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"The Matrix" is a visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting. It's kind of a letdown when a movie begins by redefining the nature of reality, and ends with a shoot-out. We want a leap of the imagination, not one of those obligatory climaxes with automatic weapons fire.

I've seen dozens if not hundreds of these exercises in violence, which recycle the same tired ideas: Bad guys fire thousands of rounds, but are unable to hit the good guy. Then it's down to the final showdown between good and evil--a martial arts battle in which the good guy gets pounded until he's almost dead, before he finds the inner will to fight back. Been there, seen that (although rarely done this well).

Too bad, because the set-up is intriguing. "The Matrix" recycles the premises of " Dark City " and " Strange Days ," turns up the heat and the volume, and borrows the gravity-defying choreography of Hong Kong action movies. It's fun, but it could have been more. The directors are Larry and Andy Wachowski , who know how to make movies (their first film, " Bound ," made my 10 best list in 1996). Here, with a big budget and veteran action producer Joel Silver , they've played it safer; there's nothing wrong with going for the Friday night action market, but you can aim higher and still do business.

Warning; spoilers ahead. The plot involves Neo ( Keanu Reeves ), a mild-mannered software author by day, a feared hacker by night. He's recruited by a cell of cyber-rebels, led by the profound Morpheus ( Laurence Fishburne ) and the leather-clad warrior Trinity ( Carrie-Anne Moss ). They've made a fundamental discovery about the world: It doesn't exist. It's actually a form of Virtual Reality, designed to lull us into lives of blind obedience to the "system." We obediently go to our crummy jobs every day, little realizing, as Morpheus tells Neo, that "Matrix is the wool that has been pulled over your eyes--that you are a slave." The rebels want to crack the framework that holds the Matrix in place, and free mankind. Morpheus believes Neo is the Messianic "One" who can lead this rebellion, which requires mind power as much as physical strength. Arrayed against them are the Agents, who look like Blues Brothers. The movie's battles take place in Virtual Reality; the heroes' minds are plugged into the combat. (You can still get killed, though: "The body cannot live without the mind"). "Jacking in" like this was a concept in "Strange Days" and has also been suggested in novels by William Gibson ("Idoru") and others. The notion that the world is an artificial construction, designed by outsiders to deceive and use humans, is straight out of "Dark City." Both of those movies, however, explored their implications as the best science fiction often does. "Dark City" was fascinated by the Strangers who had a poignant dilemma: They were dying aliens who hoped to learn from human methods of adaptation and survival.

In "Matrix," on the other hand, there aren't flesh-and-blood creatures behind the illusion--only a computer program that can think, and learn. The Agents function primarily as opponents in a high-stakes computer game. The movie offers no clear explanation of why the Matrix-making program went to all that trouble. Of course, for a program, running is its own reward--but an intelligent program might bring terrifying logic to its decisions.

Both "Dark City" and "Strange Days" offered intriguing motivations for villainy. "Matrix" is more like a superhero comic book in which the fate of the world comes down to a titanic fist-fight between the designated representatives of good and evil. It's cruel, really, to put tantalizing ideas on the table and then ask the audience to be satisfied with a shoot-out and a martial arts duel. Let's assume Neo wins. What happens then to the billions who have just been "unplugged" from the Matrix? Do they still have jobs? Homes? Identities? All we get is an enigmatic voice-over exhortation at the movie's end. The paradox is that the Matrix world apparently resembles in every respect the pre-Matrix world. (I am reminded of the animated kid's film " Doug's 1st Movie ," which has a VR experience in which everything is exactly like in real life, except more expensive.) Still, I must not ignore the movie's virtues. It's great-looking, both in its design and in the kinetic energy that powers it. It uses flawlessly integrated special effects and animation to visualize regions of cyberspace. It creates fearsome creatures, including mechanical octopi. It morphs bodies with the abandon of "Terminator II." It uses f/x to allow Neo and Trinity to run horizontally on walls, and hang in the air long enough to deliver karate kicks. It has leaps through space, thrilling sequences involving fights on rooftops, helicopter rescues and battles over mind control.

And it has performances that find the right notes. Keanu Reeves goes for the impassive Harrison Ford approach, "acting" as little as possible. I suppose that's the right idea. Laurence Fishburne finds a balance between action hero and Zen master. Carrie-Anne Moss, as Trinity, has a sensational title sequence, before the movie recalls that she's a woman and shuttles her into support mode. Hugo Weaving , as the chief Agent, uses a flat, menacing tone that reminded me of Tommy Lee Jones in passive-aggressive overdrive. There's a well-acted scene involving Gloria Foster as the Oracle, who like all Oracles is maddeningly enigmatic.

