Philosophical drama meets science fiction (again)

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2004)

The best science fiction films always seem to have solid groundings in
philosophy. Star Trek is the classic example, and Star Wars also ventures into some philosophical grounds. The Matrix follows that tradition, and yet it still manages to be fresh.
Thomas Anderson is your average decent person who goes to work, pays his
taxes and helps his landlady take out the garbage. Yet he dreams. He dreams sometimes so vividly that the dreams become almost real. He is confronted by mysterious hackers named Morpheus and Trinity who tell him that what seems
real to him is in fact little more than an illusion - and they free him into a post- apocalyptic world in which machines are in complete control, harvesting
humans as power sources while keeping them sedate with the illusion of the
Matrix. And he finds himself, along with the few free humans there are, charged with the task of freeing those still trapped inside the illusion.
Not a new idea, to be sure. The notion that all we see and feel is an illusion dates back to Shakyamuni Buddha. But the film is nevertheless engrossing and edgy, even when produced on such a limited budget. It incorporates special
effects that give it almost an anime-like feel (slow-motion and changing
perspective) without making it seem tacky, and gives rise to what is sure to
become one of the most memorable action scenes in the history of science
fiction films. The acting by Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie
Anne Moss is spectacular in some areas though overwrought in others (the
film's only drawback). Overall, this movie gets a 9/10.