pure distilled film making perfection

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2002)

The Matrix is pure distilled film making perfection. Every scene from the first to the last has been meticulously planned, story boarded and shot with an eye for the smallest detail. Most people must have seen a lot of movies where you think "that could have been done better" or "that person was miscast" but the Matrix dispenses with all such niggles. The plot is mind-blowing, a brilliant yet so simple idea that you wonder why no-one else came up with it before, executed with extraordinary style and astonishing imagination this film shows individuals working at the height of artistic creativity. From the extraordinary sketches and layouts from the wonderful Geoff Darrow to the inch perfect hitchcock-esque storyboarding (Hitchcock was also famous for filming his movies precisely as he visualised them) an incredibly interesting and subversive script and a dazzling array of cutting edge special effects (inventing whole new ways of filming to fulfill the Wachowski brothers vision) this film has every technical wizardry advance in it's arsenal and deploys every one to their full advantage. The most startling thing about the Matrix though is the incredible performances by all of the actors involved. Three months of intensive martial arts and wire work training make for absolutely astounding and outstanding fight scenes and extraordinary powerful kinetic imagery. The 'making off' documentaries illustrate the startling commitment that Keanu Reeves (in particular) but the rest of the cast also, brought to this extraordinary film. Bruises and broken bones don't stop the cast (none of whom had previous martial arts knowledge) from doing months of intensive martial arts training by a Kung Fu Master. This pays off with the most incredible ballet like movements and brilliantly explosive gunplay. On action alone this film is the ultimate movie. Stylish and sleek the look of the film from the incredible custom built sets to the stitched leather shiny uber-stylishness of the Matrix to the barren realities of the 'real world' the film is class from start to finish. Every perfect scene segues into something ever more startling yet everything adds to a perfect whole. This is the 'Ultimate Film' that could only have been done in this day and age, the last great film of the twentieth century to blast us into the next by bending every genre, flaunting every rule and thrilling the pants of the audience from the opening seconds to the bombastic final theme music. I know everyone who reads this will have probably seen the film but if by a slim chance you haven't run down to the video shop now and buy that DVD or widescreen VHS because you need to see this film right now!
Simply the coolest film ever the Matrix will surely inspire a new generation of filmmakers and the action hasn't ended yet with two films still to come.
If anyone ever says after watching an old movie "they don't make them like that any more" say "Thank god, because if they did we wouldn't have The Matrix".