User Reviews

I have an interesting history and relationship with this film. Never before has a film made me question the nature of reality before. At first glance, The Matrix at the surface might have looked like a really good action movie with some cutting edge special effects with a kinetic and engaging story, and it definitely has that, but on my first viewing of this movie back in 2006 when I was 9 years old and slid this DVD into my small box TV at the end of my bed. I had absolutely no idea what I was in for and what I was about to experience.

This movie is actually more disturbing and honestly terrifying than many would let on, especially to a young child when this movie drops some major psychological and philosophical themes in it's first act. The first 40 minutes of The Matrix is frankly terrifying and suspenseful in all the best and right ways.

The surreal bugging scene with that crazy bug with the long tendrils swirling around in what looks like a higher frame rate than the rest of the shot around it, followed by the mirror scream and the metallic drowning scream followed by the waking up in the pod of human entrails scene, followed by the highly messed up "How do you define 'real'" Where the concept of reality literally goes up in quotation marks and flies away, where the movie sets the tone that 'reality is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain' is the most we humans can make of our surroundings - almost makes the concept of The Matrix scarily plausible - and also in a way kind of timely of how the Internet has evolved leaps and bounds since 1999 and the plausibility of VR at the moment (I mean have you seen Half-Life Alyx)

And of course you have the explanation of the matrix that follows. Truly one of the heaviest exposition scenes in cinema history.

And that's about as far as I survived my first viewing of this movie all those years ago. As a kid's first viewing, this movie successfully found it's way inside my head and left my mind shattered literally unable to watch any more. You would think that would be a terrible thing to say about a movie, but not here. The Matrix is an unparalleled and unprecedented movie experience as humanity is at the core of this movie.

The first act plays as a setup for such a hopeless notion as the nature of the matrix is revealed, only to have this notion flipped on it's head when the matrix itself starts being a fun place to be in the eyes of Neo and the evolution of his character aswell as the rebels that he meets that teach him of the humanity that underlies every person trapped inside it under the oppression of the inhuman controllers.

Once the true nature of the matrix is revealed. You can bend it to your will and then you can do whatever you want. The Matrix is the ultimate story and parable of humanity overcoming and opressive and dystopian scenario, being controlled by machines, and is masterful in it's writing and direction. The casting was very well thought out with Keanu Reeves killing it as Neo, aswell as Laurence Fishburne and Carrie Anne-Moss as great supporting roles, with Hugo Weaving as an extremley strong Sci-Fi villan as the cold, sociopathic AI Villan Agent Smith.

With Neo as the embodiment of humanity against Smith which is devoid of such, follows an unforgettable experience of human over machine. A classic and terrifyingly brilliant film which may cause you to have an internal existential crisis, but that's just the power of this film.

** May contain spoilers **

There aren't many movies I watched in the theatre twice – let alone on the same day - but immediately after the credits had rolled (and still pumped up by 'Rage against the Machine'), I queued up for the next screening of 'The Matrix'. I was so blown away by that film, I feared - and probably rightly so - that I hadn't caught every detail of what I'd just seen. I later found out that many of my friends had had a similar reaction to the film, and I know virtually no one who liked the film and didn't watch it at least twice. It's simply one of those rare films that are so rich you just have to watch them several times.

In structure, style and concept, 'The Matrix' was ground-breaking; it marked the first time the visual style of Manga comic books and Anime such as 'Akira' or 'Ghost in the Shell' had been successfully translated to a live-action film. Apart from 'Blade Runner', which has a totally different mood and pace (but is also a masterpiece and visionary film-making), there simply hadn't been anything even remotely like it. The jaw-dropping action sequences have such a raw, gripping energy they feel like an adrenalin overdose, but unlike most action films, they never overshadow the story; on the contrary - they enhance it and make complete sense within that universe.

