Poor film with good action

Rating: 6/10 (12 August 2002)

The Matrix is a classic special effects movie in a similar way Jurassic Park is, it has ushered in a new age of special effects that will rule the cinema for the next decade but the actual film is below average at best. Everyone now knows about the lobby shoot out and the 'I know Kung Fu' sequences (now surpassed by Crouching Tiger') and they deserve all the praise they get its just a shame that they're ruined by the dull and lifeless characters. How Reeves gets acting work in Hollywood I have no idea, every-time he speaks you want to point and laugh at his blank expressions and awful line reading, there is more charisma in a dead fish. Moss (who is so good in Memento) is not much better and Fishbournes philosophies make you wish Agent Smith would just kill him and be done with it. Dialogue that wouldn't be out of place in Dr Strangelove ('Its a killing machine designed for one thing') and good plot with some first rate ideas is wasted by the directors, the cool of people in suits doing Kung Fu in slow motion wears off pretty quick on repeat views. It is however a landmark in action cinema if only for the last 30 minutes, it is destined to be copied for years to come by second rate action and science fiction movies and for that I give it 5/10.