By Matthew Bitz
Ill be honest, if you like action flicks and havent seen the Matrix yet, as soon as youve finished reading this paper, go straight to the nearest video store, rent it, and watch it several times.
As far as action films go, its fairly well written with interesting plot lines. The Matrix is probably the best action film to come along since The Long Kiss Goodnight. I enjoyed it when it first came out in theaters and enjoyed it when I watched it again this weekend on video.
The film takes off at breakneck speed with a riveting chase sequence that features stunning special effects as Trinity (Moss) is pursued by the evil Agent Smith (Weaving) across rooftops and skylights. It really doesnt even slow down after that as the hacker Neo (Reeves) contacts Morpheus, who is played