The Matrix (1999)

The Martix is a great example of a movie that will live for ever or a very log time. The story and concept are out of this world. Keanu Reeves plays his role with utter brilliance, the cast was very well put together and the graphics are still to this day amazing. All in all one of the best movies of all time.

Get this: what if all we know as reality was, in fact, virtual reality? Reality itself is a ravaged dystopia run by technocrat Artificial Intelligence where humankind vegetates in billions of gloop-filled tanks - mere battery packs for the machineworld - being fed this late '90s VR (known as The Matrix - you with us here?) through an ugly great cable stuck in the back of our heads. And what if there was a group of quasi-spiritual rebels infiltrating The Matrix with the sole purpose of crashing the ruddy great mainframe and rescuing humans from their unknown purgatory? And, hey, what if Keanu Reeves was their Messiah? What sounds like some web freak's wet dream is, in fact, a dazzlingly nifty slice of sci-fi cool. The Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry - last seen dabbling in kinky lesbian noir with the excellent Bound) pulling off something like a million masterstrokes all at once. Taking the imprimatur of the video game, they meld the grungy noir of Blade Runner, the hyperkinetic energies of chopsocky, John Woo hardware and grandiose spiritual overtones into William Gibson's cyberpunk ethos to produce a new aesthetic for the millennium powered to the thudding beat of techno. And it is just incredible fun. The key is the technique of "flo-mo", a process born from Japanese animation, whereby an object in motion is seemingly frozen while the camera miraculously spins around it as if time and gravity are on hold. It grants the action (including some killer kung fu which Reeves and crew spent months perfecting) liberty to take on surreal visual highs. Superhuman feats permissible, of course, in the context of VR as the rebels download Herculean "talents" to fuel their subterfuge. Meanwhile, the audience can only gawp longingly, with its jaws thunking to the cinema floor in unison, as the heroes wrapped in skintight leather, sleek shades and designer cheekbones, spin up walls, leap from high rises and slip through streams of bullets in silken slo-mo. Tron this ain't. Immediately reigniting the moribund cyberpunk genre (the kids can't get enough Stateside), this has thrust Reeves from his imploding career back to Speed highs (and laying to rest the hideous ghost of Johnny Mnemonic) and stolen much more of Star Wars' thunder than was thought humanly possible. For all its loony plot, The Matrix is fabulous. Sure, the expert Fishburne is depended upon to expound the lion's share of the script as seer-like rebel leader Morpheus. Reeves, stunning in his newcast slenderness, as Thomas "Neo" Anderson, the hacker turned hope for all mankind (care of some ill-defined mystical calling) is asked little more than perpetual befuddlement. Like Speed, though, this movie plays on his iconic looks rather than his oak-like emoting. There's a major find, too, in the irresistible Carrie-Anne Moss, a majestically wrought combination of steely no-shit intelligence and rock-chick vivaciousness as fellow tripper Trinity. And Weaving, cast against type, neutralises his Aussie tones to a freaky deadpan, the head of the MiB-styled defence system set against the Goth invaders. And sure, three minutes of post-movie deliberation and all this state-of-the-art cyberdevilry is reduced to the purest gobbledygook. That, though, is not the point. The Matrix is about pure experience; it's been many a moon since the Empire crew have spilled out of a cinema literally buzzing with the sensation of a movie, babbling frenetically with the sheer excitement of discovery. From head to tail, the deliciously inventive Wachowskis (watch them skyrocket) have delivered the syntax for a new kind of movie: technically mind-blowing, style merged perfectly with content and just so damn cool, the usher will have to drag you kicking and screaming back into reality. You can bet your bottom dollar George never saw this phantom menace coming. Verdict - The deliciously inventive Wachowskis have delivered the syntax for a new kind of movie: technically mind-blowing, style merged perfectly with content and just so damn cool. 5/5 - Ian Nathan, Empire Magazine

It was around 2001 that I first watched this film and recently giving it another go, ever since, doesn't change the fact for me that this movie is an timeless piece of filmaking. From the characters to the striking and thought-provoking story, it basically has everything to make an action film a 10/10 in a book.

Finally got to see this on the big screen thanks to the TIFF Bell Lightbox in glorious 35mm. My reaction: whoa! On top of that, I was able to participate in a round table discussion over the film's technical innovations, thematic philosophies, religious metaphors, undertones of gender politics, and absolute ass-kicking action. Can a movie be any more perfect?

