The Matrix
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Movie Reviews of The Matrix
Movie Review: On my Top Ten List for 1998
Summary: 5 Stars
The Matrix is a stunning sci-fi thriller from the remarkable Wachowski brothers, who CO-wrote and CO-directed it. With just a couple of small independent films under their belts, the Wachowskis were somehow able to propel themselves into the front line of big budget film making. So skittish was the management team at Warner Brothers over the project that it opted to take on an Australian finical partner. Making The Matrix in Australia further lowered Warner's risk. Now that the film is a worldwide smash hit, the company must split the profits and the credit. Welcome to the New Hollywood, a place run by business types who make decisions based not on gut instinct, but on a wealth of computer data. Ironically, The Matrix is about the fate of a world that carries its reliance on computers too far. The movie opens in the year 1999. Or is it 1999 at all? We find Tom Anderson living two lives. By day he is an employee at a powerful software company. By night he is a computer hacker known as Neo. Without giving the plot away, I can say that all his life, Anderson has felt that the world is somehow vaguely askew. In his secret life on the Internet, he has become obsessed with a man know only as Morpheus, who is wanted by the authorities for computer sabotage. One night he is lead to a disco where he meets a strange and beautiful girl called Trinity. She is also a hacker and can arrange for him to meet Morpheus. The plot then gets very thick indeed.
In another irony, I have never seen a film that integrates computer graphics and effects into the story as well as The Matrix does. The subject matter demands a heavy reliance on special effects. In fact, prior to the introduction of digital technology, such a movie would have been extremely difficult to make. Its theme and tone are much like another sci-fi classic, Blade Runner, but that earlier movie did not have to bend the rules of space and time in the ways The Matrix does.
Despite all it technical wizardry, The Matrix's driving force is its riveting thriller of a story. Glorious special effects, for once, enhance the memorable characters. The theme may owe its origins to the best of the comic books, but this does not detract from it, any more than it did from the first Superman and Batman movies.
Keanu Reeves is excellent as Neo. It's not the kind of performance that wins an Oscar. It's the kind one remembers long after one forgets who won the Oscar. Like the late Cary Grant, Reeves is more star and personality than actor. Grant played Grant better than anyone else, and only Reeves can play Reeves. Laurence Fishburne gives his usual strong yet thoughtful performance in the role of Morpheus. Carrie-Ann Moss plays Trinity with both relish and style.
The Matrix is a big, splashy show, and it is less spectacular on video than it was on the big screen. Still, most of the big events play reasonable well when shrunk down, and the story itself is perhaps a bit enhanced on video.
Both a thrill ride and a thought provoking look at mankind's tenuous relationship with reality, The Matrix is unlike any movie you are likely to see this year. In fact, I haven't admired a high profile sci-fi thriller this much since Alien, Aliens and Blade Runner in the early 1980s.
Movie Review: Classic...
Summary: 5 Stars
If there has to be a quint- essential film for the end of the millennium, this is it. I've never seen a movie that blended so exhilaratingly high-concept science- fiction, nerve pounding action and philosophical allegory, a movie in which content and style are so in synch. Keanu Reeves (surprisingly cool in Jet Li mode) stars as Thomas Anderson, a mild-mannered software programmer who moonlights as an expert hacker under the name of Neo. His existence is about to change drastically when he's contacted by a mysterious group of rebels led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne, impeccable), who believes that Neo is the chosen one and is determined to prepare him to face his destiny : freeing the human race from the Matrix. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is; you have to see it for yourself. Besides, I don't want to spoil one of the film's pleasures, which is to gradually discover the truth at the same time as Neo. I'll just say it has something to do with the world as we know it being just an illusion created by an empire of intelligent machines where a small Resistance struggle to defeat the deadly Agents.
The film was written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, whose sexy, stylish film noir "Bound" was an extremely promising debut. I was really looking forward to see what they would do with some real money, and man was I not disappointed. Their sophomore effort is unique, ambitious and thought-provoking. The plot is very interesting: it's an exploration of how much we can or can not trust what our minds sense as reality. The film's nightmarish theory is that what we call reality is actually some kind of computer enhanced virtual reality. Therefore, it is possible to bend or break the rules we take for granted, gravity for instance. That's what Neo, Morpheus and their crew (which include Carrie-Anne Moss as a tough babe and Joe Pantoliano as a shady lad) are set to do, and so are the Wachowski brothers. With plenty of imagination ant the first-rate SFX to support it, they crafted one of the most visually stunning films ever.
