The Matrix
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Movie Reviews of The Matrix
Movie Review: Mind-Bending, Genre-defining film
Summary: 5 Stars
I concept of the world not being as it seems and the feeling that wool is being pulled over ones eyes is just the very tip of the enormous iceberg that is "The Matrix". Released in early 1999 without much fanfare, but with surprisingly high number of positive critical reviews, "The Matrix" became a science fiction and cinematic juggernaut not seen since the days of the original "Star Wars". It produced a mind-bending story dealing with a fascinating take on reality. It also revolutionized the movie industry through its use of mind-numbing, computer-generated, special effects including the now-famous stop-motion technique known as 'bullet time'. In the same manner by which George Lucas redefined the special effects industry with "Star Wars" in 1977, which created an influence which has been seen in countless movies in the quarter-century since, the Wachowski brothers did the same following "The Matrix". The 'bullet time' technique has been borrowed, ripped-off, and parodied in so many forms in the past four years, one forgets that it was only four years ago that this was introduced to the masses. The premise of "The Matrix posits the notion that the world we see and live in is not the true reality. Instead, it is a computer-generated 'virtual reality' designed to make the human mind believe it is living a normal life when, in truth, they are simply crops to be harvested for energy by a vicious race of machines who took control of Earth some 200 years earlier. The very method by which the machines keep humans in bondage is also the means by which many of the humans strike back to reclaim humanity's domain over the world. It is called The Matrix. A cranial connection into this elaborate computer system is what enables the machines to control the human mind. It is also how the few bands of rogue humans who have managed to escape the system will free other humans and seek to bring about the machines destruction. Operating on the theory of 'nature always finds a way', a few anomalies among humans realized that the Matrix wasn't real, broke free, and began the struggle to free all humans connected to the system. The leader of one of these rogue groups, Morpheus, believes he is destined to find 'The One', the individual who will be able fight the machines and defeat them. He believes this 'One' is Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), better known as Neo. He believes that Neo will be the one who can defeat the machines and their 'Agent' programs in the Matrix where so many before him failed.
There is a definite mentor-student relationship that takes place between Morpheus and Neo, as well as all the obligatory training and education scenes as Neo comes to understand what reality is. Where this might seem perfunctory in other movies, in "The Matrix" it is amazing as each new path inspires a sense of awe in the viewer. Some believe this movie has no plot or a convoluted one. In truth, it is a plot with such depth that this movie has developed an almost religious following among its fans and in-depth analysis among academics and philosophers. There is not one frame of wasted film throughout the entire movie. Each character has a defined purpose and each one fits perfectly into the overall story arc. In addition to Morpheus and Neo, there is the tough, yet vulnerable Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) and well-developed characters like Cypher and the Oracle. "The Matrix" also introduces the audience to one of the best cinematic villains to come along since Arnold Schwarzenneger's Terminator and "Star Wars" Darth Vader. It is one of the 'Agent' programs designed to eliminate the threat posed by these humans. He is called Agent Smith and he is played with such frightening menace by actor Hugo Weaving. Seemingly indestructible and definitely unpredictable, Agent Smith provokes the greatest fear among the brave band who do battle inside the Matrix.
The beauty of "The Matrix" is that it is still as strong four years later as it was when it was first released. The phenomenal success of this film led the Wachowskis to create trilogy out of this story. It has the power and potential to be as strong a remembered as fondly as the original "Star Wars" trilogy. To be able to be there at the beginning of such an amazing story now lets me understand how audiences felt in 1977 when they saw "Star Wars" for the first time.
Movie Review: The Matrix Movie Review
Summary: 5 Stars
What is The Matrix? Oozing cool, this sci-fi action thriller draws parallels from biblical stories, countless religions and ancient Japanese lore. To say that it must be seen for yourself is no understatement. Revolutionary special effects, spawning dozens of notorious parodies, most notably during a 1999 Super Bowl commercial, ultra hip wardrobes and Gatling gun action firepower, The Matrix single-handedly saved Warner Bros. from a lengthy cinema slump, and put the "awesome" back in R-rated films and black leather apparel.