***Brainy, entertaining and iconic, but too cool*** When a Big City computer hacker (Keanu Reeves) feels something is intrinsically wrong with reality, a woman with superhuman abilities (Carrie-Anne Moss) informs him that a mysterious man named Morpheus has the answers (Laurence Fishburne). But he has to escape the “agents” who are pursuing him (e.g. Hugo Weaving) to get to Morpheus. At which point his world is turned upside down and inside out. Marcus Chong and Joe Pantoliano are also on hand. "The Matrix" (1999) is a cerebral sci-fi/action film that mixes elements of the first two Terminator flicks (1984/1991) with martial arts action and a basic concept that hails back to “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979) and no doubt further. To put this intricate movie together and make it entertaining took genius, so I give credit to the Waschowski Brothers, um, I mean sisters (rolling my eyes). The casting is great and Carrie-Anne is stunning throughout (I usually don’t like short hair on women, but she’s an exception). For me, though, the Waschowskis made it too comic booky. The posturing characters in their slick black outfits & sunglasses scream “Yeah, right.” And the Messiah angle is old hat. The film runs 2 hours, 16 minutes, and was shot in Sydney, Australia, with some exterior scenes done in Nashville and San Francisco. GRADE: B

You had me the moment you stopped Trinity in mod air, spun the camera around her, and then let her deliver that vicious kick. And that was at the start of the film. That was the best opening ever. That was, when it was 1999 and you saw it in the theater for the first time, the "WOW" moment that you can only assume is what the people who were old enough to see A New Hope felt in the theaters back in 1977. From the start it was just mind blowingly cool... and then the soundtrack kick serious butt, and the plot, the plot was just pure science fiction fun! And it held it, the look, the sci-fi fun, the absolute stylized coolness through out the movie to one of the coolest climaxes of any 90s film. It set the high water mark for sci-fi action. It was one of those movies that re-defined a genre.

**The Matrix completely changed the landscape of special effects, world-building, and cinematography, cementing itself in the halls of cinema glory as one of the most innovative films of all time.** I remember watching this movie for the first time as a 9-year-old and having my mind blown wide open! After rewatching it almost 25 years later, this movie is still a groundbreaking and breathtaking masterpiece. It’s hard to believe The Matrix came out in 1999 with the quality of effects and production it showcases that still hold up in many ways to modern films. But it’s more than the effects. The cinematography serves as the eyes of the audience with clever angles and shots, putting the viewer right in the middle of the action. The editing, sound, and visual effects all won Oscars. The fight choreography was as cutting edge as John Wick was in 2014 with its gun-fu. The Matrix created a fascinating and beguiling new universe that demanded to be explored. The neo-goth, noir, and retro aesthetics keep the movie from feeling dated all these years later. Hugo Weaving’s performance deserved more acclaim from the Academy because his unhinged Agent Smith is one of the most iconic villains in cinematic history. The Matrix impacted Hollywood and culture in a way that left it forever changed. The Matrix is a pillar of cinema and one of the greatest films of all time.

**The Matrix completely changed the landscape of special effects, world-building, and cinematography, cementing itself in the halls of cinema glory as one of the most innovative films of all time.** I remember watching this movie for the first time as a 9-year-old and having my mind blown wide open! After rewatching it almost 25 years later, this movie is still a groundbreaking and breathtaking masterpiece. It’s hard to believe The Matrix came out in 1999 with the quality of effects and production it showcases that still hold up in many ways to modern films. But it’s more than the effects. The cinematography serves as the eyes of the audience with clever angles and shots, putting the viewer right in the middle of the action. The editing, sound, and visual effects all won Oscars. The fight choreography was as cutting edge as John Wick was in 2014 with its gun-fu. The Matrix created a fascinating and beguiling new universe that demanded to be explored. The neo-goth, noir, and retro aesthetics keep the movie from feeling dated all these years later. Hugo Weaving’s performance deserved more acclaim from the Academy because his unhinged Agent Smith is one of the most iconic villains in cinematic history. The Matrix impacted Hollywood and culture in a way that left it forever changed. The Matrix is a pillar of cinema and one of the greatest films of all time.

"Thomas Anderson" is a nerdy boy by day, and an enigmatic hacker "Neo" by night. His latter persona is constantly challenging his norms, his behaviour, his reality even - and when he is contacted by Carrie-Anne Moss "Trinity" his suspicions begin to pan out and he is introduced to a crew of rebels led by "Morpheus" (Laurence Fishburne) on a mission to expose the extent to which mankind is merely a plaything of the "Matrix" living entirely imagined lives. The system is onto them, though, and using Hugo Weaving's "Agent Smith" and a fifth columnist from within the group's own ranks, is bent on their destruction. This film has that scarce value of having exciting (rather than delicately choreographed) action scenes married together with an intelligent, at times quite thought-provoking dialogue mixing fact/fiction and religiosity on a clever premiss that once we start to question reality; the conspiracy theories can run wild - and right to the top! Is "Neo" the one to save humanity - some sort of resurrected "one"? The Wachowski Brother remind us how to make a good sci-fi fantasy, but also that in his day Keanu Reeves was a one of the best, his boy-next-door good looks, agility and charisma working very well here. Of course the effects have dated, but one you've been subsumed into the plot - and if you are watching on a big screen - then that matters not; it's a gripping chunk of cinema depicting loyalty, determination and integrity that I really enjoyed.