The Matrix is one of those movies that salesmen show you in electronics stores to try to convince you to buy a 48 inch television and accompanying surround sound stereo system. It teems with special effects, rip-roaring sounds, and dazzling stunts, and, top it all off, actually makes computer programs and hackers look cool, to boot.
The singular most impressive aspect of the movie, by far, is its ability to create a completely new reality and environment. Walls and spoons bend, telephone booths are transporting devices, and the wisest of shamen are housewives who speak in riddles. The premise -- as I understand it, since I've watched it 3 times now but still get confused -- is that in an apocalyptic future, human beings are unknowingly born and bred in stasis chambers, but their brains believe they are really living out their lives on the Earth that used to exist. The horrifying truth is they are part of the Matrix, a virtual reality-like construct that prevents them from knowing they are imprisoned in test tubes. Only a select few can awake and live outside of the Matrix, including Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), and their mentor Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Their job is to stop the Forces of Evil who wear shades and suits, and to stop these artifical intelligence creatures from converting humans into batteries... oh, never mind.
It's a complicated movie with scene after scene of creative vision and imaginative landscapes. Credit certainly goes to the writing/directing team of the Wachowski Brothers, who I must confess I've never heard of. Their premise works best when incorporating martial arts, slow motion bullet-dodging, and high-velocity chases. Their premise works worst when they try to sneak in convoluted concepts about destiny, prophecies, and romance. And all the while it swirls about like an ancient legend on acid.
The Matrix is a long-overdue culmination of several previous bigscreen comic book attempts that, for one reason or another, always seemed to miss the mark. It is a big budget blockbuster where each dime that was spent on an effect is completely visible to the audience. By downloading inspiration from countless other action movies, it still manages to stand on its own and it creatively raises the bar for like efforts. But story-wise, good looking trying to get with "the program".
