Sci-Fi for the 21st Century

Rating: Null/10 (10 December 1999)

I made the mistake of passing this movie by in the theaters, thinking it was just another sci-fi rehash with Keannu Reeves. After having finally seen it on video, I realized I was dead wrong. Over the next two weeks I saw it five different times as I introduced a host of friends to this movie, all of whom agree with me. This is one of the best and most original sci-fi films of the last 20 years. I will grant you that the movie as a whole is John Woo meets Isaac Asimov meets Star Wars, but the story itself is complex at first glance and just believable enough to be scary.
The acting is an up-and-down affair. Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving are outstanding in this film, and Carrie-Anne Moss is as competent as she is beautiful. Keannu survived this film intact. The other characters are largely understated, and I actually would have liked to see a little more character development. For all the time they spend introducing Neo and idea of The Matrix, they kind of drop all the supporting cast into the film to try and make us believe it's not all about Neo, Trinity and Morpheus.
The special-effects in this movie are outstanding, and have set the standard for eye-candy movies, basically the 1999 Independence Day. With the advent of digital film technology via Lucasfilms, I have a feeling special effects will surpass themselves tenfold in the next ten years alone. But for now this is the king of an ever-changing mountain. In the meantime, the Wachowski brothers demonstrated that there is still room in Hollywood for creative camera work. Some of the shots are outstanding, and even with the most subtle and understated shots, you get the idea that every single shot and angle is exactly where it is meant to be, for a very specific purpose. The cinematography is, to me, the real gem of the film, the diamond in the middle of an above-average story and above-average acting. The Messianic theme is prevalent in science fiction so this movies is easily compared, not only to Star Wars, but any number of sci-fi films and Japanese anime features. But all in all, I think this film is an outstanding effort, it will be a crime when it doesn't get a Best Picture nomination, and I can't wait for 2 and 3.