; they explain their code, line by line, to the inanimate object, assuming it has no knowledge of coding whatsoever because — well, because it's a rubber duck! In doing so, they're forced to analyze what's actually on the screen — instead of allowing their brains to insert what they think should be there — and come upon the issue. 

Neo/Thomas Anderson rubber ducking in an actual bathtub seems akin to some kind of existential reflection. He's pondering aspects of his life to try to figure out what's wrong or missing, which he seems to stumble upon when meeting Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in a cafe later in the very next scene of the trailer.

This new trailer doesn't exactly try to hide that the film is returning to familiar territory. A mysterious figure (played by Jonathan Groff) at the very end of the trailer sums it up himself, saying, "...after all these years, back to the Matrix." The office itself is the most blatant reuse of scenery, but there are several other examples. For instance, Neo and this new Morpheus duke it out in a digital dojo that seems all-too similar from the original dojo featured in the first "Matrix." It's also pretty obvious that, in the scene where Neo deflects a rocket, he and Trinity are at the top of a skyscraper featured in the first film as well.

The skyscraper itself is important because much of its interior scenery — which played a major role in the rescue of Morpheus during the first film — is reused in this trailer. This includes the "rainy" sequence (it's actually the building's sprinkler system) and the lobby where Neo freezes bullets in place. Furthermore, Neo is seen dueling an agent in a subway tunnel just like he did with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in the first film. The apartment building where Neo accompanies Morpheus' crew on his first mission is also featured heavily.

All of this recurring imagery almost brings on a sense of "deja vu," which, within the films, has historically been a sign that a glitch has occurred in the Matrix. Perhaps Lana Wachowski is trying to tell us something about our own world by giving them a weird feeling about these very familiar locations.