poor plot, unoriginal quotes, plenty of stereotypes

Rating: 2/10 (10 April 1999)

`I hate those movies based on special effects with a poor plot,' I told my friend when he suggested me to go see `The Matrix' on its opening night. But when I kept hearing excellent reviews of the movie, my curiosity increased, and I decided to give it a try. Well, I was right: not only I did not enjoy the movie, but I also could not wait to rush out of the movie theater.

First of all: the PLOT was truly poor, and it is clear that most of the scenes were designed merely to show special effects, rather than to transmit a precise message (and at least twenty minutes of the movie could have been cut because of this). The first rule of screenwriting is to satisfy the audience's need for orientation, clarifying since the very beginning who are the characters of the movie, and what is their function. I had to wait an hour to understand that. This method (increasing the suspense of this audience by postponing a real explanation of the characters' roles) could have been effective, only if they were introduced in a more clear way. I often felt lost, as many key aspects of the movie were clarified too late (i.e. the phone transportation).

The DIALOGUES were truly lame and unoriginal (except for some funny references to the Wizard of OZ).
The CHARACTERS were not developed at all. Still now, thinking about the movie, I cannot really say what was a peculiar trait of each character: their personalities did not stand out at all. They were rather divided into the stereotypical `good' and `bad' categories.

Still mentioning STEREOTYPES, I think the whole movie was a TT (Temple of Testosterone): the ideal place for the satisfaction of a male audience. Why? Because of great fight scenes, vigorous men with a perpetual grimace who want to either save or `own' the world, women with big breasts who don't talk (the woman in red), and strong but yet submissive women driven by sentimentality (Trinity).

What I SUGGEST is to go see it if you like video games and want some entertainment. But if you are one of those persons who want to step out of a movie theater with a new awareness or  even better  a call to action, I suggest you'd save the 8 bucks for a better cause.