"The Matrix" did not bore me. It interested me so much, indeed, that I wanted to be challenged even more. I wanted it to follow its material to audacious conclusions, to arrive not simply at victory, but at revelation. I wanted an ending that was transformational, like "Dark City's," and not one that simply throws us a sensational action sequence. I wanted, in short, a Third Act.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Matrix movie poster

The Matrix (1999)

Rated R For Sci-Fi Violence

135 minutes

Joe Pantoliano as Cypher

Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus

Gloria Foster as Oracle

Keanu Reeves as Neo

Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity

Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith

Written and Directed by

  • Andy Wachowski

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matrix film review essay

Home Essay Examples Entertainment The Matrix

The Matrix: Movie Review

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The Matrix is a Hollywood film released in 1999 and distributed by Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Entertainment. Directed and written by The Wachowskis, the movie is arguably the best sci-fi action movie of the 90s, becoming best known for its use of revolutionary special effects such as airborne Kung Fu and bullet dodging. The plot of the film follows Neo, or Mr Anderson, as he discovers that he has been living his entire life in an elaborate virtual reality projection created by artificial intelligence to keep humans subdued while their body heat and life essence is used as energy by machines in the ‘real’ world.

Films often reflect the social and cultural concerns of the era in which they are made, with one such film being The Matrix. The Matrix played with social technophobia and the fears of people at the time surrounding the technical advancements of the 80s and 90s. One example of such fears was the then-upcoming year 2000 and the ‘Y2K bug’— A computer flaw surrounding the year 2000 that lead to irrational concerns that it would result in worldwide issues. The Matrix, along with other films such as Terminator all dealt with fears of what would happen when technology runs rampant. When The Matrix was released, it represented the social anxiety at the time that machines could possibly affect the world in drastic ways. This was enhanced by taglines on the advertisement posters such as “The Fight For the Future Begins” and “Be Afraid of the Future” which further played to those social fears. Around this time, many people were wondering about the extent of technology, alternate realities and the prospect of artificial intelligence. As The Matrix reflected the worries of the time, people were affected dramatically after its release, with people shooting their parents and friends because they thought that they were living inside the Matrix. As well as this, the film uses symbolism such as Neo being a religious, Jesus-like figure. Neo is described throughout the film as being “The One” that can bring change to the world and the saviour of the human race. Released Easter week, The Matrix demonstrates the story of Jesus, with the Neo’s death and resurrection showing clear parallels. Furthermore, his death is the tipping point, with Neo returning to the Matrix with greater power and control.

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As well as social and cultural aspects and effects of the movie, The Matrix demonstrates many film techniques. Some visual effects from the film included bullet dodging, wall scaling and the use of virtual backgrounds. However, the film’s most important contribution to cinema was the innovative use of the ‘Bullet Time’ effect— also called flow motion. The effect allows the audiences point of view to move around the scene at a normal pace while the events are shown in slow motion. This was revolutionary for the time as it involved a complex rig with dozens of cameras surrounding the actor as well as hiding the cameras behind greenscreen. The film used the ‘Bullet Time’ effect to emphasise Neo’s ‘God-like’ abilities such as bullet dodging and airborne Kung Fu. The use of ‘Bullet Time’ had an effect on Hollywood, with films like Deadpool and X-men, as well as animations such as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda replicating the iconic Matrix effect as a new technique of film. These visual effects, combined with the elaborate fight and stunt scenes, the philosophy and martial arts contributed to the film grossing $460 million worldwide.

Winning all four Oscar nominations; Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing, The Matrix affected both the Hollywood industry and the hearts of the people who viewed it. Its use of film techniques and the reflection of the era it was made helped changed the way films are made today.

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Angela Watercutter

The Matrix Resurrections Review: The Wachowskis Were the True Oracles

Neo  looking at and touching his reflection in a mirror in a film still from The Matrix Resurrections

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Science fiction, in its most perfect form, operates like a Möbius strip. It critiques the present by speculating about the future. Then, years later, early adherents look back and analyze its predictions, knowing full well that sci-fi set the blueprint for the world they’re living in. Utopic or dystopic, the future always folds back on itself. Rarely, though, do the creators of sci-fi get to revisit the worlds they built after the events they anticipated are set in motion. In this, Lana and Lilly Wachowski are all but singular.

When The Matrix came out in 1999, it was a beautifully realized cyberpunk fable. It took the hopeful energy of the early internet years and envisioned what might happen if humanity’s reliance on connectivity and thinking machines led to its near-demise. It was a grim prediction, but one in a long line of sci-fi stories that foretold the near-future. Brave New World presaged antidepressants. Philip K. Dick warned readers about androids, and now fears of AI revolts creep up when we dream of electric sheep (or at least watch a Boston Dynamics robot dance ). Everyone who makes surveillance tech surely knows the year 1984. Would virtual and augmented realities even exist if it weren’t for William Gibson’s Neuromancer and the USS Enterprise ’s holodecks?

What the Wachowskis predicted in The Matrix —a world where artificial intelligence turns people into batteries and runs a simulation to keep them docile—hasn’t entirely come to pass, but hints of it are everywhere. No one lives in a simulation, but Silicon Valley can’t get enough of the metaverse , which often feels just a few clicks West. Scientists are working on brain-computer interfaces that could, many years from now, send virtual experiences to our brains . AI doesn’t generate our reality (probably), but it does live in our cars and TVs and toothbrushes. You don’t need a red pill to experience the real world, but the conspiracy-laden, right-wing internet has co-opted “ red-pilling ” to mean waking up to the many ways liberalism is poisoning America. (Or something.)

