fun movie

Rating: Null/10 (8 May 2003)

This is a fun movie - not the greatest every made, not even of its kind. Such an opinion exposes holders as naive. Nor is it the worst, and those who think so must be hopelessly jaded. I don't know how many films have explored the idea of two realities - there must be many albeit most not in this genre - but this one has as its assets that it is entirely self-consistent and fairly innovative. The film is very nice to watch - well edited, exciting, and if it seems to borrow a darkness from such movies as Bladerunner and Dark City, well so what? There is such a thing as atmosphere which no film holds a patent on. The special effects are quite good, except for the "no mouth" effect that I could have done. The sentinels are fantastic and relentless; the old-style telephone (uh-huh, how many of you geeks remember rotary dial?) mechanism for moving from reality to virtual reality is a hoot. Gloria Foster as The Oracle is supremely inscrutable, and what fun! If I have a problem with the movie, it's the dialogue and choice of emphasis. No more need be said about the unfortunate protagonists' lines. Hugo Weaving has his moments. As an AI program, I can see him behaving that way. And yes, there's more on the way, but really, when the best two scenes of all, complete in revelation, are machines picking human babies out of a field and Mr. Anderson waking out of his vat, why concentrate on martial arts for the special effects? In these respects, I found that the movie failed to live up to expectation. Oh yeah, Keanu Reeves is adequate. A zillion substitutes could have been made but I did enjoy him.