The Matrix (1999)

Director: Andy and Larry Wachowski
Story: Andy and Larry Wachowski
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Music: Don Davis
Time: 136 minutes   
Bottom-line: Great visual effects and terrific action sequences make this film a thorough entertainer

Welcome to The Matrix, where you are provided with a whole new range of entertainment, and a completely new type of science fiction cinema. Other than sci-fi, the film is filled with various types of action sequences inspired from Japanese martial art films, Hong Kong action cinema etc. This film tells about the future battle between man and machine, but with many additional elements that make it much better than most other sci-fi films.

Reeves as Neo. This scene where he dodges bullets is supposed to one of the best scenes in the film.

Moss as Trinity

The underlying story is simple: what if you found that the world around you… is virtual? What if the real world is ‘somewhere out there?’ Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a computer programmer, with a double life as a hacker ‘Neo’, who gets a message saying ‘The Matrix has you’. Another hacker, Trinity (Moss) takes him to meet a man named Morpheus (Fishburne) so that he can learn about the ‘Matrix’. Morpheus warns Neo that once he knows about the Matrix, there is no turning back. Neo accepts. Neo finds out that he has been living in the ‘Matrix’, a simulated world created by machines to trap humans and use their body heat to get energy, as humans have blocked the use of solar energy.  The timeline within the Matrix is 1999, whereas the year in the real world is somewhere close to 2100.
  Morpheus pulls out Neo from the Matrix into the real world and tells him that the people controlling the Matrix are called Agents, led by Agent Smith (Weaving), who plans to destroy Zion, the last human refuge. Morpheus’ main job is to recruit humans from the Matrix and form a team to destroy the machines. What Neo learns about the Matrix, what he does to prepare himself for the battle against machines and whether or not he destroys Smith forms the rest of the film.

Weaving as Agent Smith

The film makes use of extensive special effects to make it visually dazzling. One such effect, which was used for the first time in this movie, is called ‘bullet time’, where the scene is shown in slow motion, but the camera moves in normal speed. Many scenes are shown in slow motion, and they create a good effect.

Fishburne as Morpheus

There are plenty of action sequences in the film, and all have been photographed very well. The fight between Neo and Morpheus when Neo learns kung fu, the lobby scene, where Neo and Trinity fight off all the guards of Smith's building (shown mostly in slow motion), the scene on the terrace where Neo dodges bullets and few other action sequences have been shot very well, and the effects add to the entertainment. The Wachowskis have done well to make the gun fights thrilling without just simply showing a lot of blood. The lobby scene is supposed to one of the best action sequences in Hollywood films.

However, I felt that there is no real ‘story’ in the film: there is more of repeated action sequences (no fault in them though). The story could have been developed further. The fact that there were too many action scenes has made other critics consider this film as ‘one of those other action films’, but in my opinion, there is more to the film than just action.

The concept of ‘man versus machine’ had already existed at the time of this film, thanks to the Terminator films. But the concept of virtual reality was fairly new. It has inspired other films like Inception, and the action sequences also inspired future films. This also made the movie difficult to understand at first, as only after some 30 minutes, does Neo (as well the viewers) get to know about the whole simulated reality thing. Other strengths are the good editing, which creates a smooth flow from slow motion to normal speed. Both Reeves and Moss have acted well. Though Weaving plays a memorable villain, there is very little acting from him.

Overall, The Matrix is a new movie experience: one of the best action and science fiction films in English, with brilliant special effects, great action sequences and memorable characters. The film takes some time to understand, so maybe a second watch is required. Yet, it is entertaining all the way. If you love science fiction, you will like this film.

My Rating: 4/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 87%