Good,but very overrated and certainly not that original

Rating: Null/10 (13 November 2003)

The Matrix is one of those films that seems destined to be always overrated. It is indeed a pretty good sci-fi/action movie,but it is by no means the classic many seem to think. Much has been made of the originality of the concept,obviously by people who have not seen the far superior but neglected Dark City,which had the same basic idea but handled it in a less exciting but far more intelligent manner. Other elements are borrowed from Strange Days and Ghost In The Shell,and while it's safe to say that all films borrow from other films a bit,it's bizarre how so many have hailed The Matrix for it's originality. And as for "re-inventing the action movie",all that has resulted is a depressing increase in the amount of CGI fight scenes in movies,and this is not a good thing because they are not convincing and therefore not that exciting {even wire work looks better}.
What we have than is an overrated film that still has much to recommend it,it's just NO CLASSIC. The first half hour has a great atmosphere of paranoia and gives us some memorable and sometimes disturbing images,such as machines breeding humans. After this the film slows down,and you wonder when all this amazing action is going to come .Some scenes,such as a visit to an oracle,seem to just exist to pad out and complicate what is a fairly simple story,a flaw which would reach ridiculous proportions in the sequels. The final quarter is sometimes thrilling,such as the gun battle and the justifiably famous helicopter sequence-this is indeed a masterpiece of editing,choreography and computer effects which just this once are pretty convincing. The final martial arts fight though is just like watching a computer game and is awkwardly edited-it's hard to see the great Yuen Woo Ping's {one of the great Hong Kong fight choreographers}hand in this. The ending is ubrupt but was probably already intended to set up a sequel.
Performances are generally good,although Keanu Reeves really does take blandness to a new level {well,until the sequels},a shame as he CAN act. The look of the film is also impressive,with the Workowski brothers having a knack for strong and slightly disturbing imagery and creations such as the robotic octopus-like creatures,although the sheer coldness of the visual style would become tiresome in the follow-ups. Music is a well balanced mixture of rock,dance and Don Davis's brooding score,and does sometimes {as in the use of Propellerheads during the gunfight}get the adrenalin going.
The Matrix is certainly not rubbish,but best sci-fi or action film of the 90s?PAH!!!