Take The Red Pill

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2001)

What is real and what is just perception? The question sounds simple, but The Matrix spins complicated riddles of real world versus a computer generated one so convincingly that you'll find yourself thinking twice. It's a what-if action film that poses the reality that nothing we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and think are altogether real. That human beings are blinded in "the matrix" - a dominating computer program that fools us into believing that this world exists. Why you ask? Well its simple. Computers are evil and will do anything to take over the world. This premise has been used effectively in the Terminator films, and goes further here by tricking the audience as well as the main character Neo, played by Keanu Reeves. Neo begins his journey like the rest of us - ignorant to the truth. He meets the leader of a small resistance and must make the choice: whether to live in a false world where computers secretly use human beings as energy sources, or to join the fight against this invisible tyranny. This is a movie with incredible action sequences and ground-breaking special effects. Innovative camera angles and digital tinkering will leave you jaw dropped. The pace is very fast, and at times confusing. The sinister "agents" are dark physical manifestations of the matrix, and persue Neo and his resistance group through a world that is unclearly real. The out of this world action scenes confine themselves to the rules imposed by the far-fetched original concept. This movie succeeds because of its frightening warning and foretelling of a possible computer controlled future. There are a few strange and slow points in this film that leave unanswered questions. How Neo can actually defeat an indestructable computer generated agent by simply flying into him is beyond me. What baring did the oracle have on anything? How did Morpheus manage to dodge the hundreds of gatling gun bullets? What is so good about Neo and company killing ignorant and innocent people under the spell of the matrix rather than rescuing them? I guess we are not supposed to ask these questions of a movie based on a comic book. These small points of contention can be overlooked for the nicely delivered bigger picture. The Matrix is a great film. Final Rating = 8.2/10