A Favorite

Rating: 10/10 (27 October 2000)

The Matrix is a technical and special FX marvel of unbound lengths. What they have put together here, the scenery, the colors, the lightning, the sets, is a true masterpiece of the sci-fi genre. The story, a bit more serious and exponentially more intelligent than the folly of Phantom Menace released in the same year, does make you think about the privacy of our own world. This question has always been around us, although maybe in a different tone and not as dramatic as how The Matrix brings it out. Are we really monitored and watched by someone? When we purchase by credit card, make a phone call, go on the Internet, what have you, all of those signals broadcast out, are they being monitored? It at least plants a thought in your brain compared to some of the other recent mindless sci-fi films which includes the aforementioned Phantom Menace and Wing Commander. There are a few parts of the movie that were recycled from earlier films. I don't really mind since NEARLY EVERY sci-fi film since the birth of the genre has recycled one of the older concepts at one point or another. It's already a known fact. Tinkering around it however and throwing in your own blend and style is what distinguishes the new from the old.
Every character in the film is unique, with the exception of maybe Neo who Keanu expertly plays as another airhead. What I like about the characters is that they work with each other well. They rely upon each other's individual strengths. Neo could have turned into a one man show easily for the entire film but it took everyone to get him there and he feeds off of that.

I'm glad that this film did so well with the awards and the box-office. It tells you the sci-fi genre, the serious sci-fi, is still alive.