Accept Keanu Reeves as your savior.
Many moviegoers will have a rough time doing that, since they seem to have a rough time merely accepting Reeves as an actor. ItPill be a shame if that prejudice causes them to miss The Matrix. TheyPill be missing one hell of a ride.
Reeves plays Neo, an infamous computer hacker by night who leads a dull life as a computer programmer for a faceless computer company during the day. Something about NeoPis mundane existence bothers him, and when he crosses paths with a mysterious figure named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne)acall him the Obi-Wan Kenobi of cyberspaceahis reality gets thrown for a loop.
The film starts to slow down when the nature of the Matrix is explained to Neo, but itPis necessary for such a grand concept. While humans believe the year is 1999 and everything is business as usual, theyPire actually wired into gigantic pods centuries in the future so that an army of intelligent machines can use their natural supplies of electricity and body heat as a power source.
It turns out the Matrix is only a facade, a virtual world created to keep humans unaware of a future that makes Blade Runner look like Disney World. Morpheus and his band of freed humans, which includes Carrie-Anne Moss (of TVPis Due South) and Joe Pantoliano (The Fugitive), have been searching for one human who can beat the machines at their own game, and he believes hePis found that man in Neo.
For the first 30 minutes, The Matrix feels a lot like Terminator 2 with a few cosmetic alterations, but that changes once the film introduces its mythology. References to Christianity are manyaprophets, a messiah, even a Judasaand too many are simply unexplained or just downright hokey. Internet buzz has it that the plot was fleshed out much further in the filmPis 150-minute plus first cut, but it killed the pacing and took too much away from the action sequences and special effects.
And thatPis exactly where the focus should be. Directing brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski (Bound) use computer effects, camera tricks and a literal symphony of falling shell casings to create a breathtaking combination of gunplay and martial arts mayhem. The result plays out like John WooPis Hong Kong work fast-forwarded two hundred years. One sequence set in the lobby of an office building has to be seen to be believed and is almost worth the price of admission by itself.
The humansPi main adversaries, the blandly named Agents, prove to be formidable foes. Hugo Weaving goes a bit overboard portraying chief heavy Agent Smith, sporting a look that Tommy Lee JonesPi did first in Men In Black. Somebody call his lawyers.
Just for good measure, therePis the obligatory love subplot shoehorned in there too.
Reeves isnPit asked to do too much. Neo is confused and in disbelief for 90 percent of the film, which feels right since thatPis the way most people feel about Reeves in his other work. HePis unquestionably believable as a fish out of water, and adds some comic relief which actually draws laughs. It doesnPit hurt that FishburnePis Morpheus defines the word cool, or that Moss heats up the screen in her black leather outfits.
Not that anyone is likely to have enough time to critique the thespians once the fights, chases and visual effects really get rolling. With enough eye candy to rot your brainPis sweet tooth and just enough plot to get by, The Matrix is a winner.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.