The Matrix -------------------------- Review by Alex Ioshpe
Written and Directed by: Andy Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers) Larry Wachowski (as The Wachowski Brothers)
Cast
Keanu Reeves .... Thomas Anderson / Neo
Laurence Fishburne .... Morpheus
Carrie-Anne Moss .... Trinity
Hugo Weaving .... Agent Smith
Gloria Foster .... Oracle
Joe Pantoliano .... Cypher / Mr.Reagan
9,5 / 10 - alternative rating: A -
After their magnifficent debut with "Bound", the Wachowski-brothers have returned to the screens with one of the most interesting, mind-bending, original and captivating science fiction films of the past decade. So far the best film of 1999, "The Matrix" intellectually toys with dream and reality, fantasy and nightmare, destiny and fate with such energy that it will blow your away.
Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a respected citizen of our comunity. He works for a "..respectible software company, pays our taxes and helps the landlady to carry out her carbage..". But this is only one of his lives. In his second life he is Neo a hacker that during night is breaking the law, desperatly trying to find an answer to the question he can't find words for. He is then contacted by a mysterious stranger that calles himself Morpheous (Laurence Fishburne) who tells him about the Matrix - "..the world pulled over our eyes to blind us from the truth..". Neo is then offered a choice between ignorance - waking up in his bed in the morning and continue to live his normal life..or he can step into the real world, from which there is no turning back. Neo choses that truth and the real world he discovers is horrifieng and alien, controlled bu super-intelligent machines that use us a bio-power sourse vital for their survivial. It is no longer 1999 it's closer to 2199. The frightening truth is that somewhere in the real past and our future mankind celebrated the discovery of A.I. (Artificial Intelligence). The machines that could think for themselves was going to make our lives easier. But at the same time we were getting more and more dependant on the machines - the machines evolved, prospered and formed their bizzarre society. There was a war, it is uncertain who began, but we were losing. Our last attempt to save ourselves was to reflect the sunlight from the earth. We belived that since the machines were dependant on solar power, they would not survive and the mankind could be safe deep under ground, near the center of our planet where it's still warm. But the machines outsmarted us again, a human body can produce more bio-power than a 120 V - battery. So we are no longer born, we are grown like corn in the field. To keep us i total control the machines have created a dream world for us, as it was in 1990-s, by sending certain electrical signals to our brain. Matrix can be compared to a very big and complex computer game and we are the unknowing players, born with a VR-mask on our face. Ironicly the humans and the machines have changed places. We think that we live out our lives, when we actually lieng helplessly inside an incubator as batteries for the machines. Morpheous belives that Neo is the long expected Messias that can save the world.
Although the film is a bit confusing at the beginning, the Wachowski brothers revealing the big secrets pieace by piece, never leave you completely lost in space. The script, although energic and full of action, humour, betrayel and even romance is very gently and intelligently structed, which is rare for science fiction films nowadays.
The casting is flawless;Keanu Reeves is again back on top after severel flops and failures and is as effective as he could be in the part of Neo.Laurence Fishburne is convincing as always as the mystifying Morpheous. Another vital carector that is very important to the story is Cypher, wonderfully played by Joe Pantoliano . He is the human element in the film, willing to do anything for getting back his ignorance and return to Matrix. Cypher rases many moral questions, such as "what is better living in total ignorance and happiness as a slave or living freedome in misury and horror?" Joe Pantoliano delivers in my oppinion the strongest performance in the film, bringing in the comic as well as moral issues into the picture. Carrie-Anne Moss is clever and voulnerble as Trinity and Hugo Weaving is sinister, intelligent and calm as the leader-agent.
Behind the brilliant special effects, wonderful cinematography and solid acting the Wachowski brothers display many important issues for us to think about. "The Matrix" shows us the real world as a result of our many discoverys, so the real villains the films are not the machines, but their creators - us. When the machines tried to classify the human species they classified us not as mammals, but as a virus, the cancer of this planet and they are - the cure.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews