Anthony's Film Review - The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix presents an intriguing science-fiction concept laced with action...

The Matrix is a movie that many people say it's awesome or, at least, very good. That's the expectation I had before seeing it: something exciting and thought-provoking to leave me in awe. Well, now that's I've seen it, I can officially form an opinion, which is that it's not one of the greatest science-fiction movies I've ever seen, but it's still entertaining. A lot of people may disagree with me on this and I can understand the rave reviews. Nevertheless, hear me out.

I did enjoy the beginning of the movie, because I had no idea what to expect. The initial action sequence quickly introduces two opposing characters: Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). It's not clear who is good or evil. Then the next question comes up: why are they after a computer hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves)? From there, the film continues this pattern of throwing many questions with few answers. This method of generating intrigue works quite well.

Eventually, Neo meets a mysterious figure named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and receives a very shocking revelation. The world as Neo knows it is not real. The reality is that humans are a source of power for a superintelligent race of machines. In order to prevent the human race from ever knowing, the machines created the Matrix, a computer simulation for the humans to live in. With that, Neo is asked to join Morpheus and his resistance against the Matrix.

The details about the workings of the Matrix and the machines are rather neat. There is also a good premise about whether one would rather stay in the Matrix or seek to destroy it. And that is the extent to which I liked the movie. The remainder consists of action scenes with guns, close combat, and special effects. They're not bad overall. Still, there was something about the action that made it feel disconnected from the rest of the movie. But again, that's just my opinion.

The last thing I'll mention is the cast. In particular, Keanu Reeves's performance could have been better. You can definitely see this when Laurence Fishburne delivers his lines in a far more interesting way. The rest of the cast does a good enough job. Overall, The Matrix has enough material to make it work, even though there could be more. Then again, I think that was the intention. The movie ends in such a way that clearly suggests Andy and Larry Wachowski, the directors, had a sequel or two in mind. I didn't feel the strong need to see a Matrix sequel right away, but I was still curious about what else could be in store.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The Matrix, visit the Internet Movie Database.