As for the story itself, I think this is one of the most original, fascinating Sci-Fi tales you'll likely ever see on screen. Clearly inspired by Japanese Anime and Manga yet also by authors like Isaac Asimov or Philip K. Dick, the story about humanity's war against its own creation, machines of an artificial intelligence that have evolved to the point where they have become the dominant 'species' and vastly superior to their creators, could take place in the same world as 'Blade Runner' or 'The Terminator' - albeit several hundred years later. But there is also a mythical, even religious undercurrent to the story; the themes of a prophecy, a "liberator" or even a "messiah" make 'The Matrix' transcend the Science-Fiction genre and become even more unique.

'The Matrix' was a watershed moment in filmmaking – in every respect – and even though two inferior sequels have left a bit of a stain on the film, they can't distract from what an uncompromising and hugely influential masterpiece this is. Sci-Fi movies that were released after 'The Matrix' have tried very hard to achieve a similar look and tone, but the original still owns them all. 10 stars out of 10.

Favorite films: http://www.IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-known Masterpieces: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

The Matrix is a high concept film, that succeeds in its endeavour with awesome cinematography. Deserving of its praise, though not perfect.

The concept and the villains are what I love most about it. Everything about the agents excellent, Hugo Weaving gives his best performance. Cypher who's Judas, the true villain of the film, the most sensible. The character development and the choice of casting in regards to Trinity, the only real weakness of the film. I feel like we could of got to know the Neo character some before this, we have no idea what he's thinking at any point, all we know is that he was the greatest hacker and that's because he's the one. The trinity character's too butch, the other female crew member in a lesser role too, what's with this? Like Cypher, I would rather just go back into the Matrix. I get that you become hardened in a certain environment, but I don't see that as the case here. So Trinity loves Neo and he has to love her back, okay. Laurence Fishburne's terrific as Morpheus.

My review of the best epic Science Fiction Action film, The Matrix (1999) starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Marcus Chong and Gloria Foster.

This was be the first movie I went to see in the movie theater with my mom when I was 15.years old, when I read in the magazines about The Matrix I was blown away and I wanted to see it right away. The Matrix is the best action sci-fi films that Keanu Reeves made in the 90's. It is one of my personal favorite movies.

The Matrix is a (1999) American science fiction action film written and directed by The Wachowskis, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano.

It depicts a dystopia future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality called "the Matrix", created by sentient machines to subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Computer programmer "Neo" learns this truth and is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, which involves other people who have been freed from the "dream world".

Written and directed by the Wachowski brothers, this classic sci-fi action film stars Keanu Reeves as a lowly computer programmer who discovers his entire existence, and that of all mankind, is nothing but a simulation in a computer. The reality within a reality is a concept that's done before... but never like this - The Matrix requires absolute attention from his audience, least you'll be completely lost in a few minutes. With the help of supporting cast members Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne-Moss, Reeves discovers that inside this simulation environment known as The Matrix, he can control, bend, and manipulate space-time... resulting in some of the most incredibly iconic images to ever grace the silver screen.

The slow-motion "bullet-time" effects as they're known today were groundbreaking and revolutionary when we first saw them 12 years ago. Although Reeves is notorious for his inability to really convey much emotional range, his character here lends itself well to him as an actor. This is a movie that makes you think, makes you gasp, and makes totally forget where the 136-minutes went after finishing it. It's no wonder this film spawned two very successful sequels, and dozens of copy-cats. The Matrix, "Visually revolutionary, and mind-blowing."

Keanu Reeves plays the main character, Neo, or Thomas A. Anderson and while he is not the perfect actor I think he does a pretty good job in The Matrix. He doesn't have the longest of lines which was probably a deliberate choice from the directors and it works because this gives him a better opportunity to work on posture and facial expressions and I must say that overall his body language is very good. Very clear and well defined. Laurence Fishbourne plays Neo's mentor Morpheus and he does an excellent job of it. His lines flow with a certain confidence and style that makes his character somewhat unique and interesting.

Carrie-Anne Moss does a good job as well and succeeds in looking both cool and sexy in her leather outfit. Joe Pantoliano, a critically underrated actor does a brilliant job of bringing his character, Cypher, to life. He also played the roles in Underrated Daredevil (2003)and Bad Boys I & II. I can't say much about him because his character is pretty essential to the plot. Gloria Foster appears in a relatively small role that will have greater significance in the following films and she does a very good job.

