"Metropolis" meets "Star Wars"...

Rating: Null/10 (1 August 2000)

I have not seen "The Matrix" since it's initial release in theaters in 1999 (I, in fact, saw it twice, a very rare occurence for me). The reason I haven't written a review for it before now is that I wanted time to think about it. The reason I haven't watched it on videocassette is because I'm still waiting on the widescreen edition.
While I am sure most would recognize the second film above (is there anyone on this planet who COULDN'T?), the first may seem unfamiliar. "Metropolis" is widely regarded as the first science-fiction film, dealing mainly in the themes of the dehumanization brought on by the rise of the eras of Industrial Revolution and Big Business. "The Matrix" can be seen as the ultimate updating of that concept, where the fruits of those revolutions have contributed to much of what "Metropolis" foresaw. What is the difference between being a factory worker and an office worker in our day and age? Both require two things that Stephen King in "Danse Macabre" said are the only qualification to be a Hollywood screenwriter: a low-alpha wave pattern and the soul of a drone. Most corporations simply don't care if you live or die. If you don't play the game according to their rules, well, you can always be replaced, rather like a cog in a fine Swiss watch. This is the reality of our age because too many people DON'T want to or can't try some other way.
Which leads me to the real problem in "The Matrix". It isn't, as so many of the short-sighted have said, the machines, it's the people. Morpheus points out that most of the people who aren't clued in to what the REAL situation is simply couldn't withstand the shock. To quote Hamlet's most famous speech, they would rather "bear those ills they have rather than fly to others that they know not of." That doesn't make them evil or stupid. It's simply human nature. Neo himself is not immune to this hard blow to his world, as his initial enlightenment session ends rather badly. That's why most dictatorships on this planet stay in place for longer periods than most Americans sometimes expect. People prefer the devil they do know to the devil they don't know.
Mixing into this basic core is the mythic elements pinpointed by Carl Jung that, while, on the surface, may seem preposterous, actually have a logical explaination. My pet theory is that the Oracle is actually not a human being, but a computer program. The prophecy mentioned could easily be just the end result of a mathematical probability equation, not unlike the psychohistory concept put forth in Issac Asimov's "Foundation" novels. If someone like the One could exist once, it is logical to assume that, with the right combination of genetic factors, such a being would come into existence again. When the Oracle was touching Neo's hand, it was, no doubt, scanning for those factors and found them. Still, it didn't tell him that he was the One; it told him what he needed to know to realize his full potential. After all, the prophecy she told Neo DID come true.
Of course, it helps that this film combined with it's message some of the most impressive action this side of "Terminator". John Woo is the usual one cited in the scenes of slo-mo gunplay, but even Woo owes a debt to the late great Sam Peckinpah, who took the ballet and carnage of violence to new heights while not losing track of the story. The kung-fu sequences are probably the best done in an American film since "Enter The Dragon". Top them off with some of the most amazing SFX in years and you have a truly unique experience.
Characterization, usually given short shrift in most action films of recent years, is central to the plot. Whether you're talking about Reeves' hesistant savior, Fishbourne's wise mentor (easily the best performance in the film), Moss' tough-as-nails Trinity, Pantoliano's weary traitor, or Weaving's chillingly malicious Agent Smith (the most scary machine character since HAL 9000), I never got the impression I was watching cardboard cutouts, but real characters with real questions and struggles. Without this last element, "The Matrix" would have been an empty exercise for me. With it, it's a "Metropolis" for the 90's.