Seldom have I been as pleasantly surprised by a film as I was by The Matrix. Many science fiction films are marred by gratuitous special effects and a weak and illogical plot. The Matrix successfully avoids these pitfalls and delivers an exciting and well reasoned escapist thrill ride.
Keanu Reeves plays Neo, a computer hacker who is drawn into a group that has discovered an insidious manipulation of reality. He puts in a fine performance as the perplexed and overwhelmed lynchpin in what he discovers is a resistance movement led by Laurence Fishburne and abetted by Carrie-Anne. To say much more about the plot would give away too much, and the gradual revalation of what is going on is one of the pleasures of the film.
While there is a slightly cartoon-like air to some of the characters and sequences, the movie hangs together well and provides a sustained adrenaline rush. In fact, the directors have a background in the cartoon field and successfully adapt some of those metaphors, including zany cartoon-physics, to the movie domain.
As escapism goes, this film delivers a solid dose of thrills and a vicarious sense of invincibility. Like other escapist fare such as True Lies or any James Bond film, the film involves plenty of action-filled confrontations between the bad guys and our heros. Some aspects of the film are reminiscent of other sci-films such as Dark City or Alien, but in this case (unlike Dark City) several characters are well worked out and earn our empathy. This doesn't make the film a careful character study, but it does make it rich enough to assure that we care about the outcome. Equally important, the specifics of the plot are consisent with one another and textured with interesting embellishments. For example, like the dissapointing Johnny Mnemonic (which also starred Reeves) people can have information downloaded into their heads, but in this film it's an incidental detail kept vague enough to seem plausible. Finally, the plot has enough twists to for it keep us on wondering and captivated right to the end.
The graphics and sound effects are excellent, but there isn't a sense that the film was constructed simply as a vehicle to deliver them -- despite their overwhelming technical quality they support the plot rather than distract from it. Despite the fact that, or perhaps because, I teach computer graphics I am usually not impressed by special effects in their own right. In this film several sequences provoked me to tell myself "I've got to see that again" as soon as they finished. Some of the tricks involved morph-like techniques using footage supposedly shot at almost 12000 frames per second (yes, twelve thousand frames), so even for the technically jaded it's pretty impressive. Together the effects span creatures akin to those of H.R. Giger and battles that would be at home in a Batman flick. The combination leads to a strange sense of unreality and unpredictability that is very comprelling. All in all The Matrix is a great ride: intelligent enough to be satisfying, disturbing enough to be provocative, thoroughly exciting and a technical tour de force.
Summary comments
Overall rating 4.5/5 Genre keys: action, science fiction, fantasy, futuristic Warnings: several grotesque scenes and images, extensive violence. I you like these, consider this film: Dark City, Terminator, Blade Runner, Batman, True Lies, James Bond, Alien, Johnny Mnemonic
- Gregory Dudek
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