The Matrix
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Movie Reviews of The Matrix
Movie Review: Surrealistic Future: Reality & Fantasy Mix
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the all time best & most creative future fantasy events on film!!! Human beings are trapped within a computer program called "The Matrix". In essence, that which was created, "the computer program", artificial intelligence and machines, becomes the ruler and human beings are imprisoned within it. The concept and meaning of "freedom" takes on a whole new dimension. Neo, a young man in his late twenties, takes a ride in a car in 1999 and is held captive, at gun-point. He goes to a run-down building where he is introduced to "Morpheus". Morpeus gives him a choice: select a blue or red capsule ... choose the "the blue one", continue to live within the dream ... choose "the red one" and experience "REALITY". Neo chooses the red one and the trip to the future begins ... complete with allusions to "Alice in Wonderland". There is a scene where Neo is sliding down a futurisitic tunnel, strangely resembling a laundry shoot.The three main themes in the film are
1) humans have created computers, machines which become the rulers,i.e. control human beings. It seems like a forewarning ...
2) find your own path, get in touch with your belief system,
remain true to your values,
3) freedom means taking a chance, not knowing the outcome. It is sets human beings apart from the rest of creation. Taking risks, not knowing the future, THIS IS LIFE
There are phenomenal scenes involving kung fu and ju jitsu ... the realm of getting in touch with one's inner self is explored. There is an "esoteric" side throughout the film. When Neo is to meet with "the Oracle" a prophetess, Morpheus says words to this effect to Neo: "I can show you the door. Feel your mind. I can only show you how - you are the one who has to walk through it." Another memorable statment is "To deny our own impulse is to deny the very thing that makes us human". In another scene there is a young boy, who looks like he is within a Zen temple, bending spoons through with his mind or thoughts. The youngster says to Neo: "Do not try to bend the spoon. Only realize there is no spoon. You will realize, it is you that is bending ... not the spoon." When a human being dies within the computer program ... their physical body dies, too. The reason given "without the mind, the body is dead." One of the Agents named Smith, says to Neo: "Every mammal on the planet develops balance, except human beings, you consume and mulitply ... there is only one other organism that does that ... a virus. Human beings are a disease". Essentially it is a warning, do not get so out of balance,out of touch with reality, that you destroy yourself, and the planet ...
This thoroughly enjoyable film has artistic, entertainment and philosophical/humanistic value. It explores many facets of human behavior and the meaning & purpose of life. Highly recommended. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
Movie Review: Matrix changed my life!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
After having seen Matrix, I felt spiritually relieved, satisfied with life, strong and compelled to do good to all living beings.I started getting religious insights watching this movie, and after having seen it 5 times in movie theatres, I truly feel the deeper meaning of (true) christianity and humanity, my look at the world and religion has lighted up and given me reason to hope and live!
But why?? This movie seems to be pure violence and technical disaster on the surface!?
I figured that it might be that the final message of Matrix is that good overcomes evil, love instills life in the seemingly dead, that helping and fighting for God will succeed in the end.
The comparative message of Star Wars 1 (not 4,5,6) is that evil tricks you, gambling is nessesary and helpful, innocent children are doomed to betray their fathers and that even though you fight, you will lose and the Dark Lord takes over control of the universe.
When I look upon the characters in Matrix as biblical - and pardon me for eventual blasphemy - the Holy Script was revealed before me! (which I eventually have never bothered to read before...)
Neo, the Man, the prophesized (!) return of Jesus turned into Christ, come to redeem the world and overthrow the dark.
Trinity, the Holy Spirit, love, the mother, notice how the movie does not mention sex at all - she can thus be seen as virgin Mary, dressed according to the likes of the target audience, but inwardly saintly, her name pointing towards the wholy trinity of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. She has always full trust in Neo and gives him food where none other does.
