Which will it be, the red pill or the blue pill?

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2020)

"The Matrix" is a trend-setting, visually dazzling sci-fi / action picture that offers up some provocative ideas and entertaining concepts. Its various scenes of human acrobatics and bullet-dodging gimmickry immediately became iconic, lending themselves to parody as well as to imitation. Granted, there IS a lot of mumbo-jumbo in this script, and the film does go on a little too long, but it's hard to deny the amusement level of such colourful escapism.
Keanu Reeves is front and centre as Thomas Anderson, alias "Neo", a software designer by day and computer hacker by night. Then he is informed by characters led by the charismatic Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) that the world in which he lives is not reality. It is actually an illusion created by an omnipotent artificial intelligence. Morpheus believes that Neo is "The One", the person who will be the ultimate weapon for good in the war waged against this nefarious A.I. Pursuing our heroes are various relentless Agents, in particular the deadpan Smith (Hugo Weaving).
"The Matrix" is generally good fun, as it delivers a number of nicely executed set pieces. The martial arts fights, choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping, are highlights, but there is also one effective chase sequence near the end. John Gaeta supervised the visual FX, which are memorable all the way to the end.
The cast is fine - Joe Pantoliano (co-star of The Wachowski siblings' breakthrough film, "Bound"), Carrie-Anne Moss, Marcus Chong, Gloria Foster, Matt Doran, Anthony Ray Parker, etc. Keanu does alright as the hero who becomes more badass as the story plays out, steadily awakening to this new reality facing him. Fishburne again displays a solid screen presence, delivering exposition in such a way that one can't help but pay attention. Moss is an engaging heroine, and her athleticism in various action sequences is quite impressive. Weaving is a simply great villain.
Well produced, well directed, and pounding ahead to a soundtrack including Rob Zombie, Prodigy, and Marilyn Manson, among others; this spawned a franchise that as of this writing is about to be revived.
Seven out of 10.