Tech geniuses who currently run the world grew up with The Matrix , and now they’re gunning to make the simulation real. Only many seem to have forgotten the dangers that came with it, missing the point the Wachowskis were trying to make. “Readers often assume that authors are happy when they ‘predict’ future events ‘correctly,’” writer Madeline Ashby noted in WIRED’s Future of Reality issue , “but rarely are we asked about the queasy feeling of watching one's worst vision come to pass.”

( Spoiler alert: Plot points for The Matrix Resurrections follow.)

It’s this queasy feeling that permeates The Matrix Resurrections. It’s almost as if Lana Wachowski has seen the worst of her own ideas start to take form and wants to ring the alarm. Set in San Francisco, the movie takes place some 60 years after the events in The Matrix Revolutions , the final in the original trilogy. Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) have been reinserted into the Matrix, duped into forgetting their days as saviors. Thomas Anderson is now a successful video game designer at a studio called Deus Ex Machina (LOL). He’s responsible for a trilogy of games known as The Matrix , which eerily resemble the events of the Wachowskis’ first three films. He’s now working on a new game called Binary —presumably a reference to coding language, but also a not subtle nod to red pill vs. blue pill, real vs. fake, free will vs. destiny, and, perhaps, the fact that gender is not either/or.

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Or at least that’s what he’s working until he gets called into the office of his boss (played by Jonathan Groff) and told that Warner Bros., his studio’s parent company, wants to make a sequel to the trilogy “no matter what.” (This is especially funny given that the Wachowskis spent years saying “no” to the real-life Warner Bros. about revisiting the franchise.)

What follows is a metanarrative about both the impact of the Matrix games in the Matrix and the Matrix movies in the world of the viewer. Wachowski devotes an entire montage to the message of the original trilogy—it was about cryptofascism! and trans identity! and capitalism!—and how audiences want a sequel that feels “fresh.” Game designers utter phrases like “reboots sell,” and “we need a new bullet time,” while Thomas Anderson struggles to separate fiction from reality.

All of this could be mind-numbing if it wasn’t so self-aware, if it didn’t seem like Wachowski and her cowriters David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon weren’t engaged in the smartest bit of trolling in cinema, shrugging off every critique that has been, or could be, leveled at the franchise. Think it’s too soon to go back to a series of films that only ended 18 years ago? There’s someone ready to remind you that “nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia.” (Has Wachowski been reading my work ?!) Can it often feel too cute or self-aware? Yes, but for the fans it’s winking at, the result is flattering.

That’s also just the first third. The remainder gets into the meat of the original trilogy’s stoned-philosopher ideas. There is a lot of talk of choice, and how often in life options aren’t options at all. The idea of fiction vs. reality comes up a lot , as do the facts vs. feelings debates that have permeated America’s political discourse.

Truth (heh) be told, all of this would be downright corny in any other movie; it might even be corny in this one. But set against the backdrop of what the Matrix franchise is, and what it’s come to mean, it’s tolerable. The Matrix Resurrections was made for those who have spent the last 22 years immersed in the franchise. New characters and new obstacles emerge, but there’s also no doubt Resurrections is about getting the band back together for one more show—even if Reeves and Moss spend most of their time with a new cast of characters and Morpheus is now New Morpheus ( Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ), a different iteration of the character played by Laurence Fishburne in the original movies. The motifs—cascading green code, simulation theory, white rabbits—remain the same, a recursive loop that, while not new, plays a familiar melody. That’s the point; they’re still relevant because the lessons of The Matrix remain unlearned.

In different circumstances, this repetitiveness would be a problem, a spell cast to repel the unfamiliar, the newcomers. But in a time when “red-pilling” is a political buzzword and you can say “we’re living in the Matrix” to just about anyone and they’ll understand the gist, how many uninitiated ones are left?

Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s original vision feels so real today largely because they gave it language. No, AI overlords haven’t built a giant simulation. But we do spend a lot of time living as avatars, allowing social media companies to build livelihoods off of our creative and intellectual output. The 20-plus years after the release of the first Matrix have so upended reality that the phrase “alternative facts” means something. This is likely why Resurrections fixates on the impact its previous installments had on the world. It doesn’t apologize for what it wrought; it just lives in the zeitgeist it created.

Midway through The Matrix Resurrections , the new Morpheus attempts to convince Neo that the Matrix, the thing he’s been trying to forget, is just a virtual reality. This has always been the head-trip of the Matrix movies too. They’re where viewers go to escape, but two decades later, their concepts have moved from the screen to meatspace. With Resurrections , the years of discourse about the franchise have found their way into its next chapter. Is there anything new here? Hmm, dunno. But it’s nice to go back down the rabbit hole. Science fiction, in its most perfect form, operates like a Möbius strip.

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Film Studies: “The Matrix” by Larry and Andy Wachowski Essay (Movie Review)

The Matrix tries to bring out the truth, and the reality of issues that affect the world. The film portrays social difference and inequality, through man and the machine. The machines symbolize change through a technological revolution. Man represents dynamism through social structures. A man may be related to social dynamics. The machines reflect the reliance by a man on technology.

The film shows that economic problems may reveal social differences and inequalities in certain cultures. In the world today, certain countries are more economically powerful than others. The Matrix also reveals that cultures, traditions, and beliefs may be linked to many nations. The film evaluates the concept of appearance. The machines are representative of technology.