Morpheos, in appearance cloaked as a human, does not break, only seemingly - as a means to awaken Neo and others, a gentle and compassionate God, giving humans the offer of using their free will in the choice of waking up to Him! Notice how the agents cannot break His mind, but then shifts to make Him use His compassion for even these dark beings. They try to make Him say the Word that will undo the world.
The traitor, eating red bloody meat, drinking alcohol, and speaking with the agent named Smith (5 letter S name!) - this Judas is revenged upon, but is the indirect cause of Neo having to wake up and fight the evil. Notice how he persuades Neo to run away from and fear the agents!
The other 'diciples' of the ship of liberty (Noahs Ark) are all nice, tolerant, humble, accepting what God puts before them (Morpheus is their entrusted leader) and do joke but not complain about the water and bread (simple white nourishing substance) they have to eat, at that last supper!!!
As others have stated, 5 stars are too few, I must get this dvd and find a dvd-player for it, allthough it truly belongs to the thx theatre!
This is my best movie experience ever!!!
christian (ironically;)
Movie Review: The turning point
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought "The Matrix" in DVD format yesterday. I bought it because this movie is one of the most recent and truest milestones in the story of cinema. And it's funny, because when the movie was released, back in 1999, it was not an instant success. I remember thinking (at the time): "The world-dominated-by-machines plot, and starring Keanu Reeves - I will not waste my money and my time". Now I regret not having watched it in the theatre.
The plot is not original. It has been used in many science fiction movies, books, comics and so on. The machines have revolted against the humans, and we are nothing but slaves to them. "The Terminator" series comes to mind. But this time the treatment given to the story is different. "The Matrix" is an organic, mind blowing science fiction. There are lots of fluids, limbs, lack of hair, the design of the machines is also very organic, and the viewers can relate to that in a positive way. Also, the mistery provided by the first scenes - "What is the Matrix?" - tingles in our minds.
This movie concentrates heavily on its characters. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Cypher, Switch, Apoc, Tank, Dozer, Mouse and, last but not least, Agent Smith, all of them have their own personalities, singularities, and maneirisms, presented along the duration of the movie - two hours that go by very fast. And each character (except for Neo) is played by a relatively unknown actor, or an actor that were at a low point in their careers at the time. Today, it's impossible to not know who Carrie-Ann Moss, Lawrence Fishburn or Hugo Weaving are.
But "The Matrix" is an excellent movie because of all its elements. Acting is good. Action scenes are fantastic. The soundscore is unforgettable. The soundtrack is quite appropriate (energic, full of fury - there could be no better choice than RATM). The script is ballanced - fast-paced scenes mixed in with slow, explanation dialogues and even one or two love scenes in the middle. And, finally, the direction.
I don't know if the "freezing time" technology was invented by the Wachowski brothers, and I couldn't care less about it. What I do know is that they mastered it in "The Matrix". The first time I watched this movie I was extremely impressed with those "frozen" scenes. Action sequences can be now dated as "before Matrix" and "after Matrix". And the two directors provide a lesson about how to use slow-motion with good taste.
Some people say that "The Matrix" is a re-telling of the New Testament. So what? "The Lord of the rings" is another one, too. What I want to say is that, no matter how you see it, "The Matrix" has a very interesting plot, and scenes that always leave the viewers with their jaws hanging. And it has become one of the greatest references in movie-making.
