The Matrix-best science fiction/action film in a while

Rating: 9/10 (18 April 1999)

I loved The Matrix. It was a visual ride and didn't condescend to its audience for a moment in its plot, in the questions that it posed to its audience. However, the film could have been made even more compelling and exciting with characters who were better developed and a stronger human element to the story. Still, it is the best science fiction film since Strange Days (an underrated science fiction masterpiece) and the best action film since Face-Off. (By science fiction, I mean true science fiction that uses technology to explore some question of human existence, not straightforward action films that happen to take place in the future or, as in Star Wars, the distant past.) It is the more compelling human stories and well-crafted dialogue of these two films that give them the edge on The Matrix.