Only good the first time.

Rating: 7/10 (26 December 2017)

When I first saw this movie at fifteen I remember it being a thrill ride for the first half-hour or so, despite the fact that the graphics and special effects looked a bit dated. Going back and watching it for a second time a few years later, I found it to be pretty flat. Neo is the one character who actually has any depth and his normal personality is a breath of fresh air among all of the caricatures surrounding him. All of the other characters had potential to be good, but all they really ended up doing was providing exposition for the world of the movie to Neo and the audience.
There is something to be said for how involved the world of the Matrix is. As I said, I found very little to complain about upon my first viewing and was enthralled by the stylized distortion of the real world that the movie takes place in. The nature of the Matrix also served as a precursor to my favorite movie Inception, so I at least owe it that much praise. There was obviously a lot of work put into the action sequences too, so I can understand how people went crazy over this upon its release even though it didn't have the same effect on me. The idea that the rules of reality are not as strict as they appear to be is also used in a way that is somewhat empowering to the audience. And even though I've never been a big fan of the "chosen one" concept, I thought it was used better here than usual because it was not clear whether Neo actually was the One. He was able to make more active choices instead of being a slave to his destiny or something like that.
Everything else was incredibly stock to the point of being annoying. Cypher was a cookie-cutter rat character, stupidly explaining his whole plan long enough to be stopped. Not exactly the greatest trait for a villain, but one that is seen all too often. Agent Smith is a little better, but Hugo Weaving gives a far to dramatic performance in the role. Morpheus barely seems like a human being between his glassy stares and monotone declarations. Trinity hardly delivers at all on her very good potential as a character, making only one active choice in the movie that doesn't even have any impact on the plot. The rest of the crew almost might as well not have been in the movie. There was good diversity in gender and race among them, but the roles themselves were little more than extras with poor attempts at personality.
I would assume that most people who care to read this review almost 19 years after the movie's release have already seen it. But on the off chance that you haven't, I'll say that it probably won't live up to the hype. Great for the time? Sure. But it doesn't age well and, having not seen the sequels, it's not hard to imagine where they might have fallen off. Overall Rating: 7/10.