The best acting is provided by Hugo Weaving, however, in his portrayal of Agent Smith. It is really something to watch him act out the changes in his character. Agent Smith gains some human traits like anger, sense of dread, hate and eventually even a sly sense of humor. Two thumbs way up to Weaving who has created one of the finest screen villains of all time.

Effects wise the film is simply stunning and it deservedly was awarded the Oscar for best effects (and was regrettably cheated out of a nomination in the Best Film category) ahead of even Star Wars. The reason that I think The Matrix deserves the Oscar for best effects is simply that the effects in The Matrix are more innovative than the ones in Star Wars. Just take a look at how many times the effects have been spoofed and you'll probably agree. The effects also help in the symbolism of the film and in creating a very dystopia atmosphere not unlike the one seen in Blade Runner and this works brilliantly.

The film looks beautiful at all times and today 16 years later (my God has it already been 16 years?) the effects still hold their ground against new science fiction films. Add the effects to the brilliant editing and you have a visual masterpiece on your hands. Very well done.

The film also won 4 Academy Awards including for best visual effects. 10/10 for one of the best epic American science fiction action film's in the history movies like this and Aliens (1986) don't exist anymore. It is one of my personal favorite movies, it is the movie I saw with my mom in the movie theater it is memories on my mom who is no longer with us anymore and I miss he.

In the late 90s, summer blockbusters were really suffering quality. There were films like Godzilla, Armageddon, deep impact etc. Point is that these summer blockbuster movies only focused on special effects due to the groundbreaking effects of Jurassic Park, and forgot to give us engaging stories and compelling characters, which became tiresome. In 1999, the matrix was released and blew everyone's mind. The audience were talking about how deep and philosophical, cerebral film it is, something new and innovative. But is it really that? The answer is, to be honest, no.

The idea of a society that realize their reality is an illusion and have to fight authorities is not really new. It has been done in TV episodes, satire, books and many other medium. In fact, even anime did that idea before, just 4 years prior (ghost in the shell). The film is very much outdated, silly, pretentious and not as smart as the movie thinks it is.

There are major problems with the movie, particularly the characters. The characters are so dull, uninteresting and bland that it is so hard to get invested in them. Morpheus is your typical mentor figure, Trinity is a boring character, with so little expressions to show and have zero chemistry with Neo, the main character. There is no reason for her to be in love with him. There has not been a single scene which indicates they should be together. And as for Neo, he is as interesting as a plank of wood, having almost no personality, poor facial expressions. And to top it off, there hasn't been a solid proof why he is "the one". There isn't anything special about him, he doesn't have any leadership skills, he doesn't even know what AI is or what EMP stands for.

There is also another major problem. And it's a huge plot hole in the film. Why is there a matrix? Why is this system needed? The humans are planted, so why need to give them a matrix? All they need to do is just find a way to keep the human energy alive. The film is so pretentious, and has this confidence that is smart, but has one of the most cop out endings in a blockbuster movie. Trinity saves Neo with the power of love. How is something like that left in a "cerebral", "philosophical" movie, when it has an ending that belongs in fairy tales? It's stupid, forced and doesn't add up.

So for all the rant this review has, is the film terrible? Not quite. In fact, it's a decent movie with some clever ideas and analogies, and props for having a major impact on film making and actually trying to do something different in the action genre as well as blockbuster movies, but it's not really the masterpiece it is claimed to be. It's outdated and is deeply flawed. But to some extent, it is understandable why many people love it.

I see that on this site only the positive reviews for this film are promoted to be on the first pages, which is at least one-sided if not preferential. This makes me think I won't even get read by other users yet alone supported by them (since they all find this movie awesome)... but whatever let me tell you what I think about this movie:

The Story: Is probably the most important part of this movie and simultaneously the one which this movie gets so awfully wrong.

