Pop Culture Schlock

Rating: Null/10 (20 June 2001)

Hey, remember that movie where all of those people live in an artificial world created by a non-human sentience, created to hold humans in a prison of the mind for their own nefarious ends. Where the scenery is dark and very stylized, and all are enslaved until *One Man* inexplicably develops the ability to alter said world and set humanity free.
Yeah... "Dark City" sure was an interesting movie.
Perhaps what is most disappointing about "The Matrix" is that our pop-culture has reached the point where a movie like this can be seen as "deep". Gone are Huxley, Orwell, and Sartre. Instead, it is a film like this which really "makes you think". Its philosophy, symbolism, and message are all very simplistic.
All of the positive comments regarding this film seem to come in the form of monosyllabic exclamations about the special effects. While they are impressive at times, (and even done without IL&M, no less) they do not make up for two-dimensional characters, weak dialogue, and fuzzy plot mechanics. One of the worst scenes of 1999 was Trinity's sappy explanation of why she would accompany Neo in his rescue of Morpheus.
Agent Smith makes this movie redeemable.