Rating: Summary: A Thinking Man's Sci-Fi Flick Review: Dark, menacing and engrossing. You really need to pay attention to this one or get lost in the rather complicated plot, since what's going on is revealed to the viewer as gradually as Keanu Reeve's character catches on: brilliant tactic! (Though admittedly not what modern audiences are used to from more commonly sophomoric approaches to filmmaking.) Not just for special FX fans, it's as clever as "Twelve Monkeys" or "Dark City," and as visually appealing if not more so, than either of the two. Safely, one of the best sci-fi films of the last ten years! Finally, Reeves in a film worth remembering!
Rating: Summary: Great movie Review: Dawn good movie best I've seen in year
Rating: Summary: I agree with Larry! (see below) Review: Dazzling special FX--Yes! Acting by Keanuu Reeves--NO! Sorry but this actor has ruined another for me also. I enjoyed the story...even though it has basically been done before. 'What is real' combined with 'Karate kid'! Entertaining movie but not the best sci-fi movie ever made by far! I recommend renting the movie first to make sure you can handle 2 hours of Reeves!
Rating: Summary: To Blind you from the Truth. Review: Deep, the rabbit hole takes you away from the computer-generated dream world to the horrifying real Catharsis where Machines are all dominant and aggressive against the all too organic humans, now secondary in the alimentary chain. You'll wet your pants at first sight with the Power Plant. Alas, this is the real thing, you are a Battery. Now a Myth in movie history, The Matrix is Anime style for real, or at least, close enough to the concept. Released in 1999, this little project (as little as 75 million dollars) came from nowhere to be the new philosophy in this modern science fiction / action adventure film era. Conceptually ground breaking, and visually stunning, the film blends Kun Fu (Mega Kick action), along with the appealing Cyber-Punk way of adventure, to bring something never seen before, not here, neither in Indochina. The new photograph technique Bullet-Time, showed the world how things look as clearly as possible in a 360 degrees-CGI environment, with a highly fashioned hero skipping bullets (not fast enough for Neo), and immediately, every one of us went to say, Woooooowwwww man. Quickly the film became an instant box-office success, carving in the cultural collective conscience of the so called: computer / comic geeks (from here on, its actually cool to be one, no more shame), and the rest of the normal people (the ones who actually get laid). And so, the critics and audiences all around the world applauded its directors, the Wachowski Brothers (Larry and Andy), for their intelligent and keen contribution to the already wasted action flicks. Well, actually not everybody applauded, poor George Lucas did saw how his long wanted Oscar for Best Special Effects (which is what Episode I, is all about), went into the hands of Amateurs (compared to the Industrial Lights and Magic team, that have been around ever since Star Wars). 4 Academy Awards, including Best Editing, crowned the recognition as a Masterpiece, and helped the film sell more for the already trigger-happy Joel Silver (in case you are wondering, money does make you fat, right Joel?), the rest, is all history. The Matrix has tree merits that makes its first viewing a crazy ride; first, the great combination of the smart and original script, along with specially strategic cuts of the first 30 minutes, made the What's real and what's not real topic, both confusing (in the best sense of the word), and captivating, where the spectator doesn't knows what's going on, actually, it puts you in the situation of the main character, so, you are as lost as Neo is. To continue with, the excellent Kun Fu action choreography by the great Yuen Wo Ping, made every action scene to the date felt short and boring (it was shock to know that the main actors actually performed 90% of their stunts). And of course, the amazing and never before seen visual effects that where always in service of the story (the opposite of The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions, where every visual effect is for free, away from any story necessity), all reunited by a accurate direction, with the help of a First class crew, made The Matrix a cinematic phenomenon. The actors where fit in their roles (Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving, among others, are barely O.K. in their easy characters) as the traditional heroes (Neo is basically, a black haired Luke Skywalker), and the not so traditional ones (Morpheus), hunted by the strange looking Agents, that look more like an I.R.S. employee (a nice and fresh change). The script was good enough to sustain its story weakness and character stereotypes, ending in a great rush of action and Kun