Rating: Summary: Unbelievable special effects Review: I pre-ordered the DVD for "The Matrix" as soon as it was listed on Amazon.com's web site. I knew after watching the movie with my wife and son at the theater that we had to have this movie at home to enjoy whenever we wanted. The special effects are unbelievable. You want to watch some scenes over and over again. The DVD goes into some detail about how the movie was made. I really love the added special features of DVD. The movie's plot tells a story that should satisfy anyone's craving for true Sci-Fi. It is almost as good as "The Sixth Sense", which I plan to purchase as soon as it becomes available. The only thing wrong with this movie is the ending. It should have been an exclamation point, but instead it felt more like a comma leaving you waiting for another scene. All-in-all a great movie. -- Randy Hudson
Rating: Summary: Great Movie, Great DVD Review: I purchased a DVD player specifically because I wanted to own this movie on DVD and I wasn't disapointed. It has a great plot, visually stunning. While arguements could be made about the acting, quite honestly, who cares. The story is so interesting and the movie is so exciting I have watched it numerous times. I look forward to watching it with friends that have never seen it before. And the sound..... if you have a surround sound system you'll be blown away.
Rating: Summary: YOU'VE GOT TO SEE THIS! Review: I put off seeing this movie in the movie theaters because I think Keanu Reeves is a horrible actor; but after hearing so many good things about it, I saw the DVD. I would recommend this movie to everybody--it has a plot you have to think about and thankfully doesn't rely on Keanu's acting to make the movie a success--definitely deserves 5 stars!
Rating: Summary: Pure Style Review: I rarely enjoy action movies; you may get a few cheap thrills, but you don't respect the movie in the morning. With The Matrix the Wachowski brothers have created a hip, stylized sci-fi offering, that actually has its merits as a movie. The action seuences are incredible - as said before, pure style - and the plot is not a mere excuse for the action. You might actually have to pay attention. I fully recommend this movie to anyone interested in an adrenaline-pumping, thrill-ride of a movie. This movie shouldn't work. But it does. And how.
Rating: Summary: On your own head be it? Review: I re-watched the Matrix the other night, having just watched its outstanding sequel, Reloaded. The greater emphasis on philosophical themes in Reloaded casts new light on their more tangential (and thus confusing) treatment in the original film. For a kung-fu movie, the Matrix tackles some big issues, and while I'm not altogether sure it's completely coherent about them, I think writing it all off as having been plundered from lecture notes in Philosophy 101 isn't justified either (the same people who tend to do that also tend not to have actually taken Philosophy 101). The Problem of Free Will gets a good outing: are we free to do was we please, or does the chemical nature of the brain, and the fundamental laws of cause and effect, mean that we are not? And in the matrix itself all is not quite what you might expect: Both Neo's in-Matrix boss and Agent Smith offer Neo specific (if perhaps Hobson's) choices: turn up at work on time, or find another job; help track down Morpheus, or suffer the consequences; in any event on your own head be it. Contrast that with Morpheus' first instruction to Neo: "Do exactly as I tell you": Not what you'd expect from the arch-libertarian. The notion of choice, and the value of choice, thereafter reverberates through the film. This of course implies the question of Mind: do chemical and electrical reactions in the brain fully explain consciousness? Is human consciousness simply the product of a glorified organic computer? And if that's the case, what is the difference between the digital consciousness presented by the Matrix, and the "actual" consciousness our own brain gives us? Is there a difference? Segue to Descartes' "Cogito Ergo Sum", an analysis explicitly referred to in Reloaded. All this isn't to say that the Wachowski brothers are necessarily coherent in their philosophy or that they're doing anything other than name-checking famous dead people, (as yet, I'm not sure what point they're making with all this learning) but it does catapult the Matrix beyond the realms of your common sci-fi/action movie, and leaves you pondering all the iterations into the night. Some folk don't want that sort of thing in a kung fu movie, but for me it justifies the price of admission. And then to see Carrie-Ann Moss kicking butt in skin tight patent leather on top of that ... well, it don't get any better than that.
