Rating: 
Summary: This movie had possibilities, but ultimately...it sucked!
Review: My god--over 2,000 reviews for this movie!?...and most of them raves? Maybe we really do live in a society run by artificial intelligence, as this grossly overrated movie's convoluted plot suggests.There were some promising ideas in this movie, such as the notion that artificial intelligence evolved from humankind's own creation, into nature's way of eliminating the blight that humankind has become on mother earth. Fascinating concept, but with its glut of overblown special effects ultimately lapsing into SciFi cheese, and plot turns folding in on themselves until they collapse under their own weight, this movie was just another glaring example of Hollywood 2000: self indulgent FX, convolluted plots, mostly crummy music, and a movie at least a half hour too long for its storyline, finally culminating in a lousy ending. When Hollywood finally learns that "less is more" it may very well be one of the final signs of the apocalypse. Sometimes I long for the days when they could make a good 90-minute movie (and I'm really not that old). This movie actually got my interest back, and lost it again, at least twice over the course of the circuitous storyline, but too often fell back on old SciFi cliches, lengthy explanatory soliloquys to TELL what the convoluted plot couldn't possibly SHOW, and flashy special FX, all of which made me long for one of those good old half hour Twilight Zone, "is reality just a dream" episodes. I am not nearly as much of a movie buff as my wife (she thought it sucked, too, though), and my idea of good SciFi is old TZ, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Planet of the Apes, but I think this is may be the worst SciFi movie I've seen in at least 20 years. At one point, at just before the two hour mark in the movie, I said to my wife, who was almost dozing by that time, "Okay, this has almost become a decent movie, but if it goes on for another half hour, it sucks." She said, "You know it will, they're not going to end it here." Sure enough, a half hour later I'm looking at another stupid, non sequitur Hollywood ending--all-too-appropriately accompanied by some "Nu Metal" crap for end title music. What I find much more societally unsettling than this movie's scenario, is that so many people thought this movie was great. I wonder how many of those people were able to follow the storyline at all; and how many just liked it because of the glut of FX, the idea of artificial intelligence taking over reality, and yet another in a long line of Nu Metal and Industrial-dominated soundtracks. The REAL Matrix is an entertainment industry that keeps feeding stuff like this to an audience that just keeps mindlessly saying, "Thank you, sir, might I have another?"
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible Film, Even More Incredible DVD :)
Review: This is one of only two movies that I have ever seen THREE times in the theater...and, since I bought it on DVD a year ago, I have probably seen it a total of at least 10 times by now. It is a movie that draws you in, not just with its mind-boggling special effects, but also with its underlying story. The story is so neatly woven into it all, and the whole film is so fast-paced, that on first (or even third) viewing, it's difficult to be able to follow it all. Sorry, all you "dissenters" out there, but if you didn't like this film, then you obviously just didn't get it. I'm a relatively smart moviegoer, but I did not totally get all the details in the entire movie myself, the first few times around. I loved it the very first time I saw it, and I knew that it was a great, groundbreaking film. But honestly, I got maybe about 40% of what was going on. I began to lose track of what was happening after Neo takes the red pill. Fortunately, this movie works on so many levels, that it can even be enjoyed on the level of a high-tech, high-kickin', sci-fi-action thriller. But something about this film intrigued me so much, the way "The X-Files" on TV used to intrigue me. The second time I saw THE MATRIX, I was up to about 60% in my understanding of it. At this point, I got most of the major details, (like what happens after Neo takes the red pill) but I still didn't fully understand exactly what the agents, or the sentinels, were. On my thrid viewing, I finally got this point, but I wouldn't say that I got 100% of it--I got maybe up to 90%. But everytime I have seen it since, it adds something new to my understanding of the incredible world of THE MATRIX. This is the mark of a GREAT FILM: One that makes you want to come back for more, even when you don't understand everything in it, and gives you something new every single time you see it. THE MATRIX was great to see in the theater, but it is an even greater experience on DVD. It was cool on the big screen, but on DVD the film is much sharper (it almost makes you think that your TV set is HDTV), and it has all the great extras that you would expect from a DVD--plus many great ones that you WOULDN'T expect. Besides the great behind-the-scenes documentary "HBO First Look: Making the Matrix," you get the incredible feature "Take the red pills to view two hidden special effects documentaries: "What is Bullet Time?" and "What is the Concept?"" which delves much more into what the special effects are and how they are accomplished. Plus, there is the feature that allows you to see the film and, at certain points, a "white rabbit" pops up on the lower right-hand corner of the screen. If you click "ENTER" on your remote while the white rabbit is up on the screen, you get taken to a mini-behind-the-scenes-featurette on exactly how they made that particular scene (this is NOT taken out of the HBO behind-the-scenes feature. It's pretty incredible! Of course, the Commentary by Carrie-Anne Moss, editor Zach Staenberg and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta is also very cool. Overall, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. I can't wait for THE MATRIX 2, or whatever its title will be, to come out!! Bottom line to all this: If you loved the movie, you'll go ga-ga over the DVD!!!!