What's amazing is that all the nifty visual tricks they use never feel forced or show-offy: it always feels natural within the film's universe. I also love the idea that the characters are able to download knowledge unto their brains. The Wachowski had the particularly brilliant brainchild to have their heroes use this technique to turn themselves into experts at jiu-jitsu, kung fu, tae kwan do, kempo and even drunken boxing! This leads to some of the most out-of-this-world fights this side of Hong Kong (the fights were actually choreographed by HK legend Yuen Wo Ping). This is in part what makes "The Matrix" so special. Unlike most high-concept sci-fi (like last year's "Dark City"), it is not only visionary and intelligent but also as action packed as any Aliens or Blade. It's the kind of movie that never stops surprising you. In a way, "The Matrix" is about the magic of cinema itself, about how filmmakers like the Wachowski bros simulate reality and have the power to bend its rules to fit their vision.
Movie Review: Reality? You can't handle reality!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever wanted to be important, to live a life that matters? Well take a look at "The Matrix" because it starts with the premise that we are all living pointless lives, slaves to frighteningly powerful beings that prevent everyone from knowing their true state. Here enters the myth. There will come a redeemer, who will see through all deception and become the perfect warrior in mankind's cause. He will be the "ONE". I don't know what possessed the Wachowski brothers to turn a borderline successful comic book idea into a sixty million dollar extravaganza. But WOW! I'm so glad they did. Talk about entertainment, this film keeps your butt firmly on the edge of your seat and your jaw on the floor. The action is intense, the plot is multi-layered and the effects are sumptuous. I should also point out that for a cast that knows little about martial arts, (a few months training prior to the filming), they sure can fake it. You will believe a man can fly.
Science fiction has explored the implications of virtual reality fairly thoroughly over the past two decades. From Steven Lisberger's "Tron" to Star Trek's "Holo Deck", we're well versed on the idea that the virtual will some day rival the actual. With The Matrix however, it is all brought together into a frightening whole. At times you will wonder about your own reality... what if?
But then, we don't need to wonder, because it's laid out clear and sharp on the big screen. Imagine a world were the entire population lives in jelly filled pods, jacked into a simulation as real as God's imagination. Except for a few "naturals", who have either been born outside of the Matrix or brought out, the populous goes about their angst filled lives, little knowing how pointless it all is. Talk about an existentialist's wet dream. But what of those non-conformists on the outside?
We meet them through Neo, a corporate neophyte and part time hacker. The powers-that-be have turned their attention to young Neo, (Keanu Reeves), not for his illegal computer hobbies but because the mysterious Morpheus, leader of the underground, has shown an interest in him. Thus commences Neo's fall into wonderland and as with Alice, there are strange creatures, confusing situations and rulers who seem keen to take his head.
Dragged kicking and screaming out of the Matrix and into the real world, Neo learns the truth and finds he now has the responsibility of saving the world, thrust on his sculpted shoulders. He's not alone though, Morpheus and the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar (a strange and futuristic vessel that is their real world home), are just as keen to reclaim the planet. Morpheous becomes Neo's mentor, teaching him the skills he needs to do battle with the master machines. Their evil face is expressed within the Matrix in the form of seemingly invulnerable Agents. And all Neo has to do, is the impossible... with a little love on the side. Perfect!
Movie Review: Open your eyes copper top!
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever wanted to be important, to live a life that matters? Well take a look at "The Matrix" because it starts with the premise that we are all living pointless lives, slaves to frighteningly powerful beings that prevent everyone from knowing their true state. Here enters the myth. There will come a redeemer, who will see through all deception and become the perfect warrior in mankind's cause. He will be the "ONE".I don't know what possessed the Wachowski brothers to turn a borderline successful comic book idea into a sixty million dollar extravaganza. But WOW! I'm so glad they did. Talk about entertainment, this film keeps your butt firmly on the edge of your seat and your jaw on the floor. The action is intense, the plot is multi-layered and the effects are sumptuous. I should also point out that for a cast that knows little about martial arts, (a few months training prior to the filming), they sure can fake it. You will believe a man can fly.