Rating: Summary: Best movie ever? Great sci-fi? Absolute Garbage! Review: I read in the Los Angeles Times recently a letter that a fan of the movie wrote commenting on The Matrix. He insisted that anyone who hated or disliked The Matrix doesn't understand science fiction and shouldn't be commenting on stuff they didn't know about. He was mainly refering to the acting of Keanu Reeves. Before I say anything about the movie, let's just get this over with: Keanu Reeves has ruined every single movie that he has been in with his wooden acting, if that's what you call it, and his obvious disdain for the medium of film itself. Enough on Reeves. As a fan of science fiction for over twenty years (film, books, etc) I felt ripped off by this movie. Even if Keanu Reeves wasn't in this movie, the story was nothing special - more like a bloated episode of the X-files with a bad guy who tried to talk like Reverened Robert Schuller (No - I am not a Christian - but even I was annoyed - bad overacting at it's finest example). Were the special effects good? They were nice for what they were. Good camera work? Nothing you haven't seen in a number of John Woo movies. I admit my complete hatred of Keanu Reeves acting skills largely disqualifies me from commenting on any of his previous movies - but I was hoping beyond hope - that just this one time he wouldn't ruin another movie for me. Well he was par for the course, and so was the movie.
Rating: Summary: What a Stupid Stupid movie Review: I realize alot of people think this movie is good, but, you're wrong. Normally, I like to see other sides to stories, but now. These are just updated Kung Fu movies...except..they suck.. And c'mon.. Keanu Reeves?! Why would you cast "Ted" as an action star?!
Rating: Summary: A Classic---AFI Better put it on its list now! Review: I realized that i did not write a review for this classic. i noticed that 2300 other people wrote reviews--one reason why i decided not to for so long. but i figured, what the hey, i'll write a review. you all know how good this movie is, so i wont need to tell you about it. all i want to say is that AFI better be putting this movie on its classics list. if they dont, then dont bother believing any list AFI creates.
Rating: Summary: Whats wrong with you people? Review: I really can't understand why everyone loves this movie so much? It's got lots of interestingly photographed violence, yes. But that's it. The story is nothing more than a "Dark City" but with dumb dialogue; and actually it's not even that good. It's got about 5 plot holes, the most obvious being the scene where Reeves shoots all those security guards for no particular reason. Could he not have zapped himself to the top floor? Or even into the room where Fishburn was being held hostage. It's not like that would have been less safe. Secondly, the special effects are taken right out of the opening of the howard stern show, (flow-mo anyone?) as well as from the earliest stages of film history, i.e. Eadweard Maybridge. The acting is inconsistent at best, and the directing although stylish is obvioulsy amatuerish in it's ability to tell a coherent and clever story. It's like film-school students with a really big budget, who like HR Giger a lot. Lets face it people, there is no real creativity here, and if you're gonna' rave about a movie to this extent than make sure it's a movie worth raving about. In conclusion: I'm assuming that just about everyone in america and their foriegn uncle has seen this movie by now, so i'll just say, if you haven't bought and are thinking of doing so, go rent it then make your decision. ...
Rating: Summary: I just like the Kung-Fu Scenes Review: I really didn't care for the storyline. Interesting philosophy, but let's face it, I came to watch Keanu and his crew kick some Agent butt. And they did it with style! The leather duds and the shades just raise the ***-whooping factor to a new level of cool. Carrie-Ann Moss with those kicks -- you go, Girl! I'll have to admit that my favorite characters were the agents. I don't know why, but they were. They were lethal despite their non-chalant, expressionless demeanor. They're like the Secret Service without the paranoia. Totally unyielding and unimpassioned and completely static -- not your standard, everyday enemy. I normally don't watch action flicks without a decent plot, but this movie could get away with it. It bleeds cool. Check it out!
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