The Matrix – Film Review

Neo (Keanu Reeves) believes that Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can answer his question — What is the Matrix? Neo is contacted by Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. They fight a brutal battle for their lives against a cadre of viciously intelligent secret agents. It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life.

When you think of science-fiction films, chances are you think of a few ones in particular – Star Wars, Terminator, Blade Runner, or The Matrix. All of these films and their respective franchises are decades old and yet, still to this day, people talk about them every single day it seems. You’d swear that they released this year because of how much talk surrounds them but, no, they’re decades old.

In the case of The Matrix, the film is twenty-two years old which seems absolutely crazy to me. Sadly, I was not alive at the time Lana and Lilly Wachowski released this film but I was born the year after, but I genuinely wish I could’ve been alive to see this mind-bending and crazy flick on the big screen, seeing the reaction of all my fellow audience members. This film may technically be a 90s film but nothing about it feels like a 90s film. The film’s world is so incredibly futuristic that you’d swear you’re watching a group of real people living out the year 2199.

The technical prowess of The Matrix is something that has rarely been replicated by sci-fi films since, mainly because of how far ahead of its time this film was. Technology is supposed to advance and sci-fi films are supposed to be bigger and better with new and improved CGI, visuals, and sound effects, and yet this film from the 90s is more impressive than most sci-fi adventures you can watch in the past ten years.

The first time I ever watched this movie was when I was about nine or ten years old and it was only because of my brothers that I ended up watching it. They’ve always been big film fans as well and I distinctly remember them watching The Matrix one day as a kid and I started to sit down and watch it with them and I was impressed by every little thing I saw on-screen. That was the first time I ever saw it but for my brothers, it was about three or four times and when I was younger, I always thought it was kind of silly to watch the same movie that many times. But now that I’m older I fully understand revisiting movies that you love, especially The Matrix – it’s a two-hour and sixteen-minute movie that absolutely flies by in no time.

Watching it today for the first time in years was an incredible experience and I can thankfully say that all these years later, it still holds up remarkably well. The script from the Wachowski’s is one of the most robust and fine-tuned sci-fi scripts I have ever had the pleasure of watching translate to the big screen. It’s brimming with bold and innovative ideas and it gets to a point where you can’t help but think “There’s no way they’re going to top that scene”, and yet, they do, each and every single time.

I’ve probably seen The Matrix three times now and yet it still leaves me wondering about life, death, and the in-between. It’s still mind-numbingly confusing at times too but I kind of love that about it. Neo’s storyline in particular is brilliant. Him learning that he is The One and basically becoming one of the most badass and intimidating movie heroes of all time is legitimately cathartic and they couldn’t have chosen a better actor than Keanu Reeves to play the part.

We all know that Reeves is an incredible actor and we all love him to bits and I feel as though if they had cast another actor in the lead instead, The Matrix wouldn’t have been quite as perfect. He is without question one of the most charismatic and versatile actors working in the past twenty years and it’s rarely exemplified better than in this film. But I can’t forget to mention Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus who always gave me the creeps as a kid. There was just something about the slow, deliberate way he talked accompanied by his intimidating figure that always freaked me out.

The reason why is because, in short, Fishburne is also an amazing actor and did his part incredibly well. Morpheus is sort of like the talking head character that lets our lead protagonist know about his/her situation and the world around them but The Matrix subverts this trope after a while by giving Morpheus an interesting backstory of his own, and he too gets some memorable scenes in the third act.

And something else I’ve always loved about this film is how they set up the conflict between Neo and the Agents, particularly Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). It’s explained fairly early on that nobody has ever been able to kill an Agent – full-stop. Morpheus tells Neo that if he ever finds himself in conflict with an Agent to simply run away as fast as he can. As a viewer we are made aware that the Agents are highly dangerous people and that they should be avoided at all costs and yet whenever we finally see Neo go up against one – Agent Smith – in the third act, we learn that he is even more deadly than they are.

The Matrix is not only a masterclass in storytelling, character development, and directing, but it’s also a visually stunning film shot gorgeously by Bill Pope who is without question one of the most influential directors of photography to ever work in the industry. Spider-Man 3, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Alita: Battle Angel, The World’s End, and most recently Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings? Yeah, those were all shot by Pope and it’s no wonder why The Matrix helped get him a ton of cinematography gigs down the line.

It also has some truly great editing by Zach Staenberg who splices scenes together in brilliant ways but he never loses track of the story. This accompanied by the absolutely beautiful and intimidating score by Don Davis make The Matrix one of the most impressive sci-fi films in history with its sheer visual language. The Matrix is one of the most popular films ever made and for good reason. It inspired a whole generation of filmmakers out there to write a good script, pick up a camera, and start filming. That, plus it seemingly started a whole craze where people started to wear sunglasses, trench coats, and leather jackets for a while. So that’s cool too.