Concept-10...Effects-9...Violence-3...Plotting-4

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 1999)

I think this film presents a fantastic, top-notch, classic sci-fi premise. The truth about the Matrix and how it unfolds is, to me, the strength of this film. It doesn't fully explain itself and leaves one with a lot of questions, especially about the relationship between the different realities, and why actions in one affect the other as they do. But I don't think that these gaps ruin the integrity of the concept. What DOES spoil this integrity is the needless overloading of one's suspension of disbelief. Was it really necessary, and did it further the story in any way to include an unexplained resurrection? Or to allow the destruction of the ship to go on for so long while it's crew and equipment remain totally undisturbed? These are only two of the many instances where, apparently because someone thinks it ADDS to the suspense and excitement, a gripping situation is over-played to the point where it becomes too much work to keep trying to buy into it. The special effects are incredible. The look of the movie is strong. The cast is up to the job, even stone-faced Keanu. My only other gripe is the usual excess of bullets, and of violence that has no effect. I would think that it was obvious to film-makers now, especially after Private Ryan, that the way to make your movie violence effective is to give each and every "movie bullet" the action and effect of a real bullet. The choreography is nice, but the pounding music, the cascade of cartridge shells, and the piles of bodies becomes both numbing and boring after a very short while. Is there anyone out there who didn't find the scene on the roof, where Neo dodges a total of maybe a dozen bullets, much more exhilarating and interesting than the carnage in the lobby, where enough bullets were fired to arm South Central L.A. for a year??!!