Rating:
Summary: 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio Stinks
Review: Buy this on VHS. I purchased this on DVD and I wish I could take it back for a refund. The tiny viewing box on my large 31 inch tv makes it completely unenjoyable to watch.
Rating: 
Summary: Can you survive the Matrix
Review: In "The Matrix", Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) leads a double life - nerdy, anonymous and put upon computer programmer, and master hacker at night under the name "Neo". When not hacking into forbidden systems or pirating software, Neo tracks the movements of a shadowy master-hacker named "Morpheus", not knowing that he is being tracked both by Morpheus and a trio of sinister government agents led by Mr. Smith (Hugo Weaving) who hope to catch Morpheus using Neo as bait. At this point Neo may be thinking that he's needed to hack into some major computer or steal some hot new source code. Morpheus, when he finally appears, offers something else - a choice between going for reality or persisting in accepting the world as it is with its many apparent but implacable inconsistencies, nothing having to do with computers or hacking. Everybody seems to say that the world doesn't work right, but only a very few will rally to Morpheus' side and shatter their illusions about what is real and what is merely a virtual reality called the Matrix, in which humanity toils away under the watchful eye of a sentient and ruthless artifical intelliegence embodied by the "Agents". The agents are evil and, because they have a limited ability to bend the rules of reality within the Matrix, all-powerful as well. Although Morpheus and his band of resistance fighters (including the oily Joe Pantoliano and the excellent Carrie-Ann Moss) can enter the Matrix and power themselves up (conjuring up vast armories of weapons and instantly downloading into their minds vast tracts of information on topics such as flying a helicopter or kick-boxing), they remain vulnerable to the Agents superior powers. Only the legendary "one" can defeat them by matching the agents in their capacity to remain above the laws of reality in a world that doesn't really exist, and Neo, Morpheus decides early on, must be that one. "The Matrix" excels as the cyberpunk epic we'd probably given up hope of seeing (at least with the similarly casted "Johnny Mnemonic"). The script wisely leaves the nature of the virtual reality's creators shrouded except to the degree of their overwhelming power and their intentions for us. Under the special effects (bullets that slow down in mid-air, fight scenes in which the laws of gravity are suspended ala "Crouching Tiger") is a great story of vulnerable people at the edge of existence. Laurence Fishburne is great as an almost biblical prophet whose lines are still sufficiently free of the Hollywood mix of zen and technobabble that sunk Johnny Mnemonic and kept anybody else from taking cyberpunk to the screen. Reeves is good because the script doesn't require him to say much. But the real stars are Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving. As the dark and beautiful "Trinity", a leather-clad killer who manages to slip between seemingly impossible extremes of vulnerability and strength - something Hollywood does routinely with male characters - Moss will steal your heart. As the evil head-agent, Weaving uses a precisely clipped monotone of an indeterminate accent to convey a startlingly convincing alien presence with a deeper impact than any special effect. Because it is a visual treat, the standard cropped-screen version is hard to follow - get the widescreen.
Rating:
Summary: The best Sci-Fi that will blow your mind away!
