Lift the veil ... and it's still bad acting!

Rating: Null/10 (6 February 2000)

I saw this movie when it first hit theaters and then again on video a year later. The first time I saw it I remember hating it and I couldn't understand why it became such a cult classic with practically everybody. I seemed to enjoy it a bit more on the small screen, perhaps because of the new venue, it seemed a bit slicker than what I recall, however, I can't get past the fact that Keanu Reeves is a lousy actor, and what's worse, that The Matrix is a great idea gone horribly wrong.
The Matrix is the story of a computer geek who sells bootleg software to the underground market. We are never quite sure what he is selling, but we know it must be good because his clients are paying top dollar to get it. Reeves is Neo, an unsatisfied software pusher who is contacted via his computer, by a group of action heroes who are somehow able to dodge bullets and clobber anyone in their path.
These hooligans, headed up by Laurence Fishbourne, claim that they need Neo's help, and promise him the truth that he has been searching for. Before he can make up his mind, the authorities are hot on his trail, threatening untold danger if he doesn't turn his new friends in.

Neo is offered the truth in the form of a pill, a la Alice in Wonderland. One pill will show him the light, the other will allow him to return to his day to day world. Of course he chooses the light.
The light, as it turns out, is that we are living a false life. We are actually hundreds of years ahead and we are being kept in a state of incubus. Our minds are controlled by a computer program that lets us imagine that we a members of the 20th century. And that's just the beginning.
The Matrix is a nicely styled action flick, offering some neat special effects and a seemingly cool plot. As stories go, this one is brilliant. But The Matrix is far from perfect.
Let's start off with Keanu. As one of the worst actors ever to rise out of Hollywood, this guy grunts and groans his way through his part, acting as an extension of his old Bill and Ted character. For an action star this would normally be fine, but Reeves takes himself far too seriously (as usual) and his deadpan wit is no where near as funny as his contemporary, Arnold Schwarzengger.
What's worse than Keanu's bad acting? Well, his bad acting happens to be the best acting in the entire film. All of the supporting stars, including Fishbourne, over act their way into oblivion, making what should have been an interesting premise, seem silly and trite.
And just when you think it can't get any worse, the big finale arrives. I got the feeling that the writers/producers ran out of neat ideas, or perhaps they just felt that this was going no where so they decided to really screw things up. I won't spoil it, except to say that this flick turns from being too serious to being too outrageous.
In the end, The Matrix is nothing but a big let down. However, I can't argue with the overwhelming response from fans everywhere who have already taken this film to cult-like status. Maybe I'm just not in touch with today's movie going public. Or maybe I just took a different pill than everyone else.