Extras: HBO First Look Special: "Making The Matrix", 'Follow The White
Rabbit' viewing option, 'Red Pill' hidden special-effects documentaries,
Filmographies, DVD-ROM features: quiz, screenplay with storyboards, 7 essays
and articles ('From Script To Screen' comic-books on film article, 'Everybody
Loves Kung Fu Fighting' martial arts retrospective, 'Infinity & Beyond'
science-fiction retrospective), website link.
Director:
Larry Wachowski & Andy Wachowski
(Assassins, Bound)
Producers:
Joel Silver, Barrie Osborne, Andrew Mason, Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski, Erwin Stoff & Bruce Berman
Screenplay:
The Wachowski Brothers
Music:
Don Davis
Director Of Photography:
Bill Pope
Editor:
Zach Staenberg
Cast:
Neo/Thomas Anderson: Keanu Reeves
Trinity: Carrie-Anne Moss
Morpheus: Laurence Fishburne
Cypher: Joe Pantoliano
Agent Smith: Hugo Weaving
Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a reclusive computer cracker
living a monotonous existence in a busy metropolis. His mundane life begins to take a turn into
the bizarre when a mysterious leather-clad woman named Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and her
leader, the enigmatic Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), begin to slowly reveal the secret underbelly
of the world he lives in... and his destiny as saviour of that world...
The Matrix is a landmark movie. In the same way
Alien,
The Terminator and
Jurassic Park
are revered as incredibly important and influencial
films, The Matrix perhaps surpasses them as an almost flawless example of
hardcore science-fiction packaged for the masses. The movie is both a visual
delight for the eyes and a cerebral workout for the mind. As such it works
on the two basic levels to ensure mass appeal *and* cult status.
The 'cyberpunk' genre has failed time and again to effectively translate
onto the big-screen, despite the fact it's stylistically perfect for the
medium. Keanu Reeves' own failed Johnny Mnemonic is perhaps the best
recent example. The Matrix finally gets the formula just right - managing
to weave its elements of cyberpunk, martial arts, and discussions on the
nature of reality into one cohesive and powerful whole.
Keanu Reeves, never a formidable acting talent, is admittedly perfect to
play the role of the doubting Neo, since his hangdog expressions and casual
vocals cover the acting remit necessary for his eventual transformation into
trenchcoated, gun-blasting superhero.
Newcomer Carrie-Anne Moss deservedly managed to kickstart a Hollywood career
on the success of her role as Trinity, a role that managed to both provide
plenty of high-kicking thrills, but also left some room for "proper" acting
in the film's many quieter moments.
The ever-dependable Laurence Fishburne simply exudes style and confidence as
Morpheus, Neo's mentor and the cast's father figure. Joe Pantoliano's
distinctive voice and quirky style successfully finds a home amongst the
serious expressions worn by everyone else, and newcomer Hugo Weaving proves
to be one of the decades best screen villains. Weaving's measured tone and
superiority complex is a delight, and the power-play between the film's
protagonists and antagonists is very effectively done.
The Matrix will primarily be remembered for its special-effects, however.
Employing a relatively new and unused effect known as 'bullet-time' moments
throughout the movie are slowed down to a snail pace and the camera
literally swoops around the frozen action, providing some original and
eye-popping visuals. It's basically the 21st Century version of the John Woo
"slo-mo" come early! Such effects are used sparodically, however, and the
true success of the film thankfully never rests squarely on its effects
budget.
The true star of the film is actually its plot. The screenplay follows the
3-Act structure to the letter, and while it adheres to the Hollywood norm on
that level, the sheer scope of the story's premise and focus on story and
characters is refreshing. The movie is never boring and uses its story to
keep the audience entertained. For most of its running time the action
setpieces are kept to a minimum, only finally kicking into overdrive at the
latter end of Act 3 - as it should be.
The masterful build-up to the climax is simply genius, and by making the
audience actually invest in the characters and get involved in the
situations, the 'pay-back' moments near the end are spine-tinglingly
satisfying. "The Matrix" isn't a hollow-hearted special-effects showcase
like most Summer blockbusters... there's an intelligence at work within
every moment, and nothing is wasted. Every scene, every piece of dialogue,
every visual, everything is sublimely utilized to make sure nobody leaves
the cinema disappointed.
