Sci-Fi cinematic history in the making.

Rating: 9/10 (18 February 2005)

If a movie's success was judged by the amount of times it is imitated then the Matrix must be one of the greatest modern cinematic pieces. Never has a film set new bench marks in this type of genre since Disney's Tron in the late 70's. However I do believe that this original masterpiece by the Wachowski brothers has created a two tier audience, those that love it and those that loathe it! I'm glad I'm part of the former group and have to say The Matrix is one my most heavily worn DVD's in my collection. The origirnality of the special effects really sell this film well, in fact the self same effects have been parodied a heck of a lot since from Shrek to Team America which further reinforces it's impact in cinematic history. The cast is a good choice even if many have little regard for Keanu Reeve's acting ability it works well here and I could not imagine anyone else better suited for the role of Morpheus than Lawrence Fishbourne. Equally interesting is the way Hugo Weaving plays the sinister Mr Smith. To look at the actual script you would not regard the part as malevolent but Mr Weaving turns it into the guy you really love to hate! This has similar shades to Ricardo Montalban's Khan in Star Trek 2 where some of the line looks mundane of even laughable but are made into something completely unexpected by the actor portraying the character. And finally The Matrix has one of the few scenes in a movie that I'd place in the top ten movie scenes of all time. This was when Neo recovers after being "killed" and realises he is 'the one'.
Final word - If you never seen the film then at least go out and rent it to decide if you love or loathe it. If you find you like it you will probably be wondering why it has taken up until now to see it!