The Matrix - Limited Edition Collector's Set

Rating:
Summary: The Matrix
Review: BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME! Alright Guys think about it! It's a sci fi, with awesome special effects, awesome martial arts, cool characters, and the most BRILLIANT story of all time! What more could you ask for in one movie?

Rating:
Summary: AN INCREADIBLE FILM OF EPIC PROPORTIONS!
Review: I love this film so much. A computer hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves) finds himself being hunted by a man named Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). This is because Neo has made contact with a legend named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). When Agent Smith and the rest of the Agents put a tracker in Neo, Morpheus takes Neo into his "clan" which includes the beautiful Trinity (Carrie- Anne Moss) and the sneaky Cypher (Joe Pantoliano). Neo soon learns the truth that the world is controlled by machines and the world he knowes is fake created by the machines. When Morpheus is kidnapped by Agent Smith it's up to Neo and Trinity to rescue him. Directed by The Wachowski Brothers.

Rating:
Summary: The best one
Review: I like this one the best out of all 3. It shows hella cool stuff like when Neo first learned how to use his focusing abilities and running up the wall and stuff like that. It was also cool when he fought against Smith in the subway station and had to find his way back before the Sentinels got to the Nebuchadnezzer. I thought the best part was when he was on the roof top and dodging all of those bullets from Jackson. It was also cool how he defeated Smith at the end by blowing him up. It was a really good movie and anyone who loves action should buy this.

Rating:
Summary: Crafty filmmaking lacking substance
Review: In this movie, the Wachowskis obviously have a ball working out the technical details of the photography and the digital effects. There's a nice gloss and attention to detail that's lacking in many other films. The brothers have an eye for small details, such as reflections and color tints. What The Matrix lacks is any real intelligence. As an synthesis of comic books, sci-fi, and Hong Kong action movies, The Matrix is just fine. But it's nevertheless disappointing that it lacks an intellectual core--any originality of thought or explication. As other reviews point out, authors such as Philip K. Dick and William Gibson have already trekked down this path with much more thoughtfulness. The bottom line is that The Matrix is fun to watch, much like a Saturday morning cartoon, but does not merit the adoration it seems to engender. If you love The Matrix, I suggest that you head down to your local used bookstore and thumb through the sci-fi rack. There's alot more where The Matrix came from.

Rating:
Summary: The movie that started it all.
Review: The movie that started it all. The Matrix came completely out of the blue. No one had ever heard of the directors, the Wachowski brothers. Their only other movie directorial effort was Bound, which no one ever saw. (Turns out, Bound was simply an audition to prove to the studios that they knew how to direct and could handle the project that was The Matrix). The actors were a mixed bag of good actors (Laurence Fishburne, Joe Pantoliano), bad actors (Keanu Reeves) and then unknown actors (Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving). The previews gave nothing away. You were simply left with the question 'What Is The Matrix?' and a few images of some very cool action. The only thing I knew at the time was that I HAD to go see the movie the night it was released.

Before I go any further, I need to make a confession. I am the target demographic for this movie. As such, my opinion of this movie is biased from the word go. I love video games, I like kung fu, I like science fiction, I like comic books, and I like technology. The one overwhelming mantra of The Matrix is that the Wachowski brothers use everything, pop culture, religion, video games, you name it and blend it all together to make something new. Since they used all the things that I like already, the movie was a wicked cocktail that hooked me from the instant I tasted it. I loved the story, the action, the cinematography, even the acting.

Fishburne and Joey Pants are great character actors and I tend to love their work regardless of the film their in. Keanu Reeves is a different story. Other than the Bill & Ted movies, Keanu's acting hasn't been all that good. Johnny Mnemonic was a bomb in no small part thanks to Keanu's lack of skill as an actor. He's stiff, doesn't convey a lot of emotion and his delivery is stilted. His main redeeming quality is that he looks good. All his negatives became positives in the Wachowski's hands. The character of Neo is one where you need someone stiff and emotionless, but looks good as he's kicking ....... Keanu more than fits the bill. This was the role he was meant to play.

The story was good, but the storytelling was the hallmark for me. For many people the cinematography was all new to them. Some people had never seen camera angles like they found in the Matrix, but I had in comic books and in Japanese Animation aka anime. In comic books, the method of storytelling is done through still images. Although that may sound somewhat stilted, it can actually give some freedom because each frame and show you more detail, slow things down, or speed things up. If anything it gives you a wide latitude with perspective. Anime takes a similar approach because much of anime is done on such a small budget. For example, one trick that anime uses is to take a still image and have the 'camera' move from left to right. This gives the impression of movement, but it's really just a single still image. These tricks created an entire style that anime still uses today even though the budget may be bigger.

