The Matrix - Movie Review

Critics Score - 10 of 10

General Audience Score - 10 of 10

What is the Matrix? Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. Fortunately for us, twenty years ago the Wachowski brothers who have since identified themselves as trans-gender and are known as the Wachowski sisters, were kind enough to show us how deep the rabbit hole went. These visionary filmmakers introduced the world to ideas and concepts that had never been explored on screen before and taught a generation what “cool” was all about along the way. So many of the visuals became iconic as the film not only solidified itself among blockbuster movies from the late 90’s, but it elevated itself into the stratosphere of becoming a pop culture guidepost reaching into the realms of music, anime, toys, video games, magazines, fashion, everyday conversations and countless other aspects of life. There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path, and The Matrix is The One walking.

SYNOPSIS - We’re introduced to our story with some police officers storming in on Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) before she stuns the audience with a slow-motion jump while the camera circles around before she chest kicks an officer across the room and then escaping by doing superhero jumps across rooftops with an agent wearing dark glasses in close pursuit. After she escapes by disappearing in a telephone booth as it gets rammed by a dump truck, we meet Mister Anderson (Keanu Reeves) who is an everyday citizen but moonlights as a computer hacker by the name Neo. But Trinity hacks his computer and has him follow a white rabbit to a club where she meets him face to face and speaks to him using terms and analogies we doesn’t understand. Neo goes to work the following day only to get a cell phone call from Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and then chased around his office building by the same agents in black suits and sunglasses that were chasing Trinity. The film continues to lay groundwork for something big but more questions are raised that aren’t answered until Neo finally gets to meet Morpheus and at that point the Wachowski’s open up a can of whoop-ass on our mental capabilities.

Once our minds have been reduced to some form of mucus-like slime or jelly, we’ve been immersed in a green-hued world of stylized violence and action for a little over two hours, which flies by in a few minutes. One critique of the film would be the several exposition dumps that must happen in order for the world to be set up, which the film does for almost a half hour, but the film pays off all that setup back to the audience in spades once the action and fight sequences, which are second to none, kick into overdrive. Also the premise of the film is complex and the full scope of what is happening may fly over the heads of some viewers, as was my experience, but makes for fantastically satisfying rewatches to grasp the meaning of all the concepts it presents. The Matrix is a pinnacle of filmmaking in many technical aspects, the visual effects, sound, sound effects editing and film editing all won Oscars for their achievements. Overall the film has impeccable direction, excellent writing and even the acting is really great, but not even an Oracle could’ve predicted how big of an impact this film would have on the world and it’s influential power in the lives of countless millions, e.g. I was 17 and practicing my bullet dodging re-enactment skills in my grandma’s living room yelling “Trinity! Help!”.

SUMMARY - If you’ve never seen The Matrix, stop what you’re doing immediately and go watch it. Stop reading this. I’m serious, not one more word. This film is a must see for all audiences, it’s an all time great, a masterpiece of filmmaking and nothing short of perfection put onto celluloid. Do yourself a favor, even if you’ve watched it a hundred times like me, go watch The Matrix again. That’s what I’m going to do right now.

P.S. If you don’t have it, message me on Twitter and I can send you a pass to watch it.