The Matrix

Rating:
Summary: Film of the Millenium
Review: Undoubtly the best film to hit cinemas in the past Thousand years. Stunning visual effects, awesome soundtrack, superb acting (even from Keanu)...and a slight hint of where the idea sprung from. RPG players of the game SLA will know what i am talking about. If you only see one file in your lifetime see The MATRIX.

Rating:
Summary: Dream World, Real Thrills
Review: Unfortunately, no one can be told how good this movie is, one must see it for themselves. Keanu Reeves is Tom Anderson, a programmer by day, and a hacker by night. He joins a group of other hackers who tell him a frightening fact: we are living in a dream world generated by a computer called the Matrix. This band of rebels have broken out of the dream and are trying to destroy the Matrix.
I was blown away by this film! The effects are astounding, especially bullet-time, and the ripple on the building. This movie is a little disturbing, but that doesn't hamper it's greatness. This is the first in a trilogy, and I plan to see them all.

Rating:
Summary: Really annoying
Review: Unfortunately, the dialog and video are out of sync on my Pioneer DVD500 player. What a disappointment. And the hassle of trying to exchange with no guarantee of a properly working copy. This is the first DVD problem I have ever experienced and it had to be on this movie. What a shame.

Rating:
Summary: Bland, Boring, Unoriginal Fluff for the Mentally Impaired
Review: Uninspired acting and writing bring down the admirable visual effects of this derivative sci-fi flick. Not recommended for any reason.

Rating:
Summary: Matrix 5 thumbs up !
Review: Unique script , breathtaking efects. Very good image and sound quality. An excelent DVD buy.

Rating:
Summary: Worth watching more than once...
Review: Unless you just hate Keanu Reeves, you should be more or less entertained throughout the running time of "The Matrix." The acting and the story are good enough to stay out of the way of the real stars -- style, action, and special effects. The ending is a bit (...), but it doesn't spoil the overall experience. This is the good side of the Hollywood entertainment machine.

Rating:
Summary: A thinking movie fan's guilty pleasure
Review: Unless you've been unplugged from the matrix yourself for awhile, you already know all there is to know about this movie. So what you need from a review is whether or not the DVD is worth buying. The answer is a resounding "yes." The plot of the Matrix is nothing all that special. It is this film's groundbreaking, genre-defining visual style that makes it so impossible for even a cynical viewer to stop watching. And that style lends itself very very well to the higher resolutions and extra goodies of DVD. (And like most action films, Dolby Surround Sound adds nicely to the package!) The film's visual brilliance isn't limited to the special effects. Grab a copy and watch the scene where Fishburne and Reaves are in the stark white loading program discussing reality for the first time. This time, notice the sharpness of the colors and contrasts: the white of the background, the red of the chairs. On DVD, that scene leaps out of your TV or computer monitor, almost as though it's 3D. It's in stark contrast to the dark, greenish hue of the rest of the movie.

On top of that, this DVD has all the extra goodies that make a person want to buy a DVD, including cast bios, a couple of commentary tracks and lots of "making of" documentaries -- and if ever there was a film that made an audience ask "how did they do that?" this is the one. There are even a few minor extras that can only be accessed on a computer's DVD-ROM, but they require the installation of software included on the DVD, and frankly it never worked on my computer.

Nonetheless, this DVD is well worth owning and seems priced to sell.

Rating:
Summary: Best Science Fiction film of recent years...
Review: Unlike most sci-fi action films of recent years, where the emphasis seems to be on how well things get "blowed up", "The Matrix" has a brain and knows how to use it. It succeeds on almost every level.

Most prominently, "The Matrix" succeeds in showing us violence and action in new and previously unimagined ways.

Case in point: the hyperkinetic action sequences seek not only to thrill, but also to bend the mind, to introduce new possibilities. We all know that Keanu Reeves' character, Neo, dodges bullets. But in a standard action film, he'd have run away from them, or jumped off the roof.

Not in "The Matrix".

Instead, we get a visionary, mind-bending scene in which we SEE Neo dodging the bullets in sweeping, amazing slow motion.

Ditto for the "lobby" scene, which is nothing less than a ballet of violence, using Neo's and Trinity's ability to "warp" the Matrix as a backdrop.

Amazing stuff.

"The Matrix" looks and feels like nothing else ever made. Even the green-tinted scenes in the the corporate "matrix" fantasy world that Neo's doppleganger Thomas Anderson inhabits are so stifling and antiseptic that they're almost menacing.

And let's not forget that the premise that "The Matrix" is based on - a world in which humans are unwittingly enslaved to serve their machine masters - IS the most imaginative sci-fi premise in years. It builds on current technologies - virtual reality, artificial intelligence, solar power and a host of others - and seems entirely plausible.

"The Matrix" also has an enviable human element, with Carrie-Anne Moss finding a great mix of toughness and vulnerability as Trinity. Laurence Fishburne does excellent work as the enigmatic Morpheus, though I found myself wishing we could spend less time on Morpheus' Zen-teacher musings and more on his character. And Hugo Weaving is beautifully understated as Agent Smith. Keanu Reeves' Neo/Thomas Anderson is wooden, as you'd expect from him, but he does display moments of depth along with the invariable "Bill and Ted" flashbacks.

If "The Matrix" has a flaw, it's an ending that's a little too pat and seems more focus-group driven (not to mention sequel groundwork-driven) than a real extension of the story. Otherwise, it's a masterpiece of action and science fiction.

And it really DOES show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Rating:
Summary: The Matrix: Whoa!
Review: Unlike other action/sci fi movies that have begun to tear apart the same plots and visuals over and over again, The Matrix's plot makes you think harder than any movie of the past twenty years, no disrespect to Spielberg, Lucas or Cameron. It strikes a one-of-a-kind thought chord in your head. And as for solid action and visuals, well, in my opinion, the last two movies to push digital technology to the edge were 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day and of course, 1999's The Phantom Menace. The Matrix just shot itself up past both of them and the only movie that I think will outdo it will The Matrix 2

Rating:
Summary: Supercool...
Review: Up until this movie's release, there wasn't much to say for cyberpunk movies. Films like "Johnny Mnemonic," "The Lawnmower Man," "Hackers," and "Menno's Mind" had all ventured into this subgenre of science-fiction, but none had really delved far enough into the realm and most left a disappointing after-effect. Enter the Wachowski Brothers, two talented filmmakers with a love for cyberpunk and kung-fu movies as well as philosophy and romantic themes. They got cyberpunk veteran Keanu Reeves as their main character and found a terrific supporting cast in Joe Pantoliano, Lawrence Fishburne, Cary-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving. Their story was a simple good-vs.-evil plot with the character Neo discovering that he is the one to bring balance to the force... er, I mean he is the one to save humanity. The plot had been seen before, but never like this. The Wachowskis combined stylized visuals with wild kung-fu and gunfights and molded a modern-day classic that has since spawned a new era in filmmaking where computers are as important as the camera. But "The Matrix" was more than just a revolutionary and visionary film, it was also a heckuva movie experience! Moviegoers flocked to this movie and were dumbfounded by the awesome action and quickly-moving storyline. Not only was the film a new step for moviemaking, it was also an incredibly good movie! The film recieved awards for its special-effects, but little was said about its plot or characters, something that is at the heart of this film. "The Matrix" is an excellent film and rates as one of the best in the past five years.