Review of The Matrix (1999) by Jonathan E — 30 Oct 2014

One of the coolest movies of all time, "The Matrix" has everything I could ask for in a movie. It has great action in it and thoughtful subtext that will keep you thinking after the movie ends.

The year is 1999... Or is it? It's actually closer to 2199 and humans are being controlled by machines, they have them stuck inside a program that simulates real life called "The Matrix" while they feed on them for energy. It's up to a group of people fighting the system and a new recruit, Neo (Keanu Reeves), to free the people from enslavement.

Director Darren Aronofsky thought that "The Matrix" redefined Sci-Fi movies, and I agree, what it did has yet to be matched by modern science fiction films that tend to lean towards visuals and give no importance towards action and fight choreography like what we can see here. The use of slow motion is perfect, it's used to highlight the action and give the viewer the feeling that he's right in the middle of it, unlike modern action movies with all the shaky cams.

The underlying themes it deals with are what makes it far superior than any other action or science fiction movies and leaves the audience with something to talk about. It deals with some of the same things Stanley Kubrick dealt with in "2001: A Space Odyssey" in the 60's, they're themes that are even more interesting now that we live in a society that depends on technology and for that it's a movie that's way far ahead of its time.

I'm not even going to mention the sequels, I see "The Matrix" as a stand-alone feature so I'm just going to ignore they even exist. As Quentin Tarantino said, the sequels ruined the mythology to it, I couldn't agree more, but I think that when you forget the sequels even happened it's a masterpiece.

It's hard to see how Hugo Weaving didn't get more recognition for his performance as Agent Smith, he plays one of the most terrifying villains of all time, his screen presence is always felt and the way he delivers his lines (specially when he says "Mr. Anderson") is something that would fit perfectly in a horror film.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd recommend it to anyone it to anyone, specially whoever liked "Wall-E", "Terminator 2: Judgement Day", "Inception", "Equilibrium", "Dark City", "The Wolverine", "Twelve Monkeys", "Minority Report", "Sin City", and "Looper".