I like Keanu and I appreciate the metaphor of the matrix = modern day mind control. But the wachowskis stole the premise of the first Matrix movie from a 1980s story, which is why the first movie is the best. The other two were pretty bad, as was Jupiter Ascending, which shows that the wachowskis don’t have much of their own inspiration. This 4th Matrix movie is them cashing in on the franchise, and on the current redpilling climate of the real world, but they don’t have new inspiration. Your description of Matrix 4 supports my Star Wars sequel trilogy comparison.

In the spring of 2003, as people just saw Matrix 2. a popular fan theory was that Neo escaped the matrix… into another matrix. That fan theory got shot down in favor of the muddled mess of Matrix 3. Now, it seems they’re trying to retcon that the “matrix within a matrix” theory was right all along. It’s really just an excuse to reboot. If Matrix 4 has Neo in a next level matrix, then he’s effectively in the same situation as he was in 1999 at the beginning of Matrix 1. Therefore, they can recycle story elements from the original. In Star Wars, it seemed like the Rebels defeated the Empire, but it was retconned that they didn’t. They just morphed into the Resistance taking on the First Order so that the same story could be told again.