Rating: 
Summary: Things to Think About...for a Change
Review: What an outstanding movie!It's been ages since a thought-provoking movie has been produced. Sure, there was plenty to criticize. But the underlying theme hasn't been touched in a meaningful way since "2001: A Space Odyssey." Computers and "artificial intelligence" have become such an integral part of our society that it's hard to imagine life without them. "Matrix" takes us into the next realm of our existence---or at least makes us consider what life might be like. The movie does attempt to appeal to our baser "shoot 'em up" instinct on occasion. It's dialogue, however, is what stands out, particularly between Neo (Reeves) and Morpheus (Fishburne). If you're not stuffing your face with popcorn, you are drawn into a critical analysis of where we are headed as a society. In time, we'll look back on this one and call it a classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Great, but not perfect!
Review: What can be said for this film? Anything about its amazing action sequences, its wonderful direction, its startling bullet-time shots, its magnificent fighting scenes, anything would be too little, unless you've seen this masterpiece. The Wachowski brothers have certainly done a remarkable job here (and the DVD is not short on extras either!). But I couldn't watch the whole movie more than, say, twice. I can watch the fighting scenes as many times as I can take, but not the whole movie. Sure the first or second (or even third) time you're eager to see it all, to find out what's going on. That's why you want to hear every little word spoken. But after that, the film bores you, and watching again any scene but the fighting ones becomes impossible. That "sssymetry" that characterizes the Matrix, is the reason I gave it 4 and not 5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: An action/adventure future?
Review: What can I possibly say about this movie that hasn't already been said? There are over twenty-six hundred comments at IMDb and another twenty-five hundred at Amazon. There even seems to be some block "reviewing" from young Christian groups enthusiastically pointing out all the parallels to Christ's life: Neo, "The One," "Trinity," saving humankind, and being lifted up to heaven, etc. I would add that directors Andy and Larry Wachowski touched some other religious bases as well. Note that Gloria Foster is "Oracle" (Greek mythology), that Lawrence Fishburne is Morpheus (of the Underworld) and that Joe Pantoliano is "Mr. Reagan" (a little secular allusion here). The band of heroes are also referred to as "freedom fighters" to recall our ex-prez's words. (But never mind.) The main thing to understand is that this is one very popular and very arresting movie, the sort of thing Hollywood producers love; in fact all of Hollywood loves The Matrix because it gave work to so many. Scrolling the credits takes longer than your mother's phone good-bye. The Matrix is an industry in itself, something like Star Wars and Rambo. But is the movie any good? Well, it's not much on video. The DVD is undoubtedly an improvement, and on the silver screen it might lean you back in your seat. The cinematography, sound and special effects are first rate. But I mean philosophically speaking? I think we can get a hint from a review that began (and I quote) "Why can't all movies be this good? -A 12-year-old viewer." Indeed, this is the question all those marketing minds in Hollywood are asking. The true blockbuster action/adventure/sci-fi movie aims at a male viewer of about 18. Ideally the range would include 12-year-olds to thirtysomethings. Any philosophy beyond that mental age is burdensome. So you don't think it is a philosophically interesting movie? Actually I do. I just don't think it's original. I mean Plato's cave allegory is over two thousand years old. And let's not forget The Wizard of Oz (1939) or even The Truman Show (1998). Any science fiction buff can point to half a dozen precursors. Isn't that stretching it a bit? Okay, how about this short story from half a century or so ago called something like "The Perm-Machine." Everybody in the future society is working their nine-to-five tails off for a TEMP--that is, for a few hours in the box hooked up to the feelie machine complete with 3D screen, surround sound and electrodes attached to your every neuron so that the complete, thrilling, all senses experience of the greatest adventures in life are theirs, including sex, drugs, heart-pounding action and other sensual pleasures. But what everybody really wanted was a PERM, which would place them in the box permanently hooked up to the electrodes and intravenous drips, etc. for the rest of their lives, a kind of virtual reality heaven on earth. What about the acting? Forget the acting. It was okay. Consider this instead: we are going to become software. There isn't going to be any "warfare" between man and machine with the human spirit triumphant. Instead, we are going to become more and more attached to our machines, our computers, our chips, until at some point (see Ray Kurzweil's The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence or Pierre Baldi's The Shattered Self: The End of Natural Evolution) the line between us and machine will be completely blurred. And then, molecule by molecule, we will DISAPPEAR, and at no time will we even realize it happened! The Matrix is a vision of the future, but it is a hopelessly anthropomorphic vision, a kind of action/adventure director's scan, extrapolated from the present. Where artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the prospect of quantum computers is taking us cannot be envisioned at all. Some people call this the "singularity" factor. The future (and by the way, most of the audience of The Matrix will live to see this) is like the horizon of a black hole that we accelerate toward, never able to see beyond that horizon until we are IN.