Neo (Keanu Reeves) is a computer hacker who is plagued by thoughts of the indecipherability of the real world and the dream world. When he is mysteriously contacted by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), an infamous and regaled underworld leader, he follows clues and the shapely messenger Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) to unlock the secrets of the Matrix. To know more would spoil the ingenious and surrealism of this masterful film; needless to say, Neo wanders down the rabbit hole to see how far it goes.
Redefining cool, the action and stunts in The Matrix are nothing short of unbelievable. Focusing heavily on carefully choreographed martial arts battles and highflying helicopter stunts, this film will enliven your faith in the action genre.
Utilizing slow motion in a dance of magical cinematography, scenes which would otherwise be exceptional are transformed into pure genius. A helicopter shootout on a rooftop with gushing water, blazing bullets, slow motion diving through mid-air, and a plethora of machine-gun bullets kicking out of a mounted Gatling gun so hard and fast that they fall like metal rain, is only one example of stylized action that is truly beyond unique. In perhaps the most famous scene of the franchise, Neo and Trinity march through a heavily guarded security terminal packing dozens of automatic weapons - all in beautiful slow motion. To see the look of shock on the security officers faces as they set off the alarm and open fire on the unsuspecting guards is sheer bliss. What ensues is the gunfight of the 20th century as they defy gravity and blast their way through a hallway loaded with shotgun-toting SWAT troopers.
Magnificently blending science-fiction action and a good old-fashioned love story, to delve too deeply into the intricacy of The Matrix is to do it injustice. Complex and well-organized, the multiple colliding themes of betrayal, destiny, fate and hope, help to serve up a scrumptious cinematic dish. The detail-oriented acting and character development is outstanding, and drives the film with sincerity and determination. The sinister Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving, is immortalized as one of the greatest screen villains and manages to be cool and collected in a disconcerting manner, and startlingly malevolent in his final confrontation with Neo. Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus is stern, resolute and commanding. Trinity is the anti-femme fatale, lithe and sexy in her shiny black leather and skillfully deadly. These admirable and awe-inspiring characters are intertwined into an intricate world magnificently crafted by the Wachowski Brothers. Their previous feature, Bound, proved they had a knack for eye-pleasing storytelling and characters. The Matrix is inspired by many themes and ideas suggested in Japanese Manga comics, but the way the characters and storyline is depicted is a vision for which they deserve undivided credit.
The special effects are particularly noteworthy as brand new technology and CG methods were invented for several of the shocking fight sequences. During the rooftop melee, bullets pierce the air around Neo and he reels backward in an attempt to dodge them. While ripples of waves circulate around the slowed down bullets, the camera circles around him in over 360°. Special features on the DVD supplement The Matrix Revisited delve into the complex camera set up and green screen approach used for this often mimicked shot.
Few science-fiction films have been so heavily praised, let alone a film from less than ten years ago. The Matrix spawned two sequels, as well as The Animatrix, a collection of animated films, as well as video games, comics, action figure lines and more. If you haven't seen this film, don't delay - The Matrix is waiting for you.
- Mike Massie
Movie Review: The movie that started it all.
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie that started it all. The Matrix came completely out of the blue. No one had ever heard of the directors, the Wachowski brothers. Their only other movie directorial effort was Bound, which no one ever saw. (Turns out, Bound was simply an audition to prove to the studios that they knew how to direct and could handle the project that was The Matrix). The actors were a mixed bag of good actors (Laurence Fishburne, Joe Pantoliano), bad actors (Keanu Reeves) and then unknown actors (Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving). The previews gave nothing away. You were simply left with the question What Is The Matrix? and a few images of some very cool action. The only thing I knew at the time was that I HAD to go see the movie the night it was released.Before I go any further, I need to make a confession. I am the target demographic for this movie. As such, my opinion of this movie is biased from the word go. I love video games, I like kung fu, I like science fiction, I like comic books, and I like technology. The one overwhelming mantra of The Matrix is that the Wachowski brothers use everything, pop culture, religion, video games, you name it and blend it all together to make something new. Since they used all the things that I like already, the movie was a wicked cocktail that hooked me from the instant I tasted it. I loved the story, the action, the cinematography, even the acting.