Downsides? As far as I'm concerned, "The Matrix" is a rare example of a film
with no real bad points beyond pointless nitpicking. It could be argued that
the middle third of the film is 'slow' by people expecting a non-stop
assault of the senses, or that people less knowledgeable with sci-fi lore
may find the premise confusing. It's easy enough for Joe Public to
understanding 'robots from the future' and 'alien invasion' stories... but
the reality-bending questions "The Matrix" poses means you definitely should
*not* leave your brain at the door.
Overall, "The Matrix" is a refreshing movie and a high-note for 90's
science-fiction to end on. The two promised sequels - already filming - are
going to have to be *very* special to top the standard set here. Inspiring,
awesome, cool, thought-provoking... the thesaurus isn't big enough to
properly describe this movie. "The Matrix" is a very special film -
perfectly encapsulating its genre and pushing the boundaries of what good
science-fiction should be.
See it. Be amazed. See it again, and again, and again...
Criminally, "The Matrix" Region 2 DVD is a sorely missed opportunity. Thanks
to some unnecessary cuts to the UK-version of the film by the BBFC
(comprising just 15 seconds of headbutts!), the Region 1 Commentary by
Carrie-Anne Moss, editor Zach Staenberg and special-effects supervisor John
Gaeta is missing because they couldn't be bothered to re-edit it! The
fantastic soundtrack is also unavailable as a separate feature to listen to
with commentary by Don Davis the composer, which is a great shame.
However, the picture quality is impressive, although the intentional green
tint used in the Matrix scenes to differentiate between the real and
make-believe worlds can cause you to think there's something wrong with your
TV's tube at times! Artefacting and smearing of colours isn't noticeable
anywhere, and the blacks are handled very well.
Sound-wise, audio effects are thrown around the speakers quite impressively
during the action moments, and the quieter moments of the movie always offer
some surround sound delights - ringing telephones, revving dumpster trucks,
city rain, etc.
The DVD Extras we do get on the Region 2 release are, altogether, a little
underwhelming considering the sheer potential there was in a film like this.
There isn't even a Theatrical Trailer! However, what we do get is:
The HBO First Look Special: "Making The Matrix" :
An interesting documentary that satisfactorily explains, in a general way,
how the movie was created. The depth is what you'd expect of a featurette
designed as a quasi-trailer, with plenty of talking heads, scenes from the
movie and brief sequences from 'behind-the-scenes'. Enjoyable.
'Follow The White Rabbit' viewing option :
Enabling this option means that whenever a 'white rabbit' icon appears in
the corner of the screen when watching the film, pressing 'ENTER' on your
remote means the movie branches off to play a mini 'behind-the-scenes'
documentary on the relevant scene being watched. This is a neat little
feature, although very gimmicky and means you have to rewatch the movie
just to see what amounts to another sequence of the "Making The Matrix"
featurette. Luckily, the time-indexes of where the 9 rabbits appear are
listed at countless fan websites online.
'Red Pill' hidden special-effects documentaries :
Again, like the 'white rabbit' option, managing to click 'ENTER' on a red
pill icon within the DVD menus themselves branches the DVD off to play
more effects documentaries. Very enjoyable they are, too.
Filmographies :
Bog standard "who's done what" listings of the principle castmembers.
DVD-ROM features:
Quiz: :
Nice idea in principle, but the DVD Friendly (er, Unfriendly) software
just crashed my PC time after time.
Screenplay with storyboards :
Fantastic! It should take you days to read the great screenplay and the
anime-influenced storyboards. Shame this isn't a feature that non-DVD-ROM
owners could use!
7 essays and articles :
These essays are 'From Script To Screen' a comic-books-to-film article,
'Everybody Loves Kung Fu Fighting' a martial arts retrospective, and
'Infinity & Beyond' a science-fiction retrospective. These are interesting
to read, although not wholey necessary to be included on the DVD.
Original website: WhatIsTheMatrix.com :
Fantastic website, although most people wanting the very latest
information are probably going to check out the actual online site itself.
But the speed of navigation and ultra-fast download of the graphics is
worthwhile in the sections that are unlikely to change that much.
Overall, it's a crying shame that The Matrix R2 DVD is so lacking in
decent extras: a trailer, deleted scenes, screen tests, editing suite, all
would have absolutely fantastic additions! However, seeking to rectify the
situation, there is a fairly concrete rumour that Warner Brothers are
releasing "The Matrix Revisited" very soon, which should be a £20 companion
to the film DVD and is jampacked with extras culminated from the 2 years
that have passed since the film's 1999 release. Something to look forward
to, I'd imagine, although it's a little late!
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