The Agents have the freedom to control the making of the film and are responsible for all the program’s systems. This study sees the Agents as white men who believe that they are infallible. Competing visions of the characters The Agents see the world as dynamic. They need to compete for the minimal available resources. They tend to be oppressive and want to acquire power by force. Agents can impose their ideas on humans at will.

They can take over the “mental space” of the Matrix’s users. They do not want Neo to acquire knowledge on the Matrix. This aspect brings out their authoritarian characteristics. They want to take over the solar power and use it to access the matrix. Neo and Morpheus see society from a religious perspective.

They want to live in a society that upholds values in spite of technological changes. Morpheus symbolizes rebellion and dishonesty. He views the world as unfair to him. He believes in “hacking” into the Matrix to free captives for his advantage.

How characters build collective movements of individuals to support and enact their vision of society?

The Agents resemble three men who operate as a group for their advantage. They build their power by being together. This aspect enables them to confront Morpheus concerning the main computer in Zion. They manage to fight Neo due to their numerical advantage. They try to prevent him from accessing information on the Matrix. Morpheus and Neo also form a group to protect themselves against the Agents.

Morpheus appears to provide useful insights to Neo regarding the Matrix. The two visit the Oracle together. Morpheus allows the agents to detain him to let Neo and his group escape. Neo and Morpheus represent humans who are opposed to technological domination of the world. Social order is disrupted by the incessant wars between the humans and the machines. Technology seems to compete with the social order in this society.

The machines and the Agents bring disharmony among humans. This paper suggests that technology needs to be adopted with caution because it may be manipulated by man for his advantage. Status and resources belong to the most powerful, like the Agents in this society. Neo and Morpheus only seem to be looking for ways of outdoing the Agents to get power by stealing secret codes.

The characters build their collective movements through the use of language and influence. The Matrix uses cultural persuasions to perpetuate social and technological changes. In the film, the Agents can share their feelings with other characters in a ‘hive mind’ context. This aspect of communication helps the characters to enact their vision of society.

The film presents a society that is free from race, gender, and age barriers. According to fiction, progressive society is that which can adapt and embrace multi social values. This paper presents the aspect of language in the film as a theme of social dynamism. In the film, language brings out an efficient and singular cognitive approach. When machines convert into a Matrix program, they use minimal language and help the Agents to communicate.

The catastrophic destruction in the film happens when the Agents align themselves towards the Matrix. The language is technical and brings out the fact that Neo is likened to the machine. Technology may be used to improve society. This research observes that the society depicted in the film distributes its resources unequally. Few individuals control the media as a resource. Their ideas are capable of influencing many people.

The statuses of wealthy individuals like the Agents allow them to impose their will on others like the killing of Neo by Smith. Neo continuously refuses to program the language. He refuses the name given to him, which is connected to the Matrix. Various forms of technologies and their value

The film mainly features computers and robots. The computers signify programs that replace humans in terms of physical output in various activities. The man commands super humans or robots to perform specific functions. He assumes that robots are easier to work with than real humans. Robots only accept specific commands and may not perform any duties assigned to them (The Matrix, 1999).

The superhumans want access to solar power to exercise their freedom, that eventually destroys the world. Humans view life from a religious perspective. Morpheus relates to the religious world. Religion and technology seem to be competing against each other. The machines’ “orientation” is remarkable. In the film, the machines build the viewers’ trust in language and the Matrix’s program, which influences how man sees the technological world.

According to the film, a person has only one belief system which can change depending on external influences. Neo believes that humans have a combination of several ideologies, spirituality, and beliefs. Currently, the human belief system is a combination of religion, spiritual, cultural, and traditional beliefs.

This combination of different view structures operates as a suitable foundation for the marginalized people in the film. The different views and ideas can lead to the isolation of people, the and this perspective demonstrate how social inequality and differences operate in society. Machines can dictate an authoritarian belief system in humans.

The film examines a crisis between perspectives of determinism and autonomy. Neo and humans symbolize liberty, which binds, their spiritual realm. Smith and the machines represent the physical manifestation of determinism. Neo, who is presented as the ‘One’ in the film, signifies various unique people. Smith as a character, can replicate himself severally but symbolize only one ideal and value of life.

Neo’s continuous refusal to use his skills to select different ideas signifies that many people may not be willing to question social beliefs. The Matrix film is a precise and incisive presentation of media in the modern day world. The characters represent the social differences and inequalities in terms of race, class, and ideologies experienced by main and marginalized groups (The Matrix, 1999).

Man can always resolve cultural and economic challenges. This paper observes the need for harmonization of the two conflicting parties, as in the case of Smith and Neo. Man can use the media as an efficient tool of education in society if well managed. He can also use it as a way of disintegrating society by creating conflicts and crises.

Technology should be used to reconcile and not to set people apart socially and economically. The paper thus succeeds in evaluating the sociological perspectives of social change and technology.

Works Cited

The Matrix . Dir. Joel Silver. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fish, Carry- Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano. Warner Bros, 1999. DVD.

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IvyPanda. (2020, March 16). Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/

"Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." IvyPanda , 16 Mar. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski'. 16 March.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

1. IvyPanda . "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Film Studies: "The Matrix" by Larry and Andy Wachowski." March 16, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/film-studies-the-matrix-by-larry-and-andy-wachowski/.

