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The Matrix/***** (Rated R)
For a seen-it-all film school graduate, the greatest pleasure in going to the movies is witnessing a filmmaker, or in this case a teamsof filmmakers, succeed in bringing a new idea to the screen. Even rarer, is to see a film that dares to be different. "The Matrix" is such a film. In 1995, when the Internet was new and the domain of only the computer geeks, we were given "The Net". Here the digital world was a scary place where the real world can be manipulated. A person's whole identity: credit cards, driver's license, birth certificate, could be made to disappear. It was a place where the lives of the average person could be manipulated and even controlled. In the world of the "The Matrix", this idea is turned on its head. The digital world is not the scary underground -in fact; it's the real world. It's the outside that is not real. The backstory goes something like this. Sometime in the early 21st Century, Mankind created machines that generate virtual reality. The machines then turned on us, enslaved us, and now control our lives. We learn that the world that we live in is actually a vast computer program that is merely an illusion. In reality, humans are sleeping in pods, while computers feed off our life energy. To keep us in this electrical slavery, the world that we live in is merely a virtual playground. All of this is going well, until a few people "break out" and discover the truth of this digital world called "the matrix". One of these people is"Neo" (Keanu Reeves). He is the typical computer programmer by day/hacker by night. That is until a package arrives on his desk. Inside is a phone and when he picks it up, his whole life changes. First he is taken captive by a team of "Men in Black" types. After implanting a bug, literally (see the note below for an explanation) into his body, he falls into the hands of "Trinity" (Carrie-Anne Moss) a killing machine poured into a Mrs. Peel type catsuit. She takes him to meet the leader of those who escaped; "Morpheus"(played by the perfectly cast Lawrence Fishburne). What is so remarkable is that The Wachowski Brothers (Larry and Andy, the team that last gave us "Bound"), who are credited as the writers and directors, have managed to create a unique world full of visual eye candy. From the breakthrough special effect work, to the use of dark clothes and sets, we see a world of the future not seen since Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. Most entertaining of all is that this creative vision is matched with a truly inspired screenplay that does not give in to temptation. Without ruining the ending, it keeps its unique vision right to the very last syllable. Go see this movie. It is rare that this type of film is brought to the screen. In a world of film editing by committee and focus group, who knows when we will see it again? (Note: In the"old" days of computers, a bug in the system actually meant a biological bug had flown somewhere inside the computer. Hence the visual joke. )
website:
www.whatisthematrix.com
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