The Matrix:
There is a lot to this film - I had to see it twice. Right off the bat you get the since that this movie has style. Cool flows. You get a good sense of all the charicters very quickly - and your questions also. This leaves plenty of room for the action. Action... Thats what the Matrix is... All about action, Babe.
The special effects are amazing, and add to the film in a way we havent seen since Jurasic Park.
One effect however I wish they left out is the 3D stop motion with a 180 degree pan. This effect is used in commercials for shampoo, Subaru wagons, Gap Kahkis, Chevy trucks and other things... It has no place in a real film. But even though thy used it here - admittedly it was pulled of very, very well. One such effect using this stop - slow flow effect - the one where NEO throws himself backwards to dodge some bullets - took TWO YEARS to make! One reason it took so long was the fact they were inventing the technology for the shot! The results are amazing.
Another effect this film has - is going to be a big boom effect to the sales of black trench coats and sunglasses. Even I want some now - and I hate movie hyped fads! I even sold my Ninja sport bike just 'cause of Top Gun. Seriously - even though I had my bike 6 months before the Tom Cruise, Sheople would say "Oh, you got that bike cause your a Maverick Wanna-be." Yeah, Right. Every one who knew me, they knew I really wanted to be Goose! But that was mainly cause he had a hot woman tell him "Take me to bed or loose me forever!"
I digress...
The movie was a good role fit for Mr Reeves. This is important because he is able to take advantage of his limited acting ability, and his huge on screen style. If only Kevin Kostner could find a role that fits him this good. The other actors - Fishburn is the best. He did a fantastic job in his last science fiction - EVENT HORIZON - which when I saw it in the theatre was one hell of a scary movie. Rent it and watch it with all the lights off - in stereo sound, and on a big screen... You'll be very disturbed for a week. The others in this movie are lesser known and I dont know the names - but they all did a smack bang up good job. The lead badguy was so evil, he was good. The bad guys had kind of a morphing ability that let them like possess people - making every one dangerous. And making chase secments almost never ending.
In order to escape the heros must answer an incoming phone call - I can't explain why - I dont understand the reasons - but it makes for good action.
I did not like the "reason they must fight the evil." It was a bit too far fetched - but they needed a foundation to base the story on - trust me - you get past it quick, and are able to move on... but the idea is still very horrifying and made me most uncomfortable. Even for being too Wacko.
This movie may become a cult classic - spawning many games, video, board and role playing very quickly. Overplaying, over hyping and marketing kills a good thing for me. Like all that Godzilla crap - and that movie SUCKED... so it was even worse. But this movie was awesome and marketed just enough to have made me want to see it - badly. It was one of the few movies to have lived up to my expectations. The martial arts are very cool, and go with the gun play very well. Lets talk guns here - cause they have A LOT OF GUNS. Almost as many as in RONIN (a must see, if you like action)
The bad guys packed the ever present Desert Eagle. Every one here should know this gun buy heart... This is an Isreali made auto that can fire one of several choices of calibers - .357 Mag, 41 Mag, .44 Mag, or .50 Mag. In the movie it looks like the .357 version firing .38 special loads (they are the same round but the .38 is just a little shorter and less powerful). This is a good choice and fitts with the bad guy image. They good guys use a lot of different types of guns - and they are all used very well - accuratly manipulated... there was only one error I picked up - Neo pulles out two machine pistols and lets loose on the SWAT GUYS, while running at them and dodging fire at the same time... They show fired .223 brass pouring onto the floor as he runs. This is wrong, as the the guns are dressed up Tec22's - .22 rimfire pistols... wimpy guns... Gatling gun scene is worth the ticket - and the resulting helicopter crash is originaly done - whatch for the wave effect there. Every thing else is done great. Well, better than that -for lack of a better word - AWESOME!
The movie is by no means perfect - but all flaws get smoothed over by a good polish of style and visual candy. I mean the line "Dodge This!" with the following image is just too hip and cool.
The music is great too - although the sound track on CD isn't quite as polished as it could have been - on screen the music bites are just plain PUMPING and drive the movie at full speed. Music from various artists all known for razor edged musical riots. This stuff might not sound good to the ears of older gentalmen - but get over it - your buying polymer guns nowdays - see you can evolve like the younger folks! ROB ZOMBIE has a song in here - and the ending song, when the credits roll, is by a nice little band called "Rage against the Machine" The melody may not be to mature liking - but the lirics are hard edged and pointed - promoting ideas all of us here share at some point or another.
Good Lines:
"THERE IS NO SPOON!"
"What do you need?" "Guns... Lots of Guns."
"I know Kung Fu."
"Dodge This."
"Show Me."
All in all, this movie is 5 stars - a must see, and worth seeing more than once.
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"Fear will keep the local systems in line..."