Entertaining replay of old sci-fi themes

Rating: 6/10 (17 August 2000)

This movie was entertaining, but I must say I'm baffled by all the hype and enthusiasm. The movie rolled along with lots of action and violence so you weren't bored. I've seen comments on this being a thinking man's movie, it's not even a thinking producer's movie. There are basically two "ideas" in the movie (I won't spoil, because they are the movie). Both of these ideas are simply grabbed from other science fiction writing without any sort of original twist, except for combining them. When you first learn about these two main ideas it's surprising only because they come from nowhere, you're not really expecting them, but you are trying to figure out a few things. Up to this point in the movie it's pretty neat, but lacks any subtlety, they just throw it at you. After they introduce the two main themes just sit back and watch the action, nothing else intriguing happens.
As I said before, the movie keeps moving so you don't get bored. But after a while the gaps in logic and inconsistencies get a little overwhelming. Part of fantasy stories is the creation of a universe where certain rules apply that may be different than what we are used to, whether it's in space or software. This movie makes no attempt at explaining anything, and with the stuff they throw at you, they need to explain it (for the thinking man at least). Science fiction doesn't need to be believable, per se (it is fiction), but it should be believable within the boundaries set for that story. It's seems like they wrote the plot as a first try and didn't bother with details. For example, what's up with the phone thing why not just click you're heels together three times. "The body can't live without the brain" doesn't mean you can just sort of makeup arbitrary rules throughout the story.
Another thing I can't figure out is why in this universe they have to walk around with stone faces all the time. Perhaps that was just too make sure Keanu Reeves didn't stand out as a bad actor. It worked, this was the least annoying role I've seen him in. A movie without any dialogue is a perfect fit for Keanu.
Despite the shallowness of the movies and the bad acting, I did enjoy watching it, but not as a thinking man. If you just let the movie unfold in front of you it has enough action and graphics to be entertaining.
It does sadden me how such a one dimensional movie can overwhelm the minds of people. Maybe you all need to read a book once in a while to understand what real complexity is. Just throwing out someone else's ideas with computer graphics does not make a genius, although it can be entertaining.