The Greatest Sci-Fi Masterpiece Since Star Wars

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2006)

The Matrix stands among the greatest sci-fi movies to have ever surfaced in years. Like Star Wars before it, The Matrix has awed movie audiences with its great special effects, different view on the world and its deeply intriguing plot. Not once does The Matrix cease to amaze its viewer with what it has to tell, and it has quite a story to tell us indeed.
The story of The Matrix is that in the near future, Neo, a computer hacker, is found by a group of people to discover the roots of the Matrix. What Neo quickly learns from this group of people led by Morpheus is that the world he lives in is not what it appears to be. This world he feels so safe in is merely an illusion created by the Matrix where the way we live is used to fuel the Matrix and the cyber beings that created it. Neo is brought into the picture because Morpheus believes Neo to be the One, a single person who's destined to save humanity from the prison of the Matrix. The plot is deep and isn't very easy to understand at first but this is what makes The Matrix such an interesting watch.
What makes The Matrix different from other sci-fi movies is that it doesn't focus so much on special effects and mind-blowing special effects. Instead, most of the running time of the movie is used to tell the plot to the audience and let them understand how the Matrix works as if they were Neo. Yes, Neo might be a computer hacker at first but once he learns of the Matrix it's like all his knowledge of computers barely even matters. With that, the viewer almost never feels like they aren't getting anything in the movie that Neo isn't.
The cast of actors/actresses in The Matrix is a pretty strong selection. Keanu Reeves plays the role of Neo, Laurence Fishburne plays Morpheus and Carrie-Ann Moss plays Trinity, a feisty woman who later becomes Neo's lover. Keanu Reeves does a good job of portraying Neo as a computer hacker and as the One. Fishburne also delivers a more than worthy performance as the persistent Morpheus. Carrie-Ann Moss gives the audience nothing less than the impression that she has feelings for Neo from the beginning and she keeps that feeling along with her more get-to-the-point attitude together very nicely. Then there's Hugo Weaving, who plays the bad guy of the show, Agent Smith. Weaving does a great job of giving Agent Smith a smirky but somewhat charming personality that makes the viewer not help but love him for it.
The action scenes that The Matrix does give the audience are fun to watch and definitely worth seeing. But don't expect much action in The Matrix, as it only makes up about thirty to forty minutes of the movie. Hey, at least you get to see some sick CGI at the end of the movie, not to mention the world-famous signature lean by Keanu Reeves that got The Matrix for its nickname. Not only is the action scenes in The Matrix awesome, but they also present some funny humor to help them be more enjoyable. The battles in The Matrix may not be Star Wars huge, but with such a great presentation in the movie otherwise it doesn't matter.
The Matrix ends very smoothly and by the time it does the viewer feels much more than just satisfied with their buy or rent of the movie. Without a doubt, if you're a sci-fi goer you just have to have this movie in your movie collection. If you are and you don't have this movie along with the other Matrix movies then why are you even reading my review to start with, go out and buy it now!