Retrospective: Matrix, The (1999)

THE MATRIX

Verdict: 4/5 stars

REVIEW BY JOHN ULMER

I watched "The Matrix" for the fourth or fifth time last night, and for the 
fourth or fifth time I wasn't able to fully comprehend its wild success. I 
understand that it is essentially a good film, with very impressive visual 
effects, and that it has some underlying themes and metaphors for our 
current world culture mixed with the kind of stuff people go to the movies 
for...but I can't bring myself to give it more than four stars. That may be 
a very good rating, but this is a movie that took me four or five viewings 
to even learn to really like it. The end seemed quite enthralling this time 
around, but the beginning of the movie, for me, just lacks a bit of 
something.

The plot: Our world, as we know it, is a computer simulation called The 
Matrix. In "the real world," we are all "grown" in long fields where 
machines of the future look over us and put us into little pods where we are 
hooked up into the simulation matrix and entertained until our death.

As our minds believe we are in this alternate world, the machines use our 
bodies for sources of energy. A mysterious man named Morpheus holds up a 
Duracell battery at one point during the course of the film and states that 
we are merely another one of these. But the film starts with Neo, a man who 
lives an alternate life--one of honesty and one of crime. He is an Internet 
hacker and has been guilty of virtually every known hacker crime.

But Neo feels that the world surrounding him is somehow wrong. He doesn't 
like the idea of fate because it means that he can't control his own 
destiny. An so an infamous criminal named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) 
picks up Neo, hoping that he may be The One, the man whose destiny is to 
free the minds of everyone living in The Matrix and bring an end to the 
machines' rule of the real world.

Of course, this won't be easy, as Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving, who can now be 
seen in all three "The Lord of the Rings" films) is a computer program 
loaded into The Matrix--his mission is to stop the uprising and to capture 
Morpheus and his gang, which also includes Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and 
Cypher (the always enjoyable Joe Pantoliano).

Keanu Reeves may not be able to act, but his character is part of the new 
generation computer freaks and geeks. Needless to say, he fits the part. 
Laurence Fishburne ("Apocalypse Now") is good as the mysterious and 
all-knowing Morpheus. His character's lasting image was a bit tarnished by 
the film's 2003 sequel, "The Matrix Reloaded," as an element of him was lost 
when we found out that he isn't quite as respected back in Zion (the land of 
the free).

But the real stand-outs are Joe Pantoliano and Carrie-Anne Moss as 
Trinity--he's the comedic relief, she's a strong leader who falls for Neo. 
And unlike the Charlies Angels gang, she actually looks as if she could 
knock out twenty guys and live to tell about it. She's tough, blunt and the 
ultimate on-screen tom boy.

"The Matrix" currently holds the number 34 spot on the Internet Movie 
Database's list of the top 250 films ever made. I've certainly seen better 
films than "The Matrix," and The Wachowski Brothers, who directed the film, 
seem to have borrowed a lot of past techinques in filming (the bleak look of 
"Se7en," the metaphorical significances of "Star Wars," etc.). But this last 
viewing proved to be a lot more fun than previous viewings--perhaps because 
for once I let my mind make its own decision and avoided it being 
influcenced by the standing of the film on lists and so on. Expectations 
were too high when I first saw this film. And they still are. But perhaps a 
few more viewings will make this movie really grow on me. I sure do hope so.

"The Matrix" is the type of film you should witness without prior 
expectations.

- John Ulmer
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X-RT-RatingText: 4/5