A rarity: an intelligent and re-watchable Hollywood blockbuster

Rating: 9/10 (2 April 2008)

***SPOILERS for those who have never seen or heard about the movie***
A good movie can be many things, but one thing that good movies always have is that they don't get get boring after repeated viewings. Going back and re-watching it not only gives you the same enjoyable experience of seeing a great film, but also the opportunity to notice things you didn't quite catch before or see the same things in a slightly (or totally) different way.
"The Matrix" is that type of movie. A cleverly designed story that speaks about many things on many levels. The most obvious thing here are the spectacular effects that won an Oscar and even spawned the phrase "Matrix-like action." They took slow motion and action choreography to a whole new level. But even so, they wouldn't be so great if they weren't part of an innovative story structure that can be seen in a great number of ways. The story can be seen as a heroic quest that the lead character Neo embarks on. A religious and/or historical allegory due to all the classical names of the characters. Or, even that of a totalitarian police state.
The last viewpoint I found particularly interesting as the Matrix is the ultimate Orwellian-nightmare prison. It has full control of your body to the point that it fuels itself with the inmates' body heat. The inmates are kept down by living in a time that is the peak of human civilization and if they defer in anyway, the forces that control the system go after them with police and military forces. The kicker, of course, is that all this is an all illusion and escape, without serious outside help, is an impossibility and even then it's difficult. But how can there be outside help if everyone is asleep in pods? Naturally the story sidesteps this by proving our character with a safe (well, sort of) way out into the real world, but it is hardly a flaw in logic. The story has to start somehow in order for it to go somewhere. Though it remains a fact that trying to imagine how the very first person "woke up" and then proceeded to "wake" others remains perplexing.
This is a solid smart science fiction film with depth that few blockbusters can ever hope to achieve. So watch it as an action movie. Watch it as a thinking man's movie. But in the end, just watch it. --- 9/10
Rated R for violence. Ages 13+