Fishburne and Joey Pants are great character actors and I tend to love their work regardless of the film their in. Keanu Reeves is a different story. Other than the Bill & Ted movies, Keanus acting hasnt been all that good. Johnny Mnemonic was a bomb in no small part thanks to Keanus lack of skill as an actor. Hes stiff, doesnt convey a lot of emotion and his delivery is stilted. His main redeeming quality is that he looks good. All his negatives became positives in the Wachowskis hands. The character of Neo is one where you need someone stiff and emotionless, but looks good as hes kicking ....... Keanu more than fits the bill. This was the role he was meant to play.
The story was good, but the storytelling was the hallmark for me. For many people the cinematography was all new to them. Some people had never seen camera angles like they found in the Matrix, but I had in comic books and in Japanese Animation aka anime. In comic books, the method of storytelling is done through still images. Although that may sound somewhat stilted, it can actually give some freedom because each frame and show you more detail, slow things down, or speed things up. If anything it gives you a wide latitude with perspective. Anime takes a similar approach because much of anime is done on such a small budget. For example, one trick that anime uses is to take a still image and have the camera move from left to right. This gives the impression of movement, but its really just a single still image. These tricks created an entire style that anime still uses today even though the budget may be bigger.
The Wachowskis came from a comic book background, and one of the things that they were trying to do was bring some of the storytelling style from comic books and anime to the silver screen. Trinitys jump, bullet time, and the fight between Neo and Agent Smith in the subway are all examples of 2d comic book and Japanese anime style that was realized in film. Motion pictures, comic books and animation are all simply mediums to tell a story. The Wachowski brothers blended the styles and blurred the lines between the mediums.
The techniques that the directors used in the Matrix changed film as we know it. Hardly any action movie today doesnt use kung fu wire work. Charlies Angels, The Rundown, and even Le Pacte des Loups all used the fighting style made popular in The Matrix. Star Wars may have been a landmark movie because it changed how science fiction was done, but The Matrix did that and more. The ripple effect of this movie has left its mark on so many filmakers that its hard to watch any action or science fiction film and not see touches of The Matrix in them.
In 1999 the Wachowski brothers released a landmark film that changed film, and to some extent our culture, forever. It came out of the blue and blew us all away. It would be four years before their story could continue, but it was all worth the wait.
Movie Review: The Matrix of Reality
Summary: 5 Stars
In the visually tantalizing movie, "The Matrix", a breed of AI computers takes over the world. It harvests human embryos in laboratories called "fields". It then feeds them through grim looking tubes and keeps them immersed in gelatinous liquid in cocoons. This new "machine species" derives its energy needs from the electricity produced by the billions of human bodies thus preserved. A sophisticated, all-pervasive, computer program called "The Matrix" generates a "world" inhabited by the consciousness of the unfortunate human batteries. Ensconced in their shells, they see themselves walking, talking, working and making love. This is a tangible and olfactory phantasm masterfully created by the Matrix. Its computing power is mind boggling. It generates the minutest details and reams of data in a spectacularly successful effort to maintain the illusion. A group of human miscreants succeeds to learn the secret of the Matrix. They form an underground and live aboard a ship, loosely communicating with a halcyon city called "Zion", the last bastion of resistance. In one of the scenes, Cypher, one of the rebels defects. Over a glass of (illusory) rubicund wine and (spectral) juicy steak, he poses the main dilemma of the movie. Is it better to live happily in a perfectly detailed delusion - or to survive unhappily but free of its hold?
The Matrix controls the minds of all the humans in the world. It is a bridge between them, they inter-connected through it. It makes them share the same sights, smells and textures. They remember. They compete. They make decisions. The Matrix is sufficiently complex to allow for this apparent lack of determinism and ubiquity of free will. The root question is: is there any difference between making decisions and feeling certain of making them (not having made them)? If one is unaware of the existence of the Matrix, the answer is no. From the inside, as a part of the Matrix, making decisions and appearing to be making them are identical states. Only an outside observer - one who in possession of full information regarding both the Matrix and the humans - can tell the difference.
