Productions values great, but Keanu is still wooden

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 1999)

This is one of the few movies out there where the entire film actually matches the intensity and "cool factor" of the trailer. From the vast CGI landscapes down to the shell casings of bullets falling in slo-mo, The Matrix presents everything you want in a techno-thriller. The costumes are especially appealing, a bleak Armani vision tempered with flashes of Gaultier. All shades of blacks, greens, and washed out whites permeate.
Two drawbacks, and I would argue that they are serious drawbacks (with a possible third looming in the background), make The Matrix a less than ideal actioner. First, nothing--I repeat NOTHING--can excuse Keanu Reeve's dour performance. His career path is inexplicable: how does this guy get work on what some people call "acting"? The audience I saw this with laughed at his vain attempts to say serious dramatic lines, and even his dry attempts at humor ("I know kung fu" he utters in disbelief) drew laughs at him, not with. Fortunately, Lawrence Fishburne and company make up for him. Second: a lame plot twist near the end of the film completely wrecks the nicely wound storyline. Granted, one must give this film a lot of leeway; but what it asked me to swallow in the end I could not do. I was willing to forgive the long, monologue-ish exposition parts that linked the really groovy special effects sequences, but that bit in the end (you'll know it when you see it) was unpardonable. Third: the ending leaves no doubt that, barring a minor box office meltdown, there is a sequel in the offing. . .
So the film looks GREAT, sounds great, and for the most part unravels a complex plotline (with the one exception) with surprising finesse; I don't usually expect this craftsmanship in a special effects movie. As long as you can ignore Keanu, and the nearly 2.5 hour running time that drags once in a while, this movie is worth a matinee.