"...there's a difference between knowing the path... and walking the path".

Rating: 9/10 (25 September 2011)

I saw this movie when it first came out, and can't really grasp the idea that an entire decade has gone by since then. Watching today, it still holds up as an exciting sci-fi action thriller, with effects that still look relatively new even though many of them have been copied and even parodied since. I have to admit, time travel, dream stories and virtual reality films can leave you with your head hurting a bit, but if you watch this one attentively, you'll find that it was cleverly written leaving very little wiggle room for plot holes to creep through.
Essentially, 'The Matrix' is a computer generated dream world which replaced the 'real' world that was destroyed at some point during the twenty second century in a battle between humans and an artificial intelligence. The AI won, and subsequently created an entire race of machines feeding off the living energy of humans kept alive in a state of suspended animation. The very few humans still alive wait for the day that 'The One' will destroy the Matrix and free those under it's control. To protect itself, The Matrix has created a race of machines called Sentinels who track down humans, be it in the real world or in The Matrix itself. This can all get a little confusing, so it's best to take this all in with no distraction, because things move back and forth between the two realms rather quickly.
If you really want to take the concept of the picture a step further, there's plenty here to dissect and analyze. For some, the religious and philosophical elements conveyed by The Matrix and The One are quite overt. One of the immediate thoughts that struck me was the parallel of The Matrix to The Force in "Star Wars", an eternal and universal life energy that unites all living creatures. The One can be interpreted as The Savior, the Redeemer of Mankind who will set all of humanity free from the curse of original sin, or in this case, the slavery of the pods. I guess if you're skeptical of this philosophic/religious connection, this will all be a lot of mumbo-jumbo, but to me it's a lot more interesting to look at it that way than just seeing a bunch of special effects involving insane martial arts moves and time stopping bullets in flight.
What I didn't care for so much was the make up of the Sentinels, not the human ones but the machines. Personally, I thought Hugo Weaving was great as Agent Smith in his relentless pursuit of Neo. But the idea of those squid-like battle ships attacking the Nebuchadnezzar seemed to defy a certain logic. Wasn't Zion, the last human city located underground? The concept of The Oracle also catches one a bit off guard as well. I mean, my idea of an Oracle, who was supposed to know everything about The Resistance since the beginning, wasn't exactly that of an old woman who smokes cigarettes and bakes cookies. This introduction of a bit of whimsy might have been intriguing to the Wachowski Brothers, so if that's the case, I guess I can go along with it.
Anyway, I like the idea of The Matrix and I like the movie. I can't say as much about the sequels, and it's been some time since I've seen those as well. I'll get around to them again eventually.