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The Matrix

Review by Brian Eggert February 2, 2015

The Matrix

In 1999, the Wachowski siblings released a strange mix of bravado special FX, elementary philosophy, martial arts-laden combat, and mind-bending plotlines in an influential science-fiction actioner. The Matrix became a phenomenon ripe with possibility. Overall, it led to a franchise that remains entertaining but underwhelming, if only because this first film in the trilogy sets the bar very high. Existing in a cyberpunk world where the imagination sets the limits of possibility, the film operates in languages ranging from computer code to kung-fu, offering a wide array of genres blended into this otherwise classical tale of good versus evil. And while continuously exalted by its fervent, jealously defending fans, the film seems smarter than it really is and, even while being smarter than the average actioner, has been propelled to impossibly high realms of greatness. Even though the Wachowskis never forget to engage the mind in their discussion about the nature of reality and humanity, which are then compressed into symbolic acts (such as swallowing a pill to demonstrate a belief), the film too often resorts to wistful gunplay and impressive, CGI-enhanced acrobatics, all of which viewers have seen before, though rarely better.

Shot for $44 million in Australia, the Wachowskis wrote The Matrix before their 1996 debut feature, the stylistic crime-thriller Bound . And in the wake of The Matrix’s franchise legacy, it’s interesting to think back to what must have inspired them in 1990s culture. To be sure, even while pointing toward the future, The Matrix also encapsulated much of the ’90s. By the middle of the decade, hopes for virtual reality technology were still very high, computer hackers were becoming more stylish than nerdy (see Hackers ), and dark alternative music filled the radio waves (Marilyn Manson, Ministry, and Rage Against the Machine). As a result, the Wachowskis applied their unique vision to these elements and imagined a world where the human race’s savior is a hacker who hangs out at underground goth clubs. In 1999, nothing could be cooler. But more than just being the right movie at the right time, the Wachowskis also created a carefully assembled and highly stylized product, thanks in large part to the expert lensing by cinematographer Bill Pope, who also shot Bound . Every scene and sequence looks labored over, every shot carefully planned out, and the drab color palette beautifully composed. Because of the filmmakers’ tireless efforts, The Matrix ‘s visual identity is almost mythic in a way its successors failed to achieve.

matrix film review essay

If you’ve been in a bubble and haven’t seen it, the film centers on Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who leads a double-life: an office worker by day, and by night, he’s a talented but restless hacker who goes by the handle “Neo.” Contacted by a group of wanted hackers, headed by Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss), Neo learns that agents obsessed with finding Morpheus’ secret group are hunting him. The agents’ leader, the dastardly Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), seems maniacally devoted to stopping Morpheus and all that he represents. Strangely, when he and Morpheus’ soldiers engage in combat, the action bends the laws of physics. Moreover, they use robotics that look like they come from far into the future (they do). Morpheus believes Neo is “The One” prophesied to save the real world, not Neo’s fabricated fantasy, from machine rule. Here is where the Wachowskis’ screenplay falls into long processions of expository dialogue between Morpheus and Neo, whereby Morpheus explains the way of the world to The One.

Rather than just tell him he’s been living in a computer-generated illusion, Morpheus talks in cryptic riddles and uses virtual reality visuals to illustrate his point. The short version is that machines have bred Neo and most other humans on the planet as a source of energy. Sometime in the 21st century, humans and machines went to war. The machines won and subjugated the human race. Born into embryotic pods, the human slaves never experience the dark truth of their reality; instead, the machines have constructed an intricate simulation called The Matrix. Human beings carry out their lives, never aware that they are essentially feeding their captors. But a rare few inside The Matrix search through computer codes and look for meaning. These hackers are eventually pulled out of The Matrix by others who have already escaped—a resistance based in an underground city called Zion. Morpheus explains that, long ago, someone prophesied the arrival of The One and through him the end of the war. Neo doubts Morpheus’ claims, and his misgivings only seem to be supported by Gloria Foster’s wise Oracle.

But Morpheus’ group, surviving on a magnetic ship in the post-apocalypse, has a traitor. Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) has sold Morpheus’ whereabouts to Agent Smith, so he’ll be allowed back into The Matrix with his knowledge of the real world erased forever (“Ignorance is bliss,” he explains). Once Agent Smith captures Morpheus, Neo and Trinity must lead a daring rescue mission, during which our hero discovers his prophesied abilities as The One: he can manipulate reality within the Matrix, allowing him to dodge bullets and leap great distances at will. Laden in black leather, sunglasses, and machine guns, the finale plays out in almost constant slow-motion, leading to our sense that greatness unfolds before us. But, before long, good trumps evil (at least, Agent Smith, not the more significant robot threat), and the rebels prevail. By the final scene, when Neo calls out to others in the Matrix who may be listening and then flies into the air like some comic book superhero, the Wachowskis’ visuals have created something iconic. The viewer cannot help but be swept away.