1. The concept of machines imprisoning humans was exploited so many times by so many TV Shows (Stargate SG-1 for example had a similar concept driven episode) and movies (Dark City), so I expected this movie to go deep into why would machines imprison humans and have authenticity in its core. I got 0 of that, in fact what did I got? Some stupid explanation saying the machines imprisoned humans because humans loose energy as heat through their skin. OK, it might seem plausible at first sight, but if you know a little about human or about chemistry you will find this concept ridiculous and impossible. Humans lose through heat about 30% of the energy they consume. So that would mean the machines would have to supply the humans with so much energy and then consume the 30% they lose through heat (basically 100% energy used to keep humans alive to 30% energy remained for machines. That means the machines would lose about 70% of the energy they have or invest into sustaining humans alive) why? Because the script says so. If they have that much energy to sustain humans and their necessities for so long why not kill the humans and stick to maybe consume lightning energy which this movie shows to be very satisfying.

2. The explanations Morpheus gives Neo are so thin, maybe thinner than a balloon inflated to its maximum. The Matrix was weaker at the beginning so that they escaped? Why hasn't anyone else escaped? How was the Matrix weaker? Does this movie or the next one in the trilogy explain this? No... But yeah because there's a bad-ass character saying these we all should believe this and then say that this movie is a benchmark for all sci-fi to come? I cannot believe that I'm living on this planet where people are fooled so easily by ridiculous explanations that are so thin and they think that they are smart by watching these kind of movies. Oh, but there's more... when other directors come up with a movie thought over 15 years (Inception) and so authentic and realistically executed that starts from correct premises and then exaggerates like any other movie, people make reviews like: "Overrated because it makes people "feel" smart...". It's incredible that a director that has been making movies since 7 years old and thinks so much about its movies is repaid with bad reviews from people who clearly didn't understood the movie and don't care about dreams, while this movie gets so much praise for having an incorrect premise that just becomes worse as the movie progresses.

3. There's no plot twist that can make you say: Yes this movie was thought from start to finish. This movie is just a bunch of action scenes mixed with some poorly explained concepts that have an incorrect scientifically premise and has just enough of all of them to fool the average audiences.

The Action: The only part in which this movie succeeded was the action which indeed revolutionized the action flicks back then. Along with the CGI this makes the movie watchable at best (for me at least). But here there are some unexplained things like why if you kiss a person connected to the matrix that person revives and more... becomes even more powerful. It's like a children's movie where the handsome prince kisses the princes or vice versa and she/he wakes up and then they live happily ever after. I expected much more from a movie praised by so many people, but I got 0 explanation for how Neo revives from Trinity's kiss.

The Characters: Bland and boring... and so cold especially Morpheus, who was made like this maybe to make him appear more bad-ass. Neo's character is childish for a movie of this magnitude. The chemistry between him and Trinty is not convincing for me. I mean, for the duration of the whole movie she's just kicking ass like Neo, and then they suddenly are lovers... but their relationship has no development because the script is so poor in substance and creates no circumstance in which these characters might interact with each other beside kicking ass and saying one-liners.

The Soundtrack: (gotta hurry, word limit) The most bland soundtrack I've heard in my life. For how this movie is promoted as being one of the best ever... I expected a soundtrack that could match this reputation. Actually if you search Don Davis, this composer is known only for Matrix and maybe Jurassic Park III but aside from that, he was never nominated for golden globe, bafta or Oscar (not to say that those matter but other great composers were nominated at least 10 times to Oscars or baftas). There was not a single iconic track in this movie and the score as a whole is just forgettable and underwhelmed.

Hope I could include everything I wanted to say in this review. I probably won't get any support for this review, because every person on this planet adores this movie and IMDb supports only good reviews for this movie. And as to why I rate this movie with 5 is because of the CGI and action scenes, because the rest: premise, story, substance or authenticity of the script are either missing or are so thin as a inflated balloon (oh, wait the rating of this movie is as inflated as a inflated balloon... inflated by average people who like only mindless or pseudo-intelligent action).