Dumbest idea ever filmed

Rating: 7/10 (21 April 2001)

I loved The Matrix when I first saw it. The direction was superb, the effects excellent (though sometimes bizarre), the plot was confusing but compulsively interesting, the acting was not too bad, and the whole thing rattled along at a breathtaking pace. It was only the third time I watched it that I noticed that it was based on possibly the most stupid idea for a movie ever made: an all-powerful computer that keeps people alive for the sole purpose of feeding off their bio-electricity! How could anyone believe that the world could possibly be taken over by a machine so stupid that it does not realise that it could get more electricity from one decent-sized power station, with about one-billionth the trouble? Full marks to the producers and director, however, for making the movie so exciting that I had to watch it three times before I noticed.