matrix film review essay

Of course, one could explain away my quibble with the film’s thematic underpinnings about Predestination vs. Determinism. Did Neo knock over the vase in the Oracle’s kitchen because she told him he would, or because it was his destiny to do so? Did Trinity fall in love with Neo because the Oracle prophesied she would, or because she genuinely fell in love with him? The Wachowskis embed a considerable amount of hypothesizing and philosophical waxing, all rooted in broad theory appropriate for an undergraduate Philosophy 101 course. Detractors have remarked about the fundamental nature of the literary, mystic, religious, and philosophical references throughout the film—that it’s trying to be smart but could have been a lot smarter—but remember, this is an action movie, first and foremost. A hint of philosophical insight automatically places it a step up from others like it. What the Wachowskis did with The Matrix is collectively raise expectations for actionized fare; such films no longer needed to be dim shoot-em-ups but could put some brainy concepts behind the action that would test John Q Moviegoer. Its considerable measure of hints and philosophical Easter eggs leave behind just enough for viewers to mull over. While its concepts may not be mind-blowingly original, they’re getting the average commercial action fan to think a bit more, which can only be a good thing. (Then again, a subculture of fans now believe they’re living in a computer simulation thanks to The Matrix .)

matrix film review essay

Benefited by a sense of discovery that its subsequent two entries lack, The Matrix challenges viewers to consider their world as a construct of virtual reality that can be broken down and controlled through the power of thought. At the time, audiences responded with wild enthusiasm, creating a sort of cult-of- The Matrix that boasted over the film’s originality, despite many similar themes and twists being present in Alex Proyas’ Dark City the year before, and many other films like it. But the initial film’s legacy carries beyond its subsequent entries and, as a stand-alone, remains a thrilling and visionary piece of innovation. Perhaps overestimated, but compelling and visionary, few pure action movies have dared to be so much and succeeded so thoroughly in making general audiences think about the world around them and how they perceive it. By remaining so accessible yet thoughtful, The Matrix transcends its narrative downfalls through its influence and insight—characteristics that continue to define the Wachowskis’ unique brand of ambitious entertainment.

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FILM REVIEW

FILM REVIEW; The Reality Is All Virtual, And Densely Complicated

By Janet Maslin

  • March 31, 1999

Action heroes speak volumes about the couch-potato audiences that they thrill. So it's understandable that ''The Matrix,'' a furious special-effects tornado directed by the imaginative brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski (''Bound''), couldn't care less about the spies, cowboys and Rambos of times gone by. Aiming their film squarely at a generation bred on comics and computers, the Wachowskis stylishly envision the ultimate in cyberescapism, creating a movie that captures the duality of life a la laptop. Though the wildest exploits befall this film's sleek hero, most of its reality is so virtual that characters spend long spells of time lying stock still with their eyes closed.

In a film that's as likely to transfix fans of computer gamesmanship as to baffle anyone with quaintly humanistic notions of life on earth, the Wachowskis have synthesized a savvy visual vocabulary (thanks especially to Bill Pope's inspired techno-cinematography), a wild hodgepodge of classical references (from the biblical to Lewis Carroll) and a situation that calls for a lot of explaining.

The most salient things any prospective viewer need know is that Keanu Reeves makes a strikingly chic Prada model of an action hero, that the martial arts dynamics are phenomenal (thanks to Peter Pan-type wires for flying and inventive slow-motion tricks), and that anyone bored with the notably pretentious plotting can keep busy toting up this film's debts to other futuristic science fiction. Neat tricks here echo ''Terminator'' and ''Alien'' films, ''The X-Files,'' ''Men in Black'' and ''Strange Days,'' with a strong whiff of ''2001: A Space Odyssey'' in the battle royale being waged between man and computer. Nonetheless whatever recycling the brothers do here is canny enough to give ''The Matrix'' a strong identity of its own.

Mr. Reeves plays a late-20th-century computer hacker whose terminal begins telling him one fateful day that he may have some sort of messianic function in deciding the fate of the world. And what that function may be is so complicated that it takes the film the better part of an hour to explain. Dubbed Neo (in a film whose similarly portentous character names include Morpheus and Trinity, with a time-traveling vehicle called Nebuchadnezzar), the hacker is gradually made to understand that everything he imagines to be real is actually the handiwork of 21st-century computers. These computers have subverted human beings into batterylike energy sources confined to pods, and they can be stopped only by a savior modestly known as the One.

We know even before Neo does that his role in saving the human race will be a biggie. (But on the evidence of Mr. Reeves's beautiful, equally androgynous co-star, Carrie-Anne Moss in Helmut Newton cat-woman mode, propagating in the future looks to be all business.) The film happily leads him through varying states of awareness, much of it explained by Laurence Fishburne in the film's philosophical-mentor role. Mr. Fishburne's Morpheus does what he can to explain how the villain of a film can be ''a neural interactive simulation'' and that the Matrix is everywhere, enforced by sinister morphing figures in suits and sunglasses. ''The Matrix'' is the kind of film in which sunglasses are an integral part of sleekly staged fight scenes.

With enough visual bravado to sustain a steady element of surprise (even when the film's most important Oracle turns out to be a grandmotherly type who bakes cookies and has magnets on her refrigerator), ''The Matrix'' makes particular virtues out of eerily inhuman lighting effects, lightning-fast virtual scene changes (as when Neo wishes for guns and thousands of them suddenly appear) and the martial arts stunts that are its single strongest selling point. As supervised by Yuen Wo Ping, these airborne sequences bring Hong Kong action style home to audiences in a mainstream American adventure with big prospects as a cult classic and with the future very much in mind.

