Unoriginal and uninspired!

Rating: 1/10 (2 April 1999)

I can't believe that anyone would seriously suggest that this film was even average! It was worst film I have seen in a very long time.
The movie had so little to offer, it is hard to only point to specific flaws:
1) Keanu has to be one of the worst actors of our era. He shows no signs of even moderate intelligence or talent, and as a hero, he comes across as flat and unispiring. It is hard to believe that his character would have anything to offer that would distingish him from your average idiot. And in action scenes, it was impossible to tell if he is *supposed* to look silly or if he can't help it. No charisma, no flair, just pathetic.
2) Very shallow and poor development of an unoriginal idea. The idea that our reality is not real at all is hardly original. It has been the subject of science fiction for decades, and a successful treatment of the subject should delve into some psychological depths. We should be left wondering whether our world truly is real. Or we should get a sense of how willing or unwilling we might be to face the fact that our world is an illusion. We should wonder whether it matters if our world is an illusion, or whether reality is what we perceive as real. Whatever the protrayal, we should leave the theater feeling intellectually moved. While the film briefly brushed on some of these topics, it was so brief and shallow that no impression was left. Instead, focus returned to martial arts which had no real purpose in terms of the plot.
3) The story dragged as we were forced to sit through an explanation of the matrix that was completely obvious--a couple of visual effects would have gotten the point across in less than a minute with more effect. While the characters beat the idea of the matrix to death in the dialogue, it did little to shed light into the hearts and minds of the characters. What was their motivation, from where did they get their drive and courage? Why were they able to sense the matrix? None of the answers are even touched upon, and the characters are flat and unrealistic as a result.
4) The idea of the matrix is very poorly thought out. Instead of creating a believable world and believable rules for the matrix, the plot resorts to physical fighting, which makes no sense at all. The film obviously had no intention of stretching the mind of the viewer, instead catering to an audience of mindless action-addicts. While action might have added to a well-thought out film, it cannot support a film where the premise is psychological or intellectual.
5) No sense of despair, darkness, or power from the futuristic scenes. The future world is portrayed so little that we really don't even have a chance to be overwhelmed by how horrible it could be. In an attempt to make a happy action film, the dark undertones were completely dropped.
The very few redeeming values were: 1) Interesting use of slow-motion action 2) A few nice special effects (no more than an average action film these days) 3) A promising premise. While not original, the idea has great potential. Several other films, such as Dark City have shown a bit of this potential, and there is a plethora of such plots in books.
In short, any thoughtful, insightful, meaningful, or inspired treatment of a potentially interesting idea was completely dropped to show a few almost laughably out of place action scenes. The fact that people rave about this movie shows that people are willing to swallow the mindless just for some cool effects. How sad.