Entertaining for a Joel Silver movie

Rating: 9/10 (5 April 1999)

There are two names behind THE MATRIX, one which made me interested, and one which gave me pause. The one that made me interested is the Wachowski brothers, who made the highly entertaining 1996 thriller BOUND. The one which gave me pause is Joel Silver, whose movies seem to function primarily as a way to pound people into submission. Happily, THE MATRIX represents the sensibilities of the former more than the latter. The ideas it throws out in this film are similar to last year's DARK CITY, and this is more or less a high-octane version of that, but it's entertaining, and the philosophy doesn't get in the way of the story. The only time it gets to be like a Joel Silver movie is at the climax, when it becomes overkill. Still, this is the most fun I've had at the movies this year so far.