Time will tell...

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 1999)

Yes, an enjoyable film and likely one that will likely prove influential for the sci-fi genre, but I'm concerned at all the wild adulation this film gets.
I thought THE MATRIX was a very manipulative film, and that the stunts (incredible as they were)and fx swamped the story. It could have been a wonderful exercise in paranoia, a Philip K. Dick kind of tale, but instead the film-makers opted for the Jerry Bruckheimer school of storytelling; there's nothing really wrong with that but I just thought the film had the opportunity to be something more, and I'm puzzled that this film's ratings don't reflect that.
Many films now just seem to be demonstration reels for cgi and there should be more to sci-fi films than that. I don't think that people will be raving about this film in ten, fifteen years or so in the same way as they do about BLADE RUNNER now, a film many viewers seem to think is inferior to THE MATRIX. Time will tell.