Smarter Than Rambo

Rating: 8/10 (6 July 1999)

I enjoyed this movie, but I don't think it merits as much excitement as it has generated.
This is an action movie that borrows some familiar ideas from paranoid science fiction. The photography and other production values are outstanding. The action sequences are the best you'll see anywhere (see it on the big screen if you can). The acting (except Fishburne, who's got a screen presence you can practically weigh, and who's perfect for his part here to boot) is merely passable. The plot details (some of them) are laugh-out-loud ridiculous. Well, I laughed out loud, anyhow, but I'll admit I may have been the only one.
In a lot of ways, this movie feels like it was adapted from a comic book - there are questions and details about the back story that the movie never answers or explains adequately, and some parts of the plot seem rushed or glossed over. In fact, I think it might have worked better if it took a hint from the X-files, and left even more detail unexplained and mysterious - it would be better than silly, disappointing explanations, anyway.
The Matrix recovers from it's flaws pretty well, and tells an absorbing tale. Despite the violence, it does manage to hint at how thought-provoking science-fiction movies could be, if Hollywood didn't insist on all the big explosions.
All in all, an action movie with above-average intelligence - for an action movie.