Year:
1999
Studio:
Warner Brothers/
Village Roadshow Productions
Movie:
4/5
DVD:
3/5
Teaser
Thomas Anderson leads two lives. In one he is a toiling software
developer, a non-descript type of guy who obeys the rules and doesn't
get into trouble. In the other life he is Neo, hacker extraordinaire
who has broken almost every law in cyberspace. The government is after
him, but although he thinks he knows why, he doesn't really. Morpheus
will show Neo the way, and provide the answer, if he's willing to take
the plunge. The answer that Neo's been searching for: "What is the
Matrix?"
Movie
"The Matrix" is a graphically stunning movie. At the time, the special
effects were groundbreaking, though the style is reminiscent of comics
books and Hong Kong action movies. The story is engaging -- the world
that we know and live in is but a computer simulation running to keep
people alive. The real world is a dystopian nightmare ruled by the
machines, where people are just living energy sources harvested in
human farms and plugged into a neural hookup all their lives.
When I first saw this movie it had been hyped so much that I wasn't
going to be satisfied, and I wasn't. I left the theater thinking it was
a so so movie but what's the big deal? My problem is that the effects
are so good and seamless that to me it looks like filming style, not
special effects. Watching the movie again, watching the making of
documentary and listening to the sparse commentary track, I start to
realize what an achievement the whole movie is.
Actors
Keanu Reeves is an actor who has done a wide range of roles and is
still relatively underestimated by people. As Neo, he plays a role that
reminds me of Johnny Mnemonic, though of course it's quite different.
Although I've only seen some of his movies, I think that my favorite
role is Officer Jack Traven in "Speed".
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When I think
of Laurence Fishburne I think of the story of how Tee was
beaten up by Fishburne's bodyguard during Mardi Gras. As Morpheus he
has a role where he gets to play the Ben Kenobi type -- a wise
all-knowing father figure who can kick ass when he needs to. In fact,
Morpheus tries to sacrifice himself like Obi Wan did on the Death Star,
in order for his protege to escape.
As Trinity, Carrie-Anne Moss portrays a spandex-clad beauty who runs a
lot. She's not stunningly beautiful, but in that role wearing that
costume and moving around, wow. The exact same appeal that Jennifer
Garner has in "Alias". I'm reminded that Ken Hite hates Carrie-Anne
Moss (not personally I'm sure) and that he thinks that his fave, Gina
Gershon, would have been so much better as Trinity. I don't know if I
agree with Ken, but my friends and I can tease him about it when we
drink the rainbow.
DVD
There is an audio commentary with Carrie-Anne Moss, editor Zach
Staenberg, and visual effects supervisor John Gaeta. It is
unfortunately not a good documentary. Moss speaks a bit at the
beginning since her character is introduced first, but then she doesn't
say anything until the betrayal scene and then she talks a fair amount.
Meanwhile Staenberg and Gaeta talk throughout the movie, but there are
plenty of times when nothing is said for a minute or three and a lot of
their comments are technical in nature. In short there is no "why were
these story elements done this way" or "what was it like to film this
scene" or very much of anything that makes a commentary interesting to
me.
A half-hour HBO "Making the Matrix" documentary is much better at
explaining the movie and why it was made. There is an isolated musical
score track, with commentary by composer Don Davis, for those
interested in that sort of thing. You can also turn on the white
rabbit, which shows nine rabbit icons during the movie, each icon
leading to a short unnarrated look at how those special effects were
done.
Finally there are two hidden featurettes. "What is Bullet Time?" which
is an interesting five-minute explanation of how the camera wrap around
scenes are done. The second hidden featurette is the boring "What is
the Concept" which is an eleven-minute unnarrated spin that takes early
concept drawings and traces how they were made into film reality.
Recommendations
"The Matrix" is a fine science fiction action movie with an intricate
world and wonderful special effects. As such, for people who like the
genre it is a must see. |