The first film of the new millennium

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2005)

Perhaps the first postmodern movie to be enthusiastically embraced by the public, "The Matrix" has not only sold lots of DVD players, but also passed into our cultural mythology. Which all goes to show the power of a great story well told. On a first viewing, it seemed to me that the brothers Wachowski were trying for a Zen myth, but when they got to the crunch, they bailed and went with the tried and true Christ figure archetype. Perhaps it really is still the greatest story ever told.
I'm sure that there are nitpickers out there who have totted down the film's supposed flaws and inconsistencies (as my wife says, "another great adventure story ruined by kissing"), but even after several years and many, many viewings, I find the combination of the writing, the brilliant camera shots and the art direction to be really inspiring. And it's nice to see a film in which the special effects actually serve the story.