Movie Minx

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving
Directed by: The Wachowski brothers

Plot: A computer hacker learns from mysterious rebels about the true nature of his reality and his role in the war against the controllers of it.

But is it any good?

At the end of the last millenium, posters began springing up, and billboards, asking: “What is The Matrix?” I remember pondering it on the bus. And then it was revealed that The Matrix was an awesome movie that was sadly to be followed by two of the dumbest sequels I have ever seen. Sadly, their existence dilutes the coolness of the first film, but it is still a very very cool film. If only it had been stand-alone.

The Matrix helped make computers and computer geekdom cool (there was still some doubt at the time). It was also the perfect vehicle for Keanu’s one-dimensional acting talent. Here he could “whoa” and “awesome” his way to infamy.

There was also the timing of the plot. The pre-millenial angst of the western world (who are we? what are we doing here? etc) was perfectly reflected by the paranoid concept that the world we know is fiction and we’re all brain-duped. Of course! It explained everything. And somehow wearing PVC seemed real and convincing.

The CGI was also convincing, and the fight scenes were “whoa” and “awesome”. The full 360 shot around the paused action was invented and parodied (even down to Shrek level) to kingdom come. The cinematography is sharp and so is the script.

The soundtrack kicked ass. I used to listen to it in my car on an..erm..dubbed tape *blush*.

IMDb rating: 8.5/10
My rating: 10/10 (sequels: 2 = 5/10, 3=2/10)

Share This

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!