''The Matrix'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It includes strange, unreal forms of violence and occasional gore.

Written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers; director of photography, Bill Pope; edited by Zach Staenberg; music by Don Davis; production designer, Owen Paterson; produced by Joel Silver; released by Warner Brothers. Running time: 115 minutes. This film is rated R.

WITH: Keanu Reeves (Neo), Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus), Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity), Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) and Joe Pantoliano (Cypher).

EMPIRE ESSAY: The Matrix Review

11 Jun 1999

130 minutes

EMPIRE ESSAY: The Matrix

Ninety-nine was to be a huge year for science fiction. A movie event was on the way that was about to blow the metaphorical socks off of just about everyone and define a new generation of movie geeks. There was just one little surprise. That movie turned out not to be George Lucas' return to the Star Wars mythos, The Phantom Menace, but a strange cyber thriller called The Matrix.

The Matrix as an immediate proposition isn't easy to grasp (indeed, intuitively, the marketeers made a boon of its ambiguity with a teasing "What is The Matrix?" campaign). Reality is virtual reality, a monstrous programme called The Matrix generated by an evil empire of man-built artificial intelligences who rule the dystopian horror of the real world. Mankind's entire existence is being hardwired directly into human brains, while the machines imprison them in womblike pods, tapping their neural cortex for battery power.

There is, though, a band of rebels who have broken free and are intent on liberating humanity from their unsuspected bondage by downloading themselves into the manufactured dreamworld. What they need is a messiah. Enter Thomas "Neo" Anderson (Keanu Reeves) — the archetypal reluctant hero who may, if he can be convinced, have just the cyberchops to undo The Matrix. Former construction workers, the brothers Wachowski harboured their vision for five and a half years, working their way through 14 drafts of the screenplay and, as comic freaks, projected their vision onto 500 elaborate storyboards.

After the witty slice of lesbian noir (now: there's a genre) Bound, they looked to be hotshot tyros for the future. However, no one could have foreseen the hyperspace jump that was to be their cinematic vision for The Matrix. With the concept sly enough to allow almost anything — this reality is virtual — superpowers are permissible (leaping from tall buildings, dodging bullets, hyper-kinetic kung fu). To represent this, they tapped an emergent visual technology known as flo-mo, a process which allows a seemingly impossible time-jamming graphic where Keanu freezes mid kick while the camera rotates dizzyingly around him. Dazzlingly versatile, it presented an entirely new type of visual lexicon. The Matrix looked like nothing you'd ever seen before at the movies.

Reeves' Neo is a reactionary part, but it plays on his sculpted beauty, and dressed up in patent leather and designer shades he evokes an effortless cool. The burden of explanation falls to Lawrence Fisburne's Morpheus, the man is a well of gravitas and no matter how ludicrous his expounding it still rings with an ironclad conviction. The bad guy fraternity (all MiB in suits and the obligatory shades) are defensive programmes led by the unearthly clipped tones of Hugo Weaving — also able to toy with the fabric of The Matrix.

And entirely on the surface — a grim noir sheen somewhere between a Depeche Mode video and Blade Runner's retrofitted near future — the movie operates satisfactorily as a good against insurmountable odds of bad axis. But if you think The Matrix is just brainless action, think again. Beyond the gawping pleasures of its flo-mo prowess and the more obviously reverential stylistic nods (Alien, Blade Runner, Film Noir, German Expressionism, Star Wars, 2001) the Wachowski's script is a labyrinth of classical references melting into William Gibson's cyberpunk milieu.

Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland is broadly expressed (the whole film an ironic reversal of Alice's adventures: Neo passes from safe, reassuring virtual reality into a bizarre, unpredictable real world). Elsewhere you can tot up the clever-cleverness of Marx, Kafka, Zen, and Homer's Odyssey. Quite deliberately, French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's sizzling page-turner Simulacra And Simulation can be seen lying open at the "On Nihilism" chapter in Neo's apartment. The becapped Wachowski brothers are clearly into Baudrillard's influential theories of postmodern theology, terrorism and hyper reality.

Just a Keanu-in-shades-kicks-arse movie? Don't think so. And then things get really fun — try The Matrix as Christ allegory.

It works. It was first released in Easter 1999. Reeves' character's full name is Thomas "Neo" Anderson — Thomas as in Doubting Thomas; Anderson means "son of man"; Neo means "new" or "change" and is an anagram of "One". Then there is the rebel team as disciples (with Joe Pantoliano's duplicitous Cypher as Judas) and the fact that Neo "dies" for 72 seconds on screen (translate that into 72 hours and it's three days) before being born again by the power of Trinity (Anne Moss)'s love. Hogwash, perhaps, but it grants The Matrix a measure of analysis that is hard to deny.

In the end, though, the Wachowski's triumph is a much more immediate, much more visceral one. They've amalgamated comic book morality, the Hong Kong action tradition (orchestrated by guru Yuen Wo Ping), a prime chunk of Hollywood star, cyberpunk paranoia and a visual effects revolution to creatre a new brand of movie.

