Wonderful Film-making!

Rating: 10/10 (25 April 1999)

Of course the special effects in this movie are breathtaking, but there's much more to The Matrix. Carrie-Anne Moss (there's always so much going on behind her eyes), Hugo Weaving (what fun he must have had with this!) and Gloria Foster were fantastic in their roles. The choreography and cinematography both exceed all expectations in their attempt to style The Matrix like a live-action anime'.
The dialogue, with a few notable exceptions, is excellent, and the story line does a great job of being as complex as it can be without losing the audience (well, some folks can always get lost). Marcus Chong gets stuck with a few lines that are less than choice, and how they are received depends on how jaded the particular audience is. The romance is also a sticking point for those who gave up fairy tales for Goodfellas at the age of six, which seems like a lot of us these days. I'm baffled by how Lucas can feed us the corny mystical stuff and we love it, but no one else can completely get away with it. But I digress.
As hard as it is to imagine a Keanu Reeves movie inspiring discussions regarding the nature of reality, that is what has happened. An added bonus is that the Matrix has fun, tipping its hat to other films and not taking itself too seriously at times. This is a movie that you can probably go see five or six times and notice and appreciate something new every time. Enjoy!
Go Wachowski brothers! Go Manex Visual Effects! Go Carrie-Anne! Go whoever set up all those squibs!