Rating: 
Summary: Instant bliss!
Review: For movies, the cyberpunk/virtual reality genre clearly didn't work. Keanu Reeves had already tried it with "Johnny Mnemonic" and - admit it - failed miserably.
In 1999, seemingly from out of nowhere, comes "The Matrix". Neo (Reeves) discovers that humanity's everyday world is in fact a computerised virtual reality, known only as "The Matrix". The search for answers takes Neo to Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who leads a group of guerilla fighters into a furious battle for freedom! Dazzling special effects, an intriguing story and spectacular action sequences make for a unique experience. You have never - and I mean NEVER - seen anything like this before!I feel I must especially mention Hugo Weaving for his excellent portrayal of the sinister Agent Smith. I don't think I've seen many villains in films that have impressed me more. The Matrix is no longer just a movie. It has become a phenomenon. A wonderful piece of cinematic work that you just can't afford to miss!
Rating:
Summary: Instant bliss!
Review: For movies, the cyberpunk/virtual reality genre clearly didn't work. Keanu Reeves had already tried it with "Johnny Mnemonic" and - admit it - failed miserably.
In 1999, seemingly from out of nowhere, comes "The Matrix". Neo (Reeves) discovers that humanity's everyday world is in fact a computerised virtual reality, known only as "The Matrix". The search for answers takes Neo to Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who leads a group of guerilla fighters into a furious battle for freedom! Dazzling special effects, an intriguing story and spectacular action sequences make for a unique experience. You have never - and I mean NEVER - seen anything like this before! I feel I must especially mention Hugo Weaving for his excellent portrayal of the sinister Agent Smith. I don't think I've seen many villains in films that have impressed me more. The Matrix is no longer just a movie. It has become a phenomenon. A wonderful piece of cinematic work that you just can't afford to miss!
Rating:
Summary: Topshelf Techno-Thriller
Review: For Tech junkies across this land THE MATRIX has certainly moved to the front of the pack! Superb FX,s and a ultra-cool storyline,anyone wanting to start a library should start their collection with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: It beats Virus and Episode 1, but does that say anything?
Review: For the Sci-Fi's of '99 go, The Matrix was the best. It's competitors being Virus and Episode 1, says nothing for the film anyway. It has some cool sequences, but not enough to fulfill the shoes as such classics as Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgement Day did. It deserves an award for CGI effects, but thats not to say the films great or anything. It's hurt by overlongness, slowness and overall confusion beyong being creative. Don't buy it unless you really, really loved it. I didn't.
Rating:
Summary: Action with interest--a rare combination. See it!
Review: For those of you looking for an action movie that's just an uninspired, mindless collection of shootouts between over-muscled morons, I have a warning: The Matrix is NOT that movie. Few action films back up their glitz with an actual plot, and fewer still present ideas as fascinating as this one does. The action (in particular the super-human fight sequences) is amazing, the special FX are top-notch, and the driving idea is the most unique I've seen in a while.
Rating: 
Summary: Commentary Mostly Silly & Useless
Review: For those who care, the full length commentary was not at all helpful. I would have bought the DVD otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Let's try this one again, dad...
Review: For whatever reason, Amazon didn't like my first review, so I'm going to try this again: for all of you who think that The Matrix is so great, I'd reccomend you check out Grant Morrison's comic book The Invisibles. When I saw The Matrix, I felt like I was just seeing a poorly-done Invisibles rehash. This isn't a daring or original movie, just a watered-down version of an intelligent story that began unfolding in 1994.
Rating:
Summary: Instant Classic
Review: For years I've been wondering what happened to originality in sci fi movies. Since Blade Runner and the original Terminator, both early 1980's, nothing has come close to sparking the imagination like those two. Event Horizon tried but fell short. BUT NOW.... All hail the new king! The Matrix just blew me away. I went back the next day just to make sure I didn't dream it was that good. It may not be for everyone, but those that appreciate it know what it will mean to the future of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Best Movie Ever
Review: Found it hard to understand at first but then I clicked on to what was happening, second time you go see it is even better than the first time.