Science fiction has explored the implications of virtual reality fairly thoroughly over the past two decades. From Steven Lisberger's "Tron" to Star Trek's "Holo Deck", we're well versed on the idea that the virtual will some day rival the actual. With The Matrix however, it is all brought together into a frightening whole. At times you will wonder about your own reality... what if?
But then, we don't need to wonder, because it's laid out clear and sharp on the big screen. Imagine a world were the entire population lives in jelly filled pods, jacked into a simulation as real as God's imagination. Except for a few "naturals", who have either been born outside of the Matrix or brought out, the populous goes about their angst filled lives, little knowing how pointless it all is. Talk about an existentialist's wet dream. But what of those non-conformists on the outside?
We meet them through Neo, a corporate neophyte and part time hacker. The powers-that-be have turned their attention to young Neo, (Keanu Reeves), not for his illegal computer hobbies but because the mysterious Morpheus, leader of the underground, has shown an interest in him. Thus commences Neo's fall into wonderland and as with Alice, there are strange creatures, confusing situations and rulers who seem keen to take his head.
Dragged kicking and screaming out of the Matrix and into the real world, Neo learns the truth and finds he now has the responsibility of saving the world, thrust on his sculpted shoulders. He's not alone though, Morpheus and the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar (a strange and futuristic vessel that is their real world home), are just as keen to reclaim the planet. Morpheous becomes Neo's mentor, teaching him the skills he needs to do battle with the master machines. Their evil face is expressed within the Matrix in the form of seemingly invulnerable Agents. And all Neo has to do, is the impossible... with a little love on the side. Perfect!
Movie Review: Knock Knock HAL, Decker & Neo and The Terminator Are Waiting
Summary: 5 Stars
It didn't take long for cyberspace to fill up with comparisons between The Matrix and Blade Runner - but where are the comparisons to 2001 and The Terminator. When Blade Runner was originally released in 1982, it was considered to be a truly visionary prediction on what the future could hold. We knew that technology would have a profound effect on us, but Rigley Scott's masterpiece envisioned technology embodied in the form of human beings. Blade Runner borrowed the concept of machines struggling to be human from another great science fiction epic of the late 60's, 2001 - A Space Odyssey. Although Kubrick and Scott both demonstrated an incredible sense of foresight, they could not have anticipated how technology would truly develop. James Cameron, who recently sank the Titanic to cash in $$$, also demonstrated vision in the sci-fi/action magnum opus, The Terminator. Fast-forward 17 years from Blade Runner and The Terminator to 1999 and the birth of The Internet. Andy and Larry Wachowski take Kubrick's original vision plus 30 years of technological innovation and blow past Scott and Cameron to create what should be considered the best science fiction /action movie that Hollywood has ever made. This is a movie that races beyond almost everyone's imagination and the majority of people's comprehension. I have spoken to a number of non-net savvy people about their thoughts on this movie and most have indicated that although the action sequences were great, they weren't really sure what was going on with the plot.
For people who understand the potential impact of the Internet on our society, this movie is generally considered to be a thought-provoking masterwork. When HAL was introduced in 2001, the general public could easily understand the concept of a computer attempting to invoke human emotion. The Terminator's concept of machines displacing/eliminating people was easily understood in the 80's because people started to lose their jobs to technology. Decker's moral conflict on the cold blooded murder of machines challenged the general public to stretch their imagination towards the potential problems created by technology. All three represent relatively easy concepts to understand. The Matrix makes these ideas seem like child's play.
In addition to the profound subject matter, the Wachowski brothers demonstrate an uncanny knack to combine all of the "hip" elements of our culture into one very slick package. Many of the great visionary director styles are demonstrated in this super charged flick. Scenes range from the John Woo's "bullets falling from the sky" and martial arts sequences to David Fincher's dark and foreboding background shots. The characters are all great (Amazingly - Even Keanu Is Good) and the action is relentless. The concept of virtual reality plays perfectly to the suspension of disbelief and this movie soars because of it. If you want to be challanged by a thought provoking concept, this is the total package!!