Over-hyped, Style over Substance

Rating: 5/10 (27 September 1999)

I had high hopes for this movie, being a huge fan of the "what if none of this is real?" genre, but I was disappointed. The film does have a few things going for it - let me cover those first, since that won't take long. The visuals are beautiful and stunning - whoever shot this movie is indeed an artist. I can't remember a film that was this fascinating just to look at. The film also has a creative and intriguing premise (which I can't mention, or it would spoil it). Keanu Reeves, who is a horrible actor, is actually more tolerable in this flick than he has been in most of his others - mostly due to the fact that the role requires almost no acting. Keanu does look good in the film, and Carrie-Ann Moss looks fantastic in tight PVC pants! That's it for the good, now for the bad: the story has holes in it the size of Texas. Is it really so hard to write a story that makes sense, that is tightly crafted? Total Recall and The Terminator come to mind as examples of tightly written sci-fi films. I can't go into the details of the many, many things that just don't make sense since it would spoil it for those who haven't seen it. Did the writers not understand virtual reality at all, or did they just assume the audience was too ignorant to notice the absurdities and non-sensical aspects of their virtual world? Seems like the makers of The Matrix just got lazy. They had a great premise and Keanu Reeves, so they just threw in some extended slo-mo gunfights, kung-fu battles, lots of big explosions, a pounding soundtrack, and called it a day - very crass. About those slo-mo gunfights, kung-fu battles, big explosions, and pounding soundtrack - they came across as very contrived - obviously hacked onto the story to make it an "action" movie. How obviously formulaic! I can just hear the producer saying "We have a pretty good story here, but we want to make it an 'action' movie, so stick in these elements...". This film had serious potential, but ended up as merely mediocre - what a shame. 5 out of 10.