Rating:
Summary: Redefines sci-fi goodness
Review: What can I say about such an overhyped movie that hasn't already been said? I wasn't too interested until my friend asked me to watch it with her, and I was pleasantly surprised. With an inventively original plot (for American cinema) that isn't afraid to make the viewer think, The Matrix injects some depth into a genre I had all but given up on long ago. Feel-good fluffy garbage like Star Wars (uh oh, here comes my funeral pyre for that one) pales in comparison to a franchise with actual potential. The paranoiac questions about the fine line between reality and illusion integrate well into the cyberpunk-noir background, and even burned-out concepts like evil robots and far-flung apocalyptic futures are rejuvenated with a flair unseen for quite a long time. The over-the-top special effects, naturally, were the commercial draw, but I quickly tire of gimmicky eye candy. This is where the surprise came for me: amidst slow-motion bullet-dodging, slow-mo 180-degree fight scenes, and unsettling reality warps, the plot actually stood up. Sharp and intelligent, the concept, though perhaps not entirely original, is executed near-flawlessly. As expected from big-budget blockbusters, the plot inevitably dips into cheese for periods of time (especially the highly forced love scene[s]), but not enough to marr the overall experience. Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss slip into their roles wonderfully, and Joe Pantoliano makes himself wonderfully easy to hate as Cypher. The only downside is that Keanu Reeves, as always, can only be Keanu Reeves. He's typecast as himself. Even the usually-sharp dialogue slows down when he opens his mouth, with lines that seem like the script had blank spaces on all of Neo's dialogue and Reeves just wrote his own in. A clever, dark, and intelligent sci-fi flick. I think everyone on Earth owns this in their video collection, it's like a law or something, so just go on and buy it if you haven't yet. It may not be the best thing ever made, but it's still good enough to enjoy despite yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Powerfull stuff!
Review: What can I say about The Matrix? Wonderfull story, beautiful special fx and Trinity rules.....
Rating:
Summary: Best Movie of 1999
Review: What can i say about the The Matrix, well it's the best movie of 1999. The FX are great. I saw it 3 times in the cinema and i've bought it on dvd. The dvd has great extras on it. If you haven't seen this movie, go see it now!
Rating:
Summary: A new type of classic!
Review: What can I say about this film that hasn't been said. It is the first of its genre and the best. It opened a whole new way to film fight scenes. Neo is a quiet businessman who seems to get sucked into a computer generated world. As the movie progresses we are not sure what reality is, in fact, reality. Worth owning and watching several times. You pick up something different each time you watch it!
Rating:
Summary: Overrated
Review: What can I say about this film? It's a classic. And, just as classics go-everybody talks about how good it is but don't really read it or watch it.
Rating:
Summary: Bring back the 10-star rating!
Review: What can I say after so many reviews have been posted, except this was one of the very finest movies I have ever seen! It ranks right with the original Star Wars Trilogy. The special effects are breathtaking...the action kept my nerves taut throughout...the characters were magnificent--especially the terrific acting job of Laurence Fishburne. I'm much more of a reader than a movie watcher, and boy do I ever wish this had first been a novel. I can't believe it has taken me so long to see this movie--the instant it ended I rushed to the computer to order the 2nd and 3rd in the trilogy. For a most memorable time, you can't go wrong with this movie. Don't just watch it--experience it!
Rating:
Summary: The best action/sci-fi movie ever made.
Review: What can I say except that I cannot wait to see what they do with the sequel.
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