Grade 9.3/10
Movie Review: Moviemaking enters the 21st century
Summary: 5 Stars
Even though The Matrix was released in 1999, it can easily be considered the first motion picture of the twenty-first century, a movie unlike any that had come before. This was the DVD that, upon its release, many of us bought in order to see just how good our new DVD players could be. The special effects, with an exception or two, were unprecedented in terms of their scope, style, and presentation at the time, and the somewhat complex plot managed to capture the imagination of untold numbers of movie goers. Combining science fiction, action, and adventure in an entirely new way, The Matrix was nothing if not exceedingly cool. For once, I will not dwell on the plot; it is hard to explain, and those who know nothing about it can easily find summaries of it. I will say, however, that I'm a little surprised that so many people embraced this movie with open arms because the plot is somewhat ambiguous, and the ending seemed to invite the possibility of a sequel without coming right out and announcing that it would happen. I find similarities between this movie and Vanilla Sky in this regard, yet many who were totally confused by the latter film seem to embrace this one. Laurence Fishburne was the real star of this movie, in my opinion, bringing life to Morpheus in such a way that made the convoluted plot seem plausible; a lesser actor in that role could have doomed The Matrix, no matter how incredible the special effects were. Carrie-Anne Moss also blessed the character of Trinity with a humanity that enriches the film. Keanu Reeves overcomes a couple of what I like to call David Schwimmer moments early on and grows into the type of hero this movie demands.As for the special effects, I found them exceedingly good but perhaps a tad overrated. The early "mouth" effect, for example, was shockingly unimpressive, and the slow motion wave-like movement of bullets toward the end looks a little hokey to me; everything else was impressive indeed, though, particularly the famous jumps and helicopter sequence. One of the really nice extras available on the DVD is the feature on the making of The Matrix. While it takes a tiny little something away from the movie to see how those acrobatic jumps and fight scenes were filmed, one cannot but be deeply impressed by the level of commitment of the actors in terms of their months-long preparation and training. The movie commentary offers more insight into the movie, and the music-only audio track is also a nice touch. When I first dove in to the DVD owner pool, The Matrix instantly became the movie by which all of my DVDs were judged. As time marches on, this has changed a little bit, but age should only enhance the fascination of movie lovers with this very impressive, unique, and extraordinarily cool film that heralded a brand new century in movie-making.
Movie Review: Dances with bullets
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a brilliant film in some ways. It is also a deeply disturbing film in other ways. It is brilliant in the technical execution, the pacing, the atmosphere and tension it creates. It is deeply disturbing in the way it blends religion, violence, reality and fiction. Most of the fascination of this film comes from the American myths it employs to capture the audience. There is the fight for freedom from suppression (what the American Revolution was all about), there is the individual who fights for self-actualization (the self-made man), there is the savior who defeats the empire of evil (the Christian motif), there is romantic love as individual fate (the Hollywood myth). Engrossed as we are, watching these myths unfold in a new story, we do not realize that we enter a matrix of our own making. It is right there in front of us on the screen, or rather, in our heads.
"The Matrix" shows us a world that we are supposed to take for real while we are watching. Without our knowing it, we tend to accept the values and myths promoted by the film. That is no problem as far as quintessentially American myths are concerned. But the film also promotes violence as an attractive and appropriate means for solving problems. And not only that. In my opinion, the film also asks us to believe that a savior has the right to kill in order to liberate other people from their wrong beliefs. The disturbing part about this thought is that radicals of all hues (Muslim radicals, Christian radicals, Hindu radicals, Fascists, Communists, you name them) think the same - "a savior has the right to kill in order to liberate other people from their wrong beliefs."
Bob Herbert, a columnist in the New York Times, recently wrote an article about violence in America from which I would like to quote a few lines: "The nation is saturated with violence. Thousands upon thousands of murders are committed each year. There are more than 200 million guns in circulation. Murder is so routine, including the killing of children, it doesn't even warrant serious news coverage in most cases. We don't know what to do about all this violence. We don't know how to process it. We don't even know how to cover it. We sensationalize it, glamorize it, eroticize it. We are fascinated, not by the victims (or by the people with serious ideas about how we might prevent some of this violence) but by the killers."
As much as I admire "The Matrix" as a film, I think the message it conveys and the beauty of its slow-motion killing scenes contribute to the problem of violence in America. If anything, this film glamorizes violence. And to top it all, it presents the man who fires bullets so skilfully as a savior in the Christian vein: "Neo", the "new man", "The One", reborn after having been shot dead, rising to the skies to liberate us all.