Last week I watched The Matrix Resurrections, which occurs sometime after The Matrix Revolutions (released in 2003). The story of this fourth movie is meant to be a continuation of the first trilogy while trying to capture the nostalgia of seeing old characters like Neo and Trinity. To be honest, I don’t think the movie has the same spark as the original Matrix movies, and I think that is reflected in the 63% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Putting the plot weaknesses aside, the new movie takes one of the most famous ideas of the original — bullet time — and uses it as a major plot device. If you don’t remember, bullet time is when Neo slows down time and dodges bullets. Here’s a short video to refresh your memory:
Classic Matrix scene.
Watching in 2021 reminds me that CMOs and other Marketing Executives would love to have an ability like this. My clients are constantly being hit by “silver bullets” that are meant to change marketing as we know it—big data, AI, customer experience, digital transformation, remote-first, Good to Great, etc.
Each of these “bullets” promises salvation, but it’s unclear which ones are important and which ones you can safely ignore. Being able to dodge them would allow CMOs to focus on the fundamentals. An exciting brand, a great product, and excellent go-to-market execution. Any ideas I listed above could help, but they can quickly derail teams. Data generates valuable insights, but it can also drown you in information.
Perhaps we all need to think about how to dodge the wrong bullets. Besides life-saving, it just looks cool.