Starring - Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving & Joe Pantoliano.
Running Time - 136 minutes
Rated - 12
I remember watching this film for the first time eight years ago, and being completely confused, but utterly amazed by what I was seeing.
The film which blew me away before The Matrix with its special effects was Jurassic Park. I’ll never forget that scene when they all get out of the car and see all those dinosaurs together for the first time. The Matrix surpassed this, I remember watching and thinking that movie special effects could not get any better than this.
However it wasn’t just visual aspect of this film which made it stand out as a truly great movie. It had a complex script that engaged the audience, asking them questions which had never been asked before. Taking an original look on the human race, it highlights the monotony that so many of us spend our lives engrossed in.
It’s difficult to give you a summary of this film, because to understand it, you really need to see it for yourself. Computer hacker Thomas Anderson (Reeves) has lived a relatively ordinary life, in what he thinks is the year 1999. This is until he is approached by Morpheus (Fishburne) who leads him into the real world.
In reality, it is 200 years later, and the world has been laid waste and taken over by advanced artificial intelligence machines. Anderson, pursued constantly by "Agents", is hailed as "The One" who will lead the humans to overthrow the machines and reclaim the Earth. If it sounds complicated then that’s because it is, and you will probably have to watch it a few times before you grasp what’s going on.
Don’t be put off by seeing that Keanu Reeves as the lead in this movie, you could be forgiven into thinking that this could be another flop to add to his forever growing repertoire. Reeves is barely tested in his role as Neo and actually impresses performing a great deal of his stunts.
The two stand out performances are from Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. These two excel, for good and evil, and both possess that comic book feel about them, making themselves come across as superhuman.
For me this film is a right of passage, and has to be witnessed to be believed. It may have been endlessly parodied by other films, but that’s only due to its confidence to push so many boundaries.
Best Bit: When Neo suddenly realises that he knows kung-fu!
Rating: 5 out of 5, this movie was mesmerising as it was ground-breaking…simply sensational.
