10/10 doesn't respect the standard.

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2003)

The Plot: Just a little below the surface, The Matrix begs the question on reality and meaning in life. Almost everyone on earth has been captured as a slave to Artificial Intelligence (AI). Everyone lives and works and carries on with life, not even knowing what they experience every day is more of a dream world, similar to living on a planet-sized Star Trek "holodeck." While everyone thinks they are living in the real world, reality is flipped and everyone is really being held captive in suspended animation submerged in slimy womb-like coffins. In a plot more sinister than the classic sci-fi movie Soylent Green, both the AI and humans (unknowingly) feed off harvested human babies. There is only one city left on earth, hidden deep within the core, which knows the truth of the Matrix and lives free from slavery. A small band of these survivors are tasked with finding a "chosen one" who will eventually free everyone from this slavery, and show them the truth of the Matrix. They find this person as one whom all his life has been struggling with the big questions in life and has attempted to understand the meaning of the Matrix. They offer him the pill of truth or a pill to go back into his non-reality of dream life in 1999. He takes the pill of truth. Why does this movie resonate all over the world, from people many economic levels and walks of life, after a worldwide release of only a few weeks?
How does this movie speak to postmodern relativity in values, morals, and truth? Myths and symbols: (Incidentally, "neo" means new.) Neo is then trained and prepared to fight the AI. Then, through a series of events, he gives up control and accepts his fate. He fights the AI. The Matrix" is a movie that for the first time in recent memory displays such astute visual brilliance within a story that tickles the mind with a vivd array of complex, thought-provoking twists and turns, all of which leaves its viewers befuddled in such fiendishly gleeful ways. Then we're introduced to Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), a computer software engineer who happens to be a nighttime hacker. More events too complex to describe come to pass before he is introduced to Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), a man of one tone of voice who reveals to him a secret: "The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth." "The Matrix" is the first science fiction movie in years to weave these intricacies amongst a vast arsenal of blistering visual effects that transport us into a world that becomes utterly real and truly frightening. In a genre where movies like "Virus" and "Deep Rising" are dominated by weak plots that serve as outlets for effects work and routine action (not that there's anything wrong with that), this film takes a different path. One of the most memorable shots of the film showcases a damaged helicoptor slamming into the side of a skyscraper in the Matrix: the impact causes a ripple effect before the fantastic explosion, as if the fabric of the program is being ripped at the seams. There is one scene in which Morpheus remarks, "Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Could it be that man's advancements in the world of computer technology went overboard? This calls into question just how exactly Neo came to question his reality. Had Morpheus been trying to make contact with him in times before the film's opening? If Neo begins to ponder his world, are there others like him who spend their lives waiting to wake from their dream? Could there be a bug in the Matrix program that provides such an outlet?
For me, "The Matrix" is a movie that doesn't really need a concrete ending. That the Wachowski Brothers have chosen to avert any solid answers or clues only serves to enhance the overall meaning and quality of their work, and it remains the most intelligent and immersive factor of the film. The Matrix exploded onto the Sci-Fi scene. It redefined special effects, and more importantly to its fans, it combined its action/sci-fi plot with that of a very complex story with well-developed characters. Morpheus (Fishburn) is an elusive legend among hackers. One night Neo (Reeves) receives a mysterious message on his computer, meets one of his companions - Trinity (Moss), and receives a call from the man himself. Something didn't feel right with the world. Morpheus believes Neo is "The One". In order to show Neo what he believes to be true, he must show him the door. The Door out of the Matrix.
You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland, and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes."
The world as he knows it is an illusion. Neo joins up with Morpheus and his crew to find out about the real world, and who he really is. The Matrix is a computer generated world used in the future to keep humans alive and mentally stimulated - because they are living in a perpetual state of sleep where machines are growing them to use as energy. Once awoken, Neo is in for the shock of his life as he realizes his entire life was a simulated lie. Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. Neo: What truth? Spoon boy: There is no spoon. "Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."