Fu fights, stunning from beginning to end. The music by Don Davis, is a mediocre work, mostly saved by the good choice of songs blended with his original score. If you watch the movie carefully, you'll notice that there are 3 minor production mistakes, one belongs to the Cut when Neo and Trinity gets to the Agent Holdings (where Morpheus is kept), the appearing of the already dress and armed police effectives happens to fast form the time the heroes arrives (a time and editing mistake, take into consideration that after Morpheus is caught, the Agents aren't expecting the Heroes to save him), the other mistake is when the famous Rooftop Bullet-Time scene (where Neo falls back and skips the bullets), before the Agent shots towards Neo, the hero fires at Agent first (lest say, some 12 shots), the Agent skips all the bullets (a frontal shot of the Agent is shown), but behind him there is a very close building all covered by mirror like glass, the thing is that the building is close enough to have been hit by Neo's bullets, the CGI guys miss this one, and the building is shown intact, also, in that same shot, when Neo finishes shooting towards the Agent, he throws his pistols down (just aside his feet), so, during the Bullet-Time shot the pistols disappears completely, when the scene cuts away from the Bullet-Time and we see Neo on the ground, the pistols re-appear again, anyway, this is only if you watch the movie to many times. This DVD was the first one to sell more than a million copies, after it, everything DVD rise up in huge sells. The transferring is great (the digitally grading of the film can be appreciated at its fullest), with a clean 5.1 Dolby digital, magnifying the Bullet-Time moments. The extras are quite good, specially the: Follow the white Rabbit mode, gives a different inside of the movie (the Audio Commentary is terribly boring, John Gaeta's Big Shot attitude, kills Zach Staenberg's effort to give away an entertaining and deep commentary). So, get kick into this un-realistic world of computer intelligence and Kun Fu punches.
Rating: Summary: Different, its what makes it so good. Review: Definitely a wierd confusing "What the heck is happening" movie but its different, and after watching it a couple times and you understand it, youll truly enjoy it. (4.5 stars)
Rating: Summary: HOOKED FOR LIFE Review: Definitely one of the best sci-fi thrillers of the millenium. The spine tingling plot of The Matrix revolves around what could be a not so far (if not present) reality for mankind. Filled with awesome action and uncompared martial arts scenes, it is without a doubt one of the most "down to earth" and well elaborated films of this century.
Rating: Summary: Superior filmmaking. Review: Dense plot? Literary allusions? Seamless action sequences? Mindblowing FX? And social commentary? IN ONE FILM?! My God, just when I thought the sci-fi genre was dead, The Matrix gave it a shot in the arm.
Rating: Summary: Matrix, scary idea Review: Despite the accent on the spectacular special effects, the plot involving a scary idea, that our reality is only a virtual reality program, is well planned with a nasty twist. Only when K. R's character uses his inherent ability to manipulate the program in real-time do the spectacular special effects serve their real purpose. Still, stopping bullets in mid-flight WOW! Sometimes oppresively dark, The clarity of the imagery and the crisp stop motion make this film a natural for the DVD transfer.
Rating: Summary: The Matrix: Camp, Cult & Corny Review: DESPITE the film's many flaws I immediately fell in love with it. The visual appeal, the blue-greenish toning, the sound, the atmosphere, the darkness: The Matrix looks beautiful.But there's more : the sexy voice of Lawrence Fishburn, the cool and emancipated Carrie-Ann Moss (The line "Dodge This" is the coolest line a chick has said in a film for a long time!), and of course my personal favourite : AGENT SMITH. He plays without a doubt the best part in the film, particularly when he gives Morpheus the lecture about the human race being a disease. You just gotta love his face, his voice, Smith is sexy, funny, merciless and so very, very bad. There are so many corny lines to quote from, I predict a Cult/Campstatus for this flic! Free your critical mind and go see this sexy picture!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Thought-provoking allegory Review: Despite the inevitable violence and occaisional language that define today's box office hits, The Matrix is a great movie. The well written script, highly allegorical story line, and excellent cinematography offer the viewer a rich experience during the movie and much to think about afterwards. The storyline is multi-level and multi-faceted, and bears seeing more than once to appreciate the full effect.
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