Thomas Anderson/Neo: Keanu Reeves (Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey, Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure,
Bram Stoker's Dracula,
Chain Reaction, Devil's Advocate, Johnny Mnemonic, Speed)
Morpheus: Laurence Fishburne (Boyz N The Hood, Deep Cover, Event Horizon, Fled, Higher Learning, Just Cause, What's Love Got To Do With It)
Trinity: Carrie-Anne Moss (TV: The Matrix)
Agent Smith: Hugo Weaving (The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Frauds, Proof)
Oracle: Gloria Foster Cypher: Joe Pantoliano (Bad Boys, Bound, The Fugitive, Midnight Run, U.S. Marshalls, Zandalee)
The Matrix
is the film which has revived the flagging career of its main star. Keanu
Reeves plays computer programmer Thomas Anderson who is about to get fired
for being late for work yet again. At home he's less a programmer and more of
a hacker and this is about to get him into trouble in a big way. You see, the
world we're living in doesn't really exist - it's just a virtual reality
computer simulation and only the chosen few are privy to the full S.P. on
what's really happening, especially Keanu because thanks to his hacker
alterego, Neo, he is told he is the chosen one who will go on to save mankind.
Leader of those in the know is Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus who does
fine in the role although his grim-faced grumpiness isn't a far cry from his
role in Event Horizon and his team includes Carrie-Anne Moss as
Trinity, who can flex her muscles for me any time. The bad guys are led by
Priscilla Queen of the Desert's Hugo Weaving with the cryptic name
of Agent Smith who assumes the same form wherever he goes but is able to take
over any body.
On the good side, it has some decent special FX such as a relatively-new camera
technique, the name of which I've forgotten but is currently showing up in many
television programmes and adverts, in which the action onscreen appears to
freeze followed by the camera panning around the static moment as if time itself
is frozen still. It's done by having several still-shot cameras positioned
around the subject which simultaneously click into action and the resultant
pictures are played one after another in order giving the impression of time
standing still.
Couple this with many interesting kung-fu action scenes also given the slo-mo
action treatment with assistance from wires to hold the actors up in the air
for longer than humanly possible, a few other special FX such as a large
replacement for a woman's reproduction system and also the gorgeous Carrie-Anne
Moss, who starred in the 1993 unrelated TV series Matrix, which lasted
13 episodes and co-starred Nick Mancuso.
On the minus side of things, the plot borrows from other films too much:
You can only save the world by jumping into another one that hardly anyone
knows about which does anything but conform to the natural laws of physics?
Anyone seen Tron ?
There's also a moment where one character dies but because the Oracle
(Gloria Foster) has told another something in particular it means that
the person will not die at that time. This "you must live at all costs"
ideology reminds me of the opener to Nightmare on Elm Street 5 in which
Freddy was brought back from the dead by himself as a small child even though
his old self destructed at the end of Part 4 ?!? It really has to be seen to
be believed.
Plus, the film is about 30 minutes too long. Apart from some length talking
points in the film, there's a pointless sub-plot in which one of Morpheus' team
suddenly decides he wants to be king-of-the-hill and kills a couple of them
in the first stage of his take-over bid, but before he can continue he's stopped
in his tracks and the film carries on as if it never happened.
The film has also been cut for 10-15 seconds of content by the BBFC for a
15-certificate, but I do not know the exact details.
So after you've heard the hype, seen the trailers on television and watched
"The Making Of The Matrix" which was on late-night TV recently, does the
film live up to the hype? Not really since anyone who has watched all this
will have seen the special FX already and the rest isn't really worth bothering
with - which rather reminds me of my feelings after watching the big-screen
version of The Fugitive, which also starred Joe Pantoliano.
Ask if you can pay half-price to see this film as it's only worth 5/10 and
if you do see it stay until the very end of the closing credits as you'll find
the address of the official website and the password to access the secret
area...
...oh to hell with it, the password is "steak" and the address is
www.whatisthematrix.com, but
I'm not going to tell you where to click on the website as I had to find that
one out for myself.
Now how long will it be before we get the sequel, Matricies, in which
Keanu has to defeat the bad guys, not by beating them up and shooting them, but
by getting his pencil out to have a go at some complex mathematics?
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