Rating:
Summary: The Two Matrices
Review: Four-and-a-half stars For me, there are two Matrices: The one I lose myself in while watching, and the one that I dissect afterwards. First, The Matrix in action. The Matrix is the most visually dense, dazzling picture I've ever seen. From the title design of endlessly flowing green numbers, to the fight scene, to the exquisitely choreographed chase, to the bang-up conclusion, the opening sequence is breathtaking. The kinetic action is perfectly accompanied by Don Davis' score, which at that point evokes the dark feel of a classic, Hollywood thriller. And the writer-directors, the Wachowski brothers, make every shot tell. In the future, humans created machines so intelligent, that the machines won a war which left the world a desert, and humans their slaves. Most of the humans now live in pods, until they are harvested by the machines for energy. The rest live in "the matrix," a virtual world created by the machines to delude the humans that they live in a gleaming, prosperous city -- actually, gleaming Sydney, Australia. (The movie is muddled as to whether or how some humans aren't living in pods. I've seen it twice, and still am not clear on this.) The idea of "the matrix" as technological dream world, evokes Marxist guru Herbert Marcuse's 1964 book, One Dimensional Man. Marcuse couldn't explain how he was able to see through the technofog that deluded everyone else. The Wachowskis do a somewhat better job of explaining that part. They also take a page or two from Alice in Wonderland, The Planet of the Apes, 1984, and even Japanese comic books. It is the "agents" who give the machines a "human" face. The agents look like feds - replete with ear pieces, sunglasses and interchangeable, nondescript suits - but they are machines; hence their superhuman power and speed. (The Wachowskis also throw in some "shape-shifting," a trope from New Age/American Indian mythology, which was introduced in the movies in Thunderheart.) As "Agent Smith," Aussie actor Hugo Weaving is a memorable heavy. A hardy band of human freedom fighters traveling around in a rusty old "Mark III" ship and a circa-1965 Lincoln Continental (the Wachowskis have a soft spot for old Lincolns), in addition to those whom we don't see, back in the city of Zion at the earth's core, are humanity's last, best hope. The picture alternates between didacticism and action. Most of the lessons are taught by "Morpheus" (Laurence Fishburne) who initially seems to be the savior, but who is actually he who will groom the Saviour, "The One." Enter "Neo" (Keanu Reeves), the hacker whose name is clearly an anagram of One, as in The. The movie hinges on whether Neo is The One. The other main character, "Trinity" (Carrie-Ann Moss), is a passionate, butt-kicking female member of the rebel troupe.
Perhaps the greatest accomplishment of The Matrix, is that within a set-up that could easily have deteriorated into New Age verbal diarrhea and emotionally empty technical effects, the movie makes you -- or at least, me -- care deeply about these people. The cast does praiseworthy work, especially Fishburne, Moss, and in a brief but moving scene, Gloria Foster ("the Oracle"), a woman of a certain age who still looks great. The stars clearly do a lot of the fighting themselves. Note, too, the forty stunt men who risked their very real butts for your movie-going pleasure. Now, let's consider the elements that get lost in the sights and sounds of viewing. The movie suggests a Christ-like savior, but This One has little in common with Christianity's Messiah. Keanu Reeves is no Gene Hackman. In fact, Hugo Weaving is more human, as a machine, than Reeves is as man's savior. As for fictional saviors, I much prefer Lance Henriksen's tortured, all-too-human "Frank Black" from the classic Chris Carter TV series, Millennium. The science is terrible. Computers will never be able to initiate thought and action. And human beings cannot learn physical skills without any physical practice. Why is The Oracle fallible, and why does she quote the phrase "Know thyself" in Latin, instead of the original Greek? As movie critic Steve Sailor pointed out, the movie perfectly matches Hollywood's notions of multiculturalism: The heavies are all pasty-faced white guys, while the good guys are a mix of blacks and whites. All of the above issues must be compartmentalized while watching the movie, in order to enjoy it. (I know - I'm too literal-minded.) Note that while kids usually love The Matrix, it's also not necessarily a good idea to watch it with very young ones. At its conclusion, my three-year-old started wacking away at me, in his best imitation of kung fu. And so, you might not want to show this to any of your children, prior to their thirtieth birthday. The DVD is chock full of goodies. You can watch the movie with subtitles, in order to see how Don Davis' musical subtly carries it. Davis breaks in at times, with his own commentary. His score is a serendipitous mélange of styles - from classic thriller-style to punk rock - fashioned to match the unique mood of each scene. Another feature lets you stop the movie, to view footage of the special effects that went into the scene being shown. The purist in me complains, "That's like a magician explaining how he does his tricks," but the guy who at 18 wanted to become a movie director, says, "More! More! More! The more knowledge, the better!" Yet another feature focuses on the Hong Kong-style kung fu training the cast endured for some six months, and the "bullet-time" special effects invented for the movie. With this DVD you get your money's worth, and then some.
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