Best fresh action/plot combination since Face Off

Rating: 8/10 (1 April 1999)

After all the trailers, interviews, and general hype, I stood in line, special preview pass in hand, ready for the action film of the season. Subconsciously, the question Can they deliver or will TM join Johnny Mnemonic on the Keanu scrap heap dogged me as the lights went out.
The first twenty minutes of the film seemed to confirm the worst: it was choppy, cryptic and I found my mind wandering. Luckily the pace picked up and never slowed down again. As Neo, Reeves gives a fairly wooden performance (something we've come to expect of him), but surprisingly it actually helps his character. Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity is wonderful: alluring and deadly, a leather clad black widow. Fishburne's softspoken, almost monastic Mephisto is riveting. And, finally, there is Joe Pantoliano's Cypher, as devious and slimy as we've come to expect him (Bound, Risky Business,etc).
The nightmarish real earth landscape was truly hellish. The setting and atmosphere will obviously be compared with T2, Blade Runner, and Dark City, not to mention shades of Demolition Man, and Brazil. Thankfully TM does an excellent job of this and will not be seen as merely a copycat. I was also thankful of the fact that TM does not follow the simple linear plot line common in most Hollywood films these days and makes you pay attention and, god forbid, think. Setting and plot aside, the question on many people's mind, is does the action live up to the hype. Yes.
The action sequences were simply breathtaking and beautifully choreographed, worthy of John Woo . On these merits alone I would strongly recommend the movie. The fact that the actors did all their own stunts and spent several months in intensive martial arts training only gives it that much more oomph. Combine this with the effective utilization of the new freeze photography (popping up in everything from the Gap commercials to Wing Commander), and you have some of the best scenes ever filmed.
This movie will be a welcome addition to my film collection when it hits the video stores next year (hopefully I'll have my DVD player by then so I can enjoy it even more).