Too bad they dumbed it down...

Rating: 8/10 (17 May 1999)

Now, I have to admit I have seen it 3 times, and would have to call it the best comedy of the year, which is precisely what works in it. Have you seen _The Big Hit_? The action is similar: there's nothing like breakdancing assassins.
The truth is, however, that for as interesting as the plot was, they left little to the imagination, and in fact, it seemed way too mainstreamed and given in too many nice, chewable bite-sized snippets for the recreational viewer. For a hot concept like the world as a matrix, the fact that this came as such a mainstream attempt may further prove the existence of the story in our world.
How about the campy, uninspired romance that we would have been better served without? How about insufficient fancy slow-mo FX? How about more, more, more in-the-matrix interactions?
With all of this said, it was a riveting and compelling big-balls action flick, and the best I've seen in the genre, but its failings show through where the whole genre falls through: ditch action-flick conventions for better swagger and ego. If _The Matrix_ had more faith in itself, it would not be necessary to make such grandiose appeals to the common viewer.