Reality is a thing of the past.

Rating: 8/10 (17 May 2000)

What is the Matrix? A top-notch, balls to the wall, ingenious, visually expansive and stunning, exquisitely crafted hard sci-fi film that also happens to be exceptionally well made and very entertaining. Questions about Keanu's acting chops aside, The Matrix is jammed with effects, well-choreographed fight sequences, and some amazing acrobatics by Reeves, Fishburne, and Moss. The plot is full of holes, naturally, and the dialogue is typically lowbrow and terrible but who really cares? This is cerebral popcorn at its most highly developed, a plate of eye candy lovingly delivered with gasoline eyedrops.
I liked it.
Keanu plays Neo, a computer nerd whose life is turned upside down when he is brought into the bizarre world of Trinity (Moss) and Morpheus (Fishburne). He jumps into a classic mind-trip and has to sort out his situation. While it would be very uncool to tell you what the Matrix is, understanding that virtual worlds are involved helps immensely. Essentially, Keanu and crew can bend their reality in one of the worlds but find themselves being chased by computer-generated agents intent on keeping the secret of the Matrix intact in the other.
The power exhibited by the three main characters (Keanu, Lawrence, and Carrie-Ann) is explosive and awe-inspiring. The trio of actors did most of their own stunts and the results are striking. They trained for seven months with martial arts experts and it absolutely pays off. With the addition of some dead time cinematography and film speed tweakage, the fight scenes are nothing short of beautiful.
In fact, just about every inch of this flick could be framed and put on a wall.
The film does have a few faults though. You've got to decide whether the lack of a well-constructed plot and sometimes silly dialogue will bother you. Like Blade, this flick definitely chooses style over substance. Still, it is light years ahead of some of Hollywood's normal drivel. There are frequent moments when you start to poke holes in the plot but the filmmakers quickly remedy that situation with another fight or effects scene. While the film literally drips with Hong Kong-style wire acrobatics, it also has the lovely all-encompassing darkness of Dark City.
At the pub last night discussing this film with Gaz and Chen, we started rattling off other action films that were nearly perfect: Die Hard, the first Lethal Weapon, and much of Face/Off. While The Matrix is far from perfect, it is certainly one of the more memorable flicks to come down the action transom in years.