Moreover, if the Matrix were a computer program of infinite complexity, no observer (finite or infinite) would have been able to say with any certainty whose a decision was - the Matrix's or the human's. And because the Matrix, for all intents and purposes, is infinite compared to the mind of any single, tube-nourished, individual - it is safe to say that the states of "making a decision" and "appearing to be making a decision" are subjectively indistinguishable. No individual within the Matrix would be able to tell the difference. His or her life would seem to him or her as real as ours are to us. The Matrix may be deterministic - but this determinism is inaccessible to individual minds because of the complexity involved. When faced with a trillion deterministic paths, one would be justified to feel that he exercised free, unconstrained will in choosing one of them. Free will and determinism are indistinguishable at a certain level of complexity.
Yet, we KNOW that the Matrix is different to our world. It is NOT the same. This is an intuitive kind of knowledge, for sure, but this does not detract from its firmness. If there is no subjective difference between the Matrix and our Universe, there must be an objective one. Another key sentence is uttered by Morpheus, the leader of the rebels. He says to "The Chosen One" (the Messiah) that it is really the year 2199, though the Matrix gives the impression that it is 1999.
This is where the Matrix and reality diverge. Though a human who would experience both would find them indistinguishable - objectively they are different. In one of them (the Matrix), people have no objective TIME (though the Matrix might have it). The other (reality) is governed by it.
Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited".
Movie Review: The Matrix: A Movie Spawned by Philosophical Excellence
Summary: 5 Stars
As you watch films like The Matrix you can begin to see many thematic elements hatched from previous stories. Like many movies The Matrix was put together using other pieces of literature. Three noticeable story comparisons are present in The Matrix. Alice in Wonderland is referred to directly in the movie as "Neo", the character played by Keanu Reeves is led into a new, world that is unknown to him. The story in The Matrix is actually tied closer to an ancient piece of philosophical literature. The Allegory of the Cave by Plato is a perfect match with the design for the "Matrix." The basis of The Allegory of the Cave is that man inside the cave believes all that he sees inside the cave is real. It is only until man discovers that he has been confined that he realizes the truth one step at a time. The things that he sees are shadows or variations of reality. Man sees what is making these illusions and then recognizes what the real world is. In the "Matrix" the people live out their normal lives thinking everything is real that they see. In reality the people are barely alive and are lead into a false life by A.I. Their minds' are programmed to believe that they live a normal life while in actuality they are trapped in a world controlled by machines. The Matrix seems basically to be a modernized version of this classic piece of philosophical genius. In comparison, the fantasy world created by the computers represents the cave. The cave is more detailed and modernized in this wonderful piece of Sci-Fi art. When watching the movie the transitions between the "Matrix" and the real world are so drastic that we, the audience are left in utter and complete amazement of the outcome. The Wakowski Brothers have ingeniously taken this wonderful philosophical story and rejuvenated it. Even though The Allegory of the Cave only gives The Matrix a setting and outline with room for growth it still plays a major role in the movie.
The audience begins to see evidence of the "Matrix's" unreality, as the movie uses visual and audible clues that give the knowledge that the world "Neo" lives in is in fact falsely generated. As "Neo" answers his call from "Morpheus", played by Laurence Fishburne, you can hear a sort of computer static in the ring of the phone. Then as the wind blows the phone from his grasp on the side of skyscraper, the phone visually slows down and resumes its descent at a regular pace.
This eye candy is used throughout the entire movie. Things are depicted in slow motion to the viewer to symbolize that they are moving with incredible quickness. This quickness is only shown by people who are aware of the "Matrix" and the rules of the "Matrix". The "Matrix" being a computer generated world has its rules, but like most computer programs these rules can be bent or even broken. All that is needed is the open mind and knowledge that the impossible is possible.
The Matrix uses much philosophy in its structure as a movie. Many of the ideas in the movies were taken directly from the thoughts of philosophers. For example, "Morpheus" explains that when you die in the "Matrix" you die in the real world. This is because the "Matrix" stimulates your mind to make you believe everything is real. If you die in the "Matrix" your mind dies, and your body cannot exist without your mind. This argument was made by the famous philosopher Descartes, who believes that a person is made up of two separate parts; one part body and one part mind.
I highly recommend watching The Matrix as it not only dazzles the mind with its special effects, but it expands ones mind with new enlightened thoughts. I cannot imagine a better way of showing the work of Plato to the modern world. The acting is amazingly surprising as Keanu Reeves gives his best performance in this milestone of philosophical theater art.