Keanu Reeves compares reporter's 'Matrix' sequels disappointment to 'Star Wars: Return of The Jedi'

• Keanu Reeves linked the negative audience response to the "Matrix" sequels to "Return of The Jedi."
• Both of the "Matrix" sequels and "Return of The Jedi" were panned by fans.

Keanu Reeves is "sympathetic" towards fans who were left disappointed by the "Matrix" sequels because he felt a similar feeling when he saw "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi," according to a new interview in The Guardian.

Reeves — who has reprised his role as Neo for a fourth "Matrix" film out later this week titled "The Matrix Resurrections" — was quizzed about his career and his time working on the popular sci-fi action series when the reporter told the 57-year-old actor that he had been profoundly disappointed by the "Matrix" sequels.

At that point, the article states that Reeves understood the feeling because "Return of the Jedi," the third and final installment of the original series "Star Wars," had been his "big let-down" at the age of 19.

"I went in, like, 'Wow, I wonder, are they gonna do this, and will they do that…? And then I was, like, 'Oh no. Oh no,'" Reeves said of "Return of the Jedi."

"I know that experience as a filmgoer. But I just try to let films be, y'know? I try to think about what the creators were going for. It's their work of art, man. I try to come to their art and meet it wherever it is."

The original 1999 "Matrix" film directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski is widely considered to be one of the best and most important sci-fi films in cinematic history. However, the two sequels that followed the original movie, "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions," were critically panned and derided by audiences.

Similarly, 1983's "Return of the Jedi" is regularly described as the worst film in the original "Star Wars" trilogy. In 2013, for example, IndieWire published an article entitled "How 'Return Of The Jedi' Ruined 'Star Wars' Forever."

Despite the negative reception to the sequels, the "Matrix" film franchise is still regarded as one of the most popular and successful sci-fi films in history, with the three films grossing over $1.6 billion.

"The Matrix Resurrections," the fourth film in the franchise, debuts 22 December.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly earlier this month, Reeves said he and the cast "barely rehearsed, if at all" during the production of "The Matrix Resurrections."

In February during an interview with Variety, Neil Patrick Harris, who also stars in the film, described a similarly relaxed environment on set.

He said: "It didn't feel large because it felt like she was in her sweet spot, which was filming on the fly, filming using natural light. Sometimes you'd sit around for an hour waiting for the clouds to clear, and then you'd quickly film. You'd film pages at a time in 30 minutes and then be done."