Derived, but fun.

Rating: Null/10 (14 May 1999)

Before I begin bagging the film, let me first say that I've seen it twice in the past two days. It is fun to watch. Period. Well worth seeing on the big screen, and well worth the price of admission.
Ok, with that out of the way, every aspect of this film is completely derived.
The plot is a piecemeal of just about every scifi flick made this decade. The set design is straight out of the Alien 101 textbook, chapter 1. The dry, ambiguous dialogue smells like Stan Lee on valium writing the screenplay for The Crow VII. And the acting? The acting is just plain bad. Believe it or not, Lawrence Fishburn is even worse than Keanu Reeves.
But Carrie-Anne Moss sure does look good in leather.
The action is what makes the movie fun, and ultimately worth seeing. It is visually gripping, sonically riveting and maintains a pitch and stylistic swagger not found in many American action films. Well choreographed, well placed, well shot and also completely recycled.
Every action scene containing guns you've seen in a John Woo movie. An example: A man in black, wearing very cool sunglasses, silently and stylishly enters a room full of baddies. Casually, he opens his trenchcoat, revealing an arsenal. Guns are strapped to every part of his body. Never speaking a word, he and his similarly cool partner stylishly clear the room of an army of armed guards. Slow motion close ups of bullet casings raining from semiautomatic weapons -- one in each hand. Acrobatic leaps through torrents of enemy bullets. Lots of noise, lots of ammunition. As the last baddie is dispatched, the duo casually throws their empty weapons to the ground and silently enter the elevator. Sound familiar?
What surprised me was that, while no Chow Yun Fat, Keanu pulls of these scenes well -- with style. Maybe it's because he's not talking.
And, again, Carrie-Anne Moss sure does look good in leather.
Every action scene not containing guns you've seen in any number of Jet Li flicks -- the climatic subway station battle is nearly move for move the fight between Chen Zhen and the Japanese General in Fist of Legend. So much so that after my first viewing, I waited through the credits to see who had choreographed the fight scenes. Sure enough, it was Yuen Wo Ping, who also choreographed Fist of Legend (and Drunken Master 2 and the Iron Monkey and Tai Chi Master and ...). While responsible for some of the best kung fu fight scenes ever filmed, old boy seemed to think American audiences wouldn't notice if he threw it on autopilot for this one.
Again, nothing new here, but the Matrix is a fun and exciting ride. I would recommend you see it on the big screen while you still can. I'll probably go see it at least once more, if only to see Carrie-Anne Moss in leather again. I mentioned that she looks good in it, right?