Mildly entertaining, not great

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 1999)

The Matrix has excellent special effects, ok if exaggerated action scenes, mixed acting, an ok premise and somewhat weak story. Fishburne is quite good; Reeves is flat. I found the screenplay threadbare, giving the actors not enough meat to work with. The premise is marginal and a bit watered down to make it as science fiction. The story and direction leave holes big enough to drive trucks through.

About half way through the movie disbelief kicked back in and the film seemed merely a platform for special effects. In comparison, Mel Gibson's Payback is a more intriguing and better directed revenge/action flick, and Johnny Nmemonic (also featuring Reeves) has better Cyberspace science fiction.
This is a violent film, which I have little problem with in general, but here it's particularly de-humanizing which I *do* object to. Payback is extremely violent and profane, but the violence is focussed and meaningful in that it serves to advance the plot and has human consequences. The violence in The Matrix blends a cartoon-like disregard for its consequences with an elitist notion that it's all ok because the human victims have been brainwashed by the bad guys and are essentially pawns in a larger game. Violence should have a moral dimension or at least move the plot if it's to have meaning. If not, it desensitizes viewers to violence which can't be a healthy thing for society. It also makes for a boring movie.