Mind-bending experience...

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2009)

I remember when I was young and this movie came out, everybody was quoting the Matrix moves. The dodging bullets, running up walls, or just plain stylized jumping. But what they did not know is the science behind that. And, yeah, there is a science behind that according to this excellent movie.
In this movie, Thomas Anderson has two lives: your average man that programs software for a large company. Then there is Neo, one of the most powerful and skillful hackers known to man. But then Mr. Anderson gets a phone call from a man named Morpheus who tells him that he is the "one" in another world.
So when Neo joins Morpheus on this quest to this other world, a lot of explanation comes about which I will explain in as simple terms as possible.
In the Earth that you are presently at right now, according to the movie, is not the real world and that the real world is somewhere out there in an unclassified location. In this movie, where Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and a bunch of the other characters are located is in the real world: the Matrix. And in this Matrix, a lot of cool things can happen and the reason why these cool things can happen is because the Matrix allows your mind to become free and to do whatever you want. For example, you can believe yourself to run up the walls; you can believe that you can dodge a bullets. All these things that humans in the fake world cannot do is possible in the Matrix, but only if you believe. Now try imaging this guy who was living the fake world for about twenty plus years and suddenly trying to get used to believing in doing things. Because while Neo does not understand what is going on, you are along on the ride with him. When you do watch this film: you must listen attentively to everything that Morpheus says. The reason is because later on, you will need what Morpheus says to understand what is going on.
For one thing, the way this film was created was beyond excellent. The visual effects had a meaning and almost a purpose in this film. It was not there to make some cool show. They were there to break down the steps to how someone can run up walls or dodge bullets. The slow motion that was used was also very well done. I thought that the slow-motion was actually going to ruin the movie like Zack Synder does to his movies. But the slow-motion enhanced the film incredibly and gave scenes a certain kind of stylistic element that entices you. I was also very much drawn into the concept of the whole film because although there was a lot of action in this movie, a good portion of the movie was also a lot of philosophy that connected to the world we live in right now.
And already I see that this movie has become a classic because films today like Wanted, Watchmen, 300 and many other action films use the Matrix as a guideline to there own visual beauty, even though those three films do not come close to what the Matrix is. This movie is the birth of some of the finest visual art/filming and basic elements of science-fiction I have ever seen. Even to this day, ten years later, it still looks gorgeous.
Maybe if the movie was more intense and was less to appeal younger kids, I would have given this movie a low 9. But I will give this movie a high 8.