good...but not great

Rating: Null/10 (27 March 2002)

I had a chance to see Andy and Larry Wachowski's ground breaking thrill ride a minute movie, The Matrix, last night. I have to say that as writers the two brothers are very good Directors.	The story is fairly straightforward. It seems that our reality is not really our reality but a computer generated one and the year is somewhere close to 2200. The computers harvest babies and use them as giant batteries to keep the computer generated world running as they see fit. A few special people are able to break out of this dream life and begin their battle against the computers. One group, led by Morpheus, is searching for the mythical "One". A man who will be able to fight the computers with their own strengths and lead humanity back to the pinnacle of life where we once existed. Morpheus believes he has found this person when he finds Neo. The rest of the story details the training of Neo, the discovery of a traitor in their ranks, and the eventual battle between Neo and the Agents of the computer.	The special effects and the action sequences keep this movie going. Unfortunately nothing truly spectacular occurs in any of these sequences. I am not saying they were bad there have just been better sequences in many other movies. For the most part the actors do their best with the roles they have been given. Laurence Fishburn tackles the role of Morpheus and gives the performance we have come to expect from him. He is able to draw attention to himself at any time without saying a word and when he speaks his voice wraps itself around you and transports you away with its power. Carrie-Ann Moss plays Trinity. She is, in a word, BAD...and that's good. It has been a long time since we have seen quite as tough a woman in film. Ripley would be proud of her.	Now we come to Neo. Keanu Reeves has done a good job as an action hero before. This time he is passable but that is all. Some scenes, like when he walks through the metal detector and unleashes an arsenal are great. Other scenes don't work as well. His acting ability has frequently been in question and this is one of those times. The first half of the movie his dazed expression is completely befitting of a character who is bombarded with the information he is receiving. Unfortunately that expression stays on him the rest of the movie. Remember my comments concerning the power of Fishburn's voice? Keanu is not blessed with the same gift. In fact at all times he sounds as if he is stoned beyond belief. Though the story is silly and meanders off on different tangents I am not saying I disliked this movie. I will say that it wasn't the be all and end all of Sci-Fi/Action movies. However it was relatively entertaining and I am not sorry I went.