Like Alice, if you follow the white rabbit you´ll end up in...The Matrix.

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 1999)

Science-fiction is an art form, whether you write it or make a movie based on it. 2001, 2010, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Alien, Dark City: all these are examples of the finest art in the movie industry. Now I add to this small list The Matrix.
The Matrix´s Plot is complex and equally simple. It envolves you right from the beginning. You (the viewer), get hints in a sparingly way, just as in the best Octavia Butler´s sci-fi novels. The exposition, both visual and verbal, is stunningly well done. It shines as a rare case of equilibrium between the need to inform and the need to capture the spectator´s attention.
Now, all this should be enough to make it a good movie. But there is more: the fighting scenes, the special effects, the sound effects, the soundtrack...and the acting. The Brothers got it right, whatever the angle from which you look at the movie. It´s non-stop action together with a intelligent storyline.
The fighting scenes were beautifully choreographed, and the camera´s movement and positioning, following hints from japanese anime, is vivid and dramatic. For instance, helped by the camera and special effects wizards, Carrie Ann´s movements were simply fantastic, all the more if you consider the fact that she was once a model. Technological wizardry and personal physical accomplishment well merged.
You will see some magnificent visual effects, but the sound effects surely top those by more than a notch or two. The Brothers could have followed a Devlin-Emmerich (ID4) type of philosophy - bigger, louder, etc -, but they refrained from that...well, there´s only one scene where they wrecked the balance sound-action-music ... I´ll leave it to you to discover what scene I´m referring to.
The soundtrack is almost hypnotic, it helps the plot along, it kind of makes the characters move forward, builds their emotions...and also ours. Some movies alienate the viewer with some too agressive music and instrumentation, but The Matrix´s soundtrack is perfect, made to-the-point.
Keanu Reeves and the rest of the cast...well, two words for them all: great acting. There is not a single moment in the whole movie where you think to yourself: "0h, weak, fragile acting as usual..." Everybody, from mr. Reeves to Ray Anthony Parker, knows their place and what they are supposed to do exactly to the millimeter. They convince us that they(the characters) are real.
If you think of Blade Runner´s action and environment, or Dark City´s storyline and atmosphere, you think of dense and coherent facts, not flashy or shocking to the point of nausea (like ID4 or Aliens IV), but solid and attention graber...that´s the case with The Matrix. While scary, The Matrix´s universe is an epic and brave one.
The Matrix: intelligent, thought-provoking, exciting, vivid, innovative and dramatic film-making. You´ll love it. I did.