Classic misdirection into reality

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2011)

"Matrix" is all shiny, trendy, slow bullet sci-fi. Even has the obligatory helicopter destruct scene. What's not to like? Must be why it is in the "top 250" and why everyone loves it. Not really. NO, this movie is a camouflaged parody of the modern sci-fi blockbuster. Everything it has to tease and attract the Uberjaded movie addict does not work in the end. That is the not so hidden message of the film.
The W brothers started out with a faux-secret agenda and stuck with it for the first movie. Their agenda is so simple, it needs no explanation, no complicated deconstruction, no long winding road of thought.
Yes the MATRIX is not the real world. But the world of Zion, the world of the Nebuchadnezzer, is not the REAL world either. It is just a vehicle the W brothers gave you to hold onto. The mind wants to hold on. Look beyond Zion, beyond the Matrix, beyond Neo. Why does Neo wake up so many times in this movie? Because he is methodically learning that each world he encounters is a dream. They are all Maya. When Neo believes he can alter reality in any way desired with his mind alone that is also a trick. Remember, this is the clueless and dazed Keanu Reeves acting. It is not his mind he is using, but rather his faith. Doesn't have to be faith in Jesus or God or Trinity per se, just faith in himSELF as the ultimate reality. IF most people believed they had this power, our society would dissolve and become reformatted into a friendlier and freer place. It's movies like the Matrix that actually foment such freedom. This movie has a message which has nothing in common with "Inception" or any of the copycat escapist drivel that it has spawned. It is one of the best movies ever made and reminds me of "Cast Away" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", all of them a celebration of the power of the Self.
As for the W brothers, it is hard to blame them for straying away in the sequels, it is just human nature to want MORE. That's why the sequels, which should not have been made, are well recognized as big box office rip offs.