The Wachowski's came from a comic book background, and one of the things that they were trying to do was bring some of the storytelling style from comic books and anime to the silver screen. Trinity's jump, bullet time, and the fight between Neo and Agent Smith in the subway are all examples of 2d comic book and Japanese anime style that was realized in film. Motion pictures, comic books and animation are all simply mediums to tell a story. The Wachowski brothers blended the styles and blurred the lines between the mediums.

The techniques that the director's used in the Matrix changed film as we know it. Hardly any action movie today doesn't use kung fu wire work. Charlie's Angels, The Rundown, and even Le Pacte des Loups all used the fighting style made popular in The Matrix. Star Wars may have been a landmark movie because it changed how science fiction was done, but The Matrix did that and more. The ripple effect of this movie has left it's mark on so many filmakers that it's hard to watch any action or science fiction film and not see touches of The Matrix in them.

In 1999 the Wachowski brothers released a landmark film that changed film, and to some extent our culture, forever. It came out of the blue and blew us all away. It would be four years before their story could continue, but it was all worth the wait.

Rating:
Summary: see it
Review: the best sci fi movie ecer next to 2001. keanu reaves acting is a little stiff like always. the suporting cast is strong so the weak performance by keanu is singled out. not that keanu was awful i thought that he was pretty good but i would have chosen somone with alittle more screen presents. ground breaking fx make this a must see for fans of the sci fi genre even if it might take mutiple veiwings to understand the plot. a high 4

Rating:
Summary: The best film in a while,
Review: I know this really has nothing to do with the film, but I just thought that the music on the main menu was great, it isn't on the soundtrack, and it's not by Propellerheads, or Rob Dougan. So if any of you know who does this piece, please email at [e-mail], or post it up on here.

Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Just an awesome experience. What a film!!!
Review: I remember when I came out of the theatre the first time I saw The Matrix back in 1999 (I returned to watch it in theatres three more times...): I had never felt such a rush after watching a film.
Everything is exciting about this movie, the story, the concept, the special effects, the ending, the philosophical messages. And by the way, it is a great sci-fi-kung-fu-action thriller.
The sequels are another story. But "The Matrix" stands on its own as a milestone in the history of cinema at the dawn of the new millenium.

Rating:
Summary: OK Here it is
Review: *cricks neck* ok here's my rant...this movie is the god of movies. it set the way for all special effects after it. if you haven't seen this movie...WAIT YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT!?!?!?!? thats like a sin. its one of those movies that your life won't be complete without seeing. a lot of people are saying that the sequels sucked and all that. but really they are just jealous, because there have never been anything like this trilogy, EVER!

bottom line (literaly): SEE IT, BUY IT, LOVE IT

Rating:
Summary: Sound: 5+, Special Effects: 5+, Story: 1, Acting: -0
Review: The Matrix is probably one of the most overrated movies in film history. But then, I also thought Mad Max was a waste of celluloid. The resemblance being: the meaningless of life, a ridiculous storyline only an adolescent could believe and an ending that leaves you depressed.

The acting was far too serious, rather "over the top" as drama goes. I sensed that the actors were trying there best to believe the lines given them throughout this unbelievable premise of a story thus their intense consentration is mistaken for acting. The storyline is: nothing is real except what is really real and no one knows what's real except for the real people. In other words we are not really here, we are somewhere else, we just think we're here, consequently not knowing where "here" is, we need someone to tell us where we are. If that sounds familiar to you you're right. Charlie Manson brainwashed his tribe into believing that same philosophy! Between these struggles of belief and disbelief are characters that can survive all manner of certain death and then wind up in another scene trapped, helpless and whimpering. Maybe I missed something looking at my watch.

Matrix is the zenith of a heterosexual teen-age boys fantasy-adventure if they find distinguishing right from wrong in their lives bothersome. No wonder it was the favorite movie of the two Columbine students who slaughtered their classmates. But hey, it's just a movie, right?

If you love both visual and audial effects then this could be a movie worth seeing as a novelty, because the characters take second billing in this multi-million dollar epic devoted to state of the art movie magic, just don't get sucked into the underlying shell game philosophy that the film espouses

I must say again the sound effects are astonishing, be sure to play the DVD through your surround system, for that alone I stayed around for the finish, otherwise I would have had to ask somebody how it ended.