Just Awesome

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2015)

The Matrix is the type of gem that only comes around once a decade. It is a great film that combines top-notch philosophy (Plato's allegory of the cave) with the coolest action scenes in a long time. It was awesome to learn that some of the coolest effects in the film were achieved by having hundreds of cameras set up to take pictures simultaneously to get the same image from different angles, simulating camera movement when edited together.
On surface level, this film is simply really cool to watch. The shootout before Neo and Trinity enter the elevator is one of the most iconic action scenes in film history. We get all the fun of a lot of bullet fire, one-handed cartwheels, walking up a person's body just to kick them in the face, and a lot more fun choreography to go along with all of this.
I love that this film makes ideas from Plato interesting and relevant via sci-fi motifs. There is also the notion of "the one" in the film. I have to admit, this motif gets somewhat annoying at times; everyone seems to say "he is the one" at one point or another in this film. People see it as a Christ story, but just because somebody is resurrected doesn't make them Jesus. I mean does he die for sins? There is also no clear connection to a god in this story, which goes against the ideas Christianity. I think Plato is more relevant here.
What is on and off for me is my opinion on Keanu Reeves' performance. I used to think his performance in this film is terrible, but I've realized his playing dumb/ignorant is spot-on. The scene where he questions if he should save Morpheus seems to lack some emotion, but I now realize this is one of the few instances of "poor" acting coming from Reeves in the film.
This film would be perfect with a slightly better lead than Keanu Reeves, but this movie is still f***ing awesome.