Exciting action, great sfx, interesting concept.

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 1999)

As a 3D animator, I went to see The Matrix primarily to see the effects. Based on my previous opinion of sci-fi films starring Keanu Reeves, I expected a minimal plotline with pedestrian acting; I was very pleasantly surprised by this film. Mr. Reeves, in a role that casts him as a character whose social skills are minimal and who views the world with a mixture of paranoia and bewilderment, was not stretched beyond his ability and carried off the role well. What primarily made this film enjoyable for me, however, was the fact that, for what seemed to me like the first time in a long time, this was a sci-fi movie that actually had an interesting science fiction concept behind it. Almost all Hollywood sci-fi movies are basically straight action flicks no different from Westerns or cop movies except in their sets, costumes, and sfx; in other words they're really not science fiction at all. But The Matrix delivers what good science fiction is supposed to: a conceptual approach to reality (based at least loosely on technological concepts)that leaves the audience with a renewed take on the quotidian. Proof: among my acquaintances who've seen the movie, any apparently anomalous occurrence now elicits the comment "Hmmm... must be a glitch in the matrix..."