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You Have To See It For Yourself Favorite Movie Quote: "Wow... that sounds like a pretty good deal... but I've got a better one. How 'bout I give you the finger... and you give me my phone call?" While there's a hokey ending and it was probably overrated both at the time of its release and during the mounting anticipation for its sequels, I can't deny that The Matrix was THE thinking man's action movie, incorporating elements from wire-work kung fu to Keanu Reeves that had previously failed to garner any critical acclaim whatsoever. The Matrix set a bar for what a science fiction movie could do, not only from a standpoint of special effects (that admittedly too quickly saturated the market) but also story, stepping beyond its genre. In The Matrix, it seems that Keanu Reeves has been living two lives. In one, he is Thomas A. Anderson, a program writer for a respectable software company. He has a social security number, he pays his taxes, and he helps his land-lady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers where he goes by the hacker alias Neo and is guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. As is foreshadowed by the diabolical Agent Smith (a pitch-perfect Hugo Weaving), "One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not." While we already know that we're not in Kansas anymore, thanks to a foot chase in which hot amazon-goth-girl Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and her pursuing Agent leap across tall buildings in a single bound and Trinity disappears from a phone booth a nanosecond before Agent Smith crushes it with a garbage truck, the creepy-level gets ratcheted up at regular intervals for the next 30 minutes or so. Neo meets up with wanted man Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) and his gang of mysterious technophiles where he's presented a choice, like Adam in the Garden of Eden and with similar consequences, between truth and ignorance. The film is full of mixed religious and mythological metaphors, homages to former films and graphic novels, foreshadowing, and symbolism as Neo is faced with a destiny that contradicts his belief in free will. Belief, it turns out, is the greatest power of all. Like Luke Skywalker before him, Neo must unlearn what he has learned. The Matrix is probably best known for its martial arts sequences which trail-blazed the idea of the actors doing the majority of their own work in extended takes, keeping the audience in the moment and allowing the fight sequences to be as much about character as cool round-house kicks. The four principles (Weaving, Reeves, Fishbourne, and Moss) had months of extensive training for the scenes to be possible and speaks to a high level of commitment from both the actors and the production. I'm also of the opinion that any hero is only as good as his villain; Hugo Weaving carries the film with his inhuman performance as the malevolent Agent Smith, easily one of cinema's greatest villains of all time. While his performance in future installments was a little tired, it's probably due in large part to the comparison to his brilliant turn in this first installment of the character for which he deserved some kind of critical recognition. The Matrix was nominated for four Academy Awards (the most prestigious being Editing), sweeping all of them, but was given no love in the categories of Best Picture, Director, Actor in a Supporting Role (Weaving), Cinematography, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, nor Costume Design (and The Talented Mr. Ripley was). While I believe that 1999 could be the best year in film ever (look at a list sometime) and The Matrix was facing stiff competition, I still feel that it was marginalized by the condescending shriveled penises of Hollywood. The Matrix was one of those moments in film when everything comes together in a way that makes money, has purpose, and reaches its audience. It's not a thoughtless romp of special effects, snap-kicks, and explosions but instead an incorporation of those elements into a real story that's accessible on a number of levels; if you want to turn your brain off and watch The Matrix you can, but you get more out of it if you're looking beneath the obvious. Unlike films that preach, The Matrix allows you to think, but does not require it. Some people see that as a bad thing; I see it as making a movie for all seasons. email this review to a friend
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May 15, 2008 4:59 PM