Buy now on Amazon.

by The Wachowskis

The matrix analysis.

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Red pill or blue pill? This is the basis of everything The Matrix as a story is about: whether one is willing to wake up to the truth of one's own reality or remain a sleepwalking drone in the world. What makes this premise so interesting and engaging is that it is a very real philosophical choice we all must make in our own lives. Do we live in delusion or reality? Reality seems the obvious choice, but this path comes with many obstacles in the form of hard choices, difficult sacrifices and the need to become the truest version of ourselves so that those we love benefit from our ability to live in fullness.

That describes the journey of Neo and each character in the film. Neo goes from a scared coder working a corporate job to The One. He must sacrifice what he thinks he knows for a higher level of understanding, and even with this acceptance Neo doesn't instantly become The One. He must overcome many battles both in his external environment as well as internally. Even so, it is only with Trinity 's love that Neo can become The One. The Wachowskis deepen this action-packed journey with characters that feel deeply for one another and believe in a better world so much that they are willing to give their lives for it.

On the other end we watch as Cypher, a crew member of Morpheus , gives in to the machines and betrays his crew all for the ability to live in ignorant bliss rather than have to continually deal with the pain of real life. He even tells the Agent to make sure he doesn't remember any of his betrayal which claims the lives of many of his friends. This storyline reveals how our choice to remain sedated effects not just our lives but the lives of all those who trust in us. In the end, it is sacrifice that causes the crew to defeat the Agents and begin to win the war against the machines. Each person in the crew makes sacrifices for the greater good to be done, and though many lives are lost there is hope for humanity to be set free once more.

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The Matrix Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Matrix is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What is outside the Matrix?

The "new " reality which is actual reality is a dystopian world rule by Artificial Intelligence. Humans are enslaved in cocoons for their raw energy. Waking up puts you in a strange post-apocalyptic world of metal and robots.

Elements of the film

What kind of elements are you referring to? Narrative, CGI, cinematography?

Computers or AI (artificial intelligence) control reality hence they control the world.

Study Guide for The Matrix

The Matrix study guide contains a biography of The Wachowskis, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

  • About The Matrix
  • The Matrix Summary
  • Character List
  • Director's Influence

Essays for The Matrix

The Matrix essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Matrix by The Wachowskis.

  • Jean Baudrillard’s Concepts of Simulacrum and Hyper-Reality Across Media: Strange Days, The Matrix, and White Noise
  • Philosophy in Film - The Matrix

matrix film review essay

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Matrix - Film Review

Essay by review   •  October 2, 2010  •  Essay  •  886 Words (4 Pages)  •  1,687 Views

Essay Preview: Matrix - Film Review

Action / Sci-Fi (US); 1999; Rated R; 135 Minutes

Keanu Reeves: Thomas "Neo" Anderson

Laurence Fishburne: Morpheus

Carrie-Anne Moss: Trinity

Joe Pantoliano: Cypher

Hugo Weaving: Agent Smith

Produced by Bruce Berman, Dan Cracchiolo, Andrew Mason, Barrie M. Osborne, Joel Silver, Erwin Stoff, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski

Directed and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski

Keanu Reeves as a martial-arts master and savior of the earth? Laurence Fishburne as his mentor? The world as we know it does not even exist? Surely, you can't be serious.

Welcome to the fascinating and confusing world of "The Matrix."

In this sci-fi thriller, Reeves stars as Neo, a computer programmer by day and cyber-hacker by night.

Out of nowhere, he is contacted by a group of super hackers who tell him that his life is in danger and his only hope is to trust them. The group's leader, a quiet but confident man known as Morpheus (Fishburne) tells Neo that he is the one chosen to save the world and that the "Matrix is the wool that has pulled over your eyes - that you are a slave."

Neo is the world's only hope. In a nutshell, Morpheus explains that computers developed on their own and won a brutal war against man. So the computers made a program to put all of the slaves back in the past, which is our present day. He tells Neo that he can chose either to live now or to see what the world is truly like. Neo chooses the latter, and the trip down the rabbit hole begins as does the fight for the salvation of humanity.

But the battle must be fought out in "The Matrix", not the real world, where computer sentinels are seemingly invincible and where the laws of physics can not only be bent, they can be tossed right out the window.

With that kind of freedom, characters can run up the sides of walls, leap incredible distances, dodge bullets, and with the help of Hong Kong stunt specialist Yuen Wo Ping, pull off some of the most impressive kung fu fight sequences ever filmed.

Slow-motion film sequences, some shot at the rate of 12,000 frames per second, allow the filmmakers to manipulate the on-screen action much like in the Gap commercials where the dancers are frozen and the camera angle shifts around them.

Andrew Mason lends the film the same look he gave Dark City, only this time the good guys wear black and everyone else is either a sentinel or prime fodder for target practice.

Another reason this movie is so great is that the stars actually did their own stunts and learned martial arts. There are close-ups during the fight scenes of the actor's face, not some stunt double. Each showdown between good and evil, in the form of robots that look like human agents, becomes more thrilling with both the action and the special effects.

The acting in this movie is exceptional. Keanu Reeves was perfectly past for his part as Neo. The part did

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