Or when special effects DO have a reason

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2002)

Matrix may not be a critic's classic, but surely it does differentiates it clearly from the typical action movie. If you think otherwise, I'd like to challenge you to watch more closely.
Two things I'd highlight in Matrix: 1) it's script, which is one of the few in movies to get the myth of the machine takeover and the possibilities of 'cyberworld' close to a real and clear plot (being a systems engineer, I can tell very few movies ever got near), 2) it is visually fantastic, and not because of the now widely copied slow-motion kicks, but because it aids in explaining the story and telling a lot of the double world you are experiencing. Just like the 'half floor' in Being John Malkovich helps the viewer accept the idea of the strange world the movie depicts, the high contrast - highly iluminated scenery when entering the matrix reminds of a 3d simulation; the excess of gunfiring could easily be taken out of DOOM games, and the slow-motion, multiple angle camera in action scenes reminds that, at last this matrix is a virtual world, where one can really control the evolution of the game.
In summary, I'd say it is very worth watching over and over and discovering new things about it. As someone said here, after watching it, one cannot help but think how much better all those expensive-budget Hollywood action movies could have been.