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The Matrix
Warner Brothers
Starring:Keanu Reeves
Official Site:www.whatisthematrix.com

A few years back the Wachowski Brothers made their debut with "Bound". I must admit, I stumbled into the theater not knowing what to expect from the film and walked out simply floored; "Bound" was, and still is, one of those films that you only see every so often. It rises above the level of simply a film; it's a film that is experienced; a film that thrills every sense to the point of visual and sonic overload. "Bound" was a small film about two women who plan to steal two million dollars from the local mafia. It took place, for the most part, in one apartment. There wasn't one moment, though, where I wasn't exhilarated; there were moments of absolute tension, dark humor and visual thrills that left me amazed, exhausted and in awe at the detail of every frame. The sheer quality of the screenplay as well as the phenomenal performances were absolutely stunning coming from a directorial debut.

The brothers are back again with a far larger budget and a far bigger scope. They bring the detail and outstanding visuals that they were so successful with in directing "Bound", but the screenplay, among other things, doesn't always work. The story revolves around a computer programmer, Thomas Anderson(Keanu Reeves), who is a computer hacker named "Neo" during the night. Slowly though, his world begins to lose focus; he is approached by another hacker named Trinity(Carrie Anne Moss) at a local club and confronted with the question that has apparently driven not only him, but many others: "What is the Matrix?". Watching over it all is Morpheus(Laurence Fishburne), a hacker who is leading the "resistance" against The Matrix. Neo and Morpheus are finally introduced as he teaches Neo that the world around him is not what he believes; in fact, it doesn't even exist. The world around us is simply an artificial reality, while humans in reality are being harvested in the future to be part of The Matrix, which, when we see it, is breathtaking in scope and scale. It's only a larger part of the overall excellence of the special effects work that went into the making of this film.

The first half of the film is solid set-up. Fishburne explaining to Reeves(as well as the audience) what the Matrix is, where it is, about where it came from, and on and on. Fishburne is perfect in the role, giving a solid performance with that perfect little smirk underneath the seriousness. The problem begins here, though. Fishburne is perfect reading through a whole lot of "technospeak" explaining the whole story. The problem is simply Keanu Reeves, who for the most part, looks simply confused during all of this opening dialogue. Not the good kind of confused either, where the character is working to figure out what is going on. The kind of confused where I expected the first word out of his mouth after Morpheus's explanation would be over to be "huh?". Or, "could you run that by me again?". To keep the momentum going amidst all of this setup, we need an actor who we can be interested in and who seems to be at work trying to figure out what's happening. Keanu Reeves looks simply so blank for most of the early going that it began to seem to like he was someplace else. I understand that the character was supposed to be this way, but Reeves takes the character to new levels of blankness, and that doesn't help the first hour of the film, which is mainly story and after a while, it begins to slow down a bit too much.

We know where it's headed though, and as the film begins to turn the corner into the second half, everything begins to come into focus and become far tighter. Even Keanu starts to look alive. Particularly fun to watch is an extended training sequence, where Keanu begins to learn the fighting skills that he'll need to go up against the forces that the Matrix can bring to life. Things like the ability to walk up walls. There are definitely some major forces to contend with; the main opponents are the "agents", deadly security programs brought to life by the Matrix. Dressed in grey jackets and firing at anything that moves, they are the perfect cold villians. And they're lead by Agent Smith, played to perfection by Hugo Weaving. Weaving makes every sentence count, seemingly contemplating the wonder of his words as he spits them out in his low growl. Weaving's performance is so perfect as the main villian, I frequently wished he'd had more scenes.



Of course, the rebels want to take apart the greater whole that keeps humanity as unknowing slaves, but the film isn't quite always sure what to do. At first, it seems like the film is looking to explain the story as part of a deeper meaning, but as we turn the corner, exploration(and explanation) of just what the Matrix means seems to get forgotten about. Not that the second half isn't visually phenomenal; once the film hits a pace in the second half, it really begins to throw the FX at you; most are absolutely thrilling and some have really never been seen before. To be honest, I would have liked the film to go deeper about the meanings of the Matrix, but the sheer quality of the action, the sheer detail and stunning images more than make up for it as the final act becomes an attack of immense and absolutely wild proportions.



The truth is that although I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, I was slightly dissapointed in areas. Although Reeves improves as the film goes on, his almost total lack of well, anything in the first half of the film slows the proceedings quite a bit. There are some fascinating ideas thrown out here and there, but the screenplay seems only content to skim the surface of any deeper meaning. Fishburne and Carrie Anne Moss, who plays Trinity, are quite good. I liked Moss quite a bit; she isn't terribly animated either, but at least she has the cold, brutal strength about her that gave the performance life. In fact, her performance somewhat reminded me of Gina Gershon's in "Bound". "Bound" star Joe Pantoliano is also here, but I didn't care for the character he plays. The truly great performance here is not by an actor; it's by Bill Pope, who is definitely one of my favorite cinematographers. There are hundreds of images in this movie that are so absolutely memorable, strikingly cold and thrilling. Millions of bullet shells falling from the sky; lights from a SWAT team peering up from the darkness at the bottom of a staircase. Pope has been the cinematographer on everything from "Clueless" to "Bound" and he puts together compositions that are simply breathtaking. He is part of the reason why I see a lot of films now that I wouldn't otherwise see: not for the stars, but because I am getting more and more familiar with some of the great cinematographers working today. The Brothers Wachowski have also brought other members of the "Bound" crew, such as editor Zach Staenberg and composer Don Davis, who both do an excellent job. That really sums up this film as well. Technically, it's absolutely first rate. The screenplay doesn't always work(some of the lines are a little silly) and the performances aren't always top notch(ok, just Keanu Reeves isn't). Overall though, there are far more positives and negatives. The Wachowski Brothers have made the leap to big budget filmmaking with a serious bang with a visually outstanding film and although the story doesn't always work, it presents us with moments that present ideas that I found quite interesting and some(although not all) very well done performances. I'm not dissapointed because the film fell flat or didn't try. I'm slightly dissapointed because this film had the potential to be a phenomenal combination of story, ideas and effects. It's a great film overall, but it could have been so much more.

*** 1/2