Review: One of my favorite films, The Matrix has a complex in-depth story, excellent visuals and cool action. Neo thinks he's living in the "real world" when two people by the name of Morpheus and Trinity finds him and proves that an artificial intelligence called "The Matrix" is controlling the "real world" and that it must be destroyed. The cyber rebels combat against police officers, SWAT teams and professional agents who have the ability to morph that guard and are loyal to The Matrix. By using martial arts and knowledge from computers that process knowledge into their minds and special powers, these cyber rebels fight for real freedom from The Matrix. The visuals such as the kung fu scene between Morpheus and Neo, and the fight bewteen Neo and Agent Smith are incredible. The action such as the scene where Neo and Trinity combat against SWAT teams are also cool but do not see this movie if you are infulenced by violence because some people blame this movie for school shootings. As a hard working teen, athlete and a one-time honor student, I am not really influenced by this movie. I just enjoy it and state my review right here.
Rating:
Summary: Dissenting Opinion
Review: This is the third time I have reviewed this movie, but I just have to submit a dissenting opinion to counter all these action film meatheads who can't separate sci-fi from hi-fi. Look. There is more to film than eye candy, visual effects and surround sound. How about content? If you really consider the Matrix in comparison to truly great sci-fi, like 2001, Blade Runner, Brazil, even Gattaca, it falls very short. The matrix makes attempts at being literate, but the plot is so contirived and narcissistic that it defeats its purpose in that regard. The Matrix is the antithesis of a good sci-fi film for these reasons: 1) it does not challenge social issues sufficiently as sci-fi does/should (unless you count the trite issues of reality or conformity), 2) it does not balance out form (FX) with content (storyline), 3) the metaphor and allegory are extremely overdone so as to appeal to a lazy audience (I find this underestimation very irritating, as should you as an intelligent viewer), etc., etc. I could go on, but I won't. I do however, disagree with the reviewer who blames this movie for the social ills and school shoootings in the good ol' U-S of A. This movie is not a cause of any social disease. It is just yet another symptom of America's defiant barbarism, but if we want to find the source of WHY murder happens we have to look into ourselves for that answer. Don't be another lazy American. Blaming the media is just full of fallacies. There is good cinema and bad cinema. This one happens to be the latter.
Rating:
Summary: come on guys, just enjoy this fabulous film
Review: True, this movie DID emulate some antecedent sci-fi, action, thriller filcks and all, but the film we saw (and repetitiously enjoy, hopefully) is still undeniably a peice of delicious eye-candy is it not? Yes, there were sporadic incidents which the W-bros used techniques that were seen in other movies (i.e. the scene when Neo touched the broken glass and became something remeniscient of the liquid-metel T-1000 in T-2. i.e. #2, in the showdown between Neo and Agent Smith in the subway where they both exhaust their clips and acknowlege it at an identical moment, which showcased the highlight from the opening Face/off gunfight between two flamboyant actors...), but so what? This doesn't take any pleasure away from the viewer and it pays tributes to 2 of the most explosive action films ever made, what is condemnable about that? For you critical movie-goers out there, just consider all the inferior films in which you busted a communsurate 8 bucks to watch, and for you extremely critical reviewers who diss this movie just because its a genuine crowd pleaser and HAS an abundance of SE's, I advise you to write a critical essay on some other sci-fi action wanna-be that's really worth your effort (i.e. Battlefield Earth, The Avengers, etc.). The Matrix definitely earned itself a place in this over-apreciated genre by smoothly combining thought-provoking elements from others. By the way, for those of you that like The Matrix will surely appreciate Pitch Black as well. Thx for reading this!
Rating:
Summary: Didn't think I'd like the movie
Review: I'd read and heard a lot about it and since I'm not fond popular films, I wasn't interested. A friend insisted I watch it and after doing so, I was hooked. It's an interesting look at modern life today, structured and soulless, and the possibility of going beyond. Totally fell for the standard messianic theme, as well as the notion of the phoenix. Perfectly fitting that the villain is basically a bureaucrat. Highly recommended. Excuse me while I unplug myself...
Rating:
Summary: Awsome
Review: This movie was so awsome i loved it it had wonderful special effects i think anyone can see it i would let my 2 year old see it
Rating:
Summary: Best DVD
Review: This dvd has more and better utilized features than any other.
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