The Matrix (1999) Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Gloria Foster, Joe Pantoliano, Marcus Chong, Paul Goddard, Robert Taylor, Julian Arahanga, Matt Doran, Belinda McClory, Anthony Ray Parker. Music by Don Davis. Cinematography by Bill Pope. Written and directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. 136 minutes. Rated R, 3.5 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com
Surreal and visually dazzling, "The Matrix" is one hearty bowl of sci-fi goulash. Andy and Larry Wachowski, the brothers behind the sultry lesbian gangster flick, "Bound," incorporate everything from John Woo-style operatic violence to "Alice in Wonderland" trippiness in this bleak-chic extravaganza. The production is extremely derivative, but still great gloomy fun. Besides, any filmmakers who can create a story that logically incorporates the superhuman fighting techniques from contemporary Hong Kong action movies, the freeze-frame, pivoting-camera special effect popularized by the swing-dance "Gap" ad, and the chronically dazed look on Keanu Reeves' face, are all right in my book.
Like last year's "Dark City," "The Matrix" explores the very nature of reality. "Dark City" is a better film, more successfully creating and maintaining a quasi dream state, but "The Matrix" offers plenty of its own rewards. With movies like these, it's best to enter the theater with no advance knowledge and just let the story flow over you, but since feature length mind-fucks aren't everyone's cup of tea, I'll run down the basic set-up, if only for the benefit of your date.
(SPOILER ALERT: Reveals significant plot points) Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a clean-cut computer programmer working for a software corporation in 1999, but the young man leads a secret life. As a hacker called Neo, he seeks to ease his nagging discomfort with the way his life feels by searching for truth on the ominous fringes of the Internet. Moments before the authorities close in, his online mentor Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) urges him to "Follow the white rabbit" if he wishes to avoid arrest. Spotting a tattoo of a rabbit on the arm of a young rebel, Neo joins her in a wild flight from the Men in Black that leads to a shattering revelation.
Neo's existence is a lie, a virtual reality construct devised by a race of sentient machines to control mankind. In the distant future, the remnants of humanity are kept in fluid pods, with fabricated lives piped into their brains. The retro 1999 setting is but a comforting illusion, reflecting the last year before the beginning of the fall of our culture. In the new millennium, the human race fought, and lost, a long, horrific war with the artificial intelligence they created. The machines now use people as a power source, and the Matrix is the mechanism to control their crop of souls.
But Morpheus, one of the few remaining free human rebels, has been to the Oracle and believes Neo to be "The One," the messiah who will bring salvation. Freed from his pod, Neo joins Morpheus and his followers in their small ship and undergoes training. He must learn to discard all notions of physical limitations in order to plug in and fight the machines on the virtual battlefield of metropolitan 1999. But the Sentient Agents, led by the sadistic Smith (Hugo Weaving), have their own agenda. Using superior intelligence, they will capture the band of warriors and snuff out the organic rebellion once and for all (END SPOILERS).
The Wachowski boys do a dandy job of making this hooey seem more meaningful than it is by deftly working in overtly religious references, general undertones of mysticism and loads of technobabble. Thankfully, they throw in some humor as well. The story works because the heroes, while sketchily drawn, are just distinct enough, and the bad guys are deliciously nasty. As Agent Smith, Hugo Weaving is a wicked delight, over- enunciating as he spits out diatribes about mankind. Laurence Fishburne carries the proper sense of authority as the human leader, Gloria Foster is utterly disarming as the Oracle, Carrie-Anne Moss makes for a hell of a warrior and Keanu Reeves succeeds because his typical stunned persona is actually appropriate in this context.
But style is the real star of "The Matrix" and the film's powerhouse combination of grinding music and phenomenal visuals more than make up for the soggy plot that goes on a few minutes longer than it should. The cast, decked out in way-cool sunglasses, black leather and trenchcoats (even in virtual reality, fashion counts), employ a dizzying array of gravity-defying gymnastics and martial-arts moves, unlike anything ever seen in an American film. In addition to the aforementioned flow-frame shots and some unusual morphing effects, the filmmakers use high-speed photography, enhanced by computer, to depict characters running up walls, delivering impossibly fast punches and kicks, and making incredible leaps, sometimes stopping or shifting in mid-air. "The Matrix" is absolutely the best live-action realization of comic-book sensibilities to date. You may get a headache trying to decipher the ponderous storyline, but the amazing imagery will likely soothe your pain.
© 1999 Ed Johnson-Ott
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