hack-job start, decent finish

Rating: Null/10 (10 November 2003)

I didn't really care for this film very much on the first viewing. The first thirty minutes of the film is pretty much Andy and Larry sitting in your TV asking, `What is the Matrix? What *is* the Matrix? WHAT IS THE MATRIX?' just shoving that same question and weird occurrences down your throat as if you're too stupid to ask questions on your own. That turns me off and frankly, I couldn't give a crap about the rest of the film.

From there, the film takes all the pop-culture pseudo philosophical buzzwords and questions of the latest fad and rolls it up into one nice long segment of the movie, yet another turn off for me. It's really no wonder that the film caught on, and Andy and Larry have to be congratulated for taking the audience's popular language and incorporating it into their film. Alas, the Matrix's biggest achievement is not in plot, but special effects and visual narrative which is superb.
Many directors seem to lack the ability of getting on screen action captured clearly and when they do it's shot in a boring fashion. The Wachowski's do have a very keen eye for visual flair and clarity comparable to James Cameron, Ridley Scott, and Tim Burton, but they're still too fresh in the field to make a longstanding comparison so I'll hold off. Sure, they're all the buzz now, but in five years we could find out they ran out of steam before they could get started.
Upon the second viewing it was easier to watch the film since I was expecting to be talked down to for the first hour or so and it didn't hit like an insult. Once the plot's condescending tone gets turned down a notch or two, the film becomes a fun roller coaster of well-captured and well-executed (overrated, but excellent) battles and effects that are at the brink of being excessive and ridiculous, and as the final act unfolds it does manage to achieve character sympathy and depth, anticipation, concern, and suspense. Battles have intensity and far more logistics behind them than their successors in Matrix Reloaded.
Lastly, The Matrix did have a nice resolution for the plot and character arcs, and unless Revolutions proves to re-capture what Reloaded has lost . .. it should have stayed with the Matrix. So far everything else Matrix related (Reloaded, Animatrix, ) has seemed like unnecessary excess that mostly serves just to capitalize on it, and not build from it. I guess if you can't get enough of the film, it's fine . . . but to me it robs the uniqueness of the original Matrix film than any of the Matrix's imitators.