Don't Believe the Hype

Rating: 4/10 (25 September 1999)

I didn't go to see this film because Keanu Reeves was in it,so I figured how good could it be? But then i started hearing what a good film it was,what great sci-fi,what great special effects. I still have flashbacks of Johnnie Mnemonic so I waited for the video. When I tried to rent it the day it was released both video stores I go to were out of it.I rented it three days later-thinking I must be wrong,this must be a good if not great sci fi movie.
I might have been a little more impressed with the special effects if they had not shown them before the movie started.The video actually shows how some of them were created.Bummer-I like to be surprised. But even if I had not seen this preview I would have still thought this was a so-so- movie. Keanu Reeves-what can I say--he looked good in this movie.He has better cheekbones than 90% of the models that strut their stuff down the runway-but God love him--he can't act worth squat!
Anybody who thinks this is another Blade Runner,or Dark City,forget about it. This could have been a contender,but it falls short in so many ways. The premise of the story is fascinating-people living in a dream universe created by computer,while in reality they are created and used as a source of energy to power the computers. This concept was not very fully explored and I found Morpheus"s (Lawrence Fishburne the leader of the rebels who knows the truth)explaination of the rules of the Matrix flawed. Instead a deep thought provoking movie,the premise demands-what we get is a shoot-em-up,and a Hollywood ending.
This movie was mildly entertaining,in spite of Keanu Reeves,but its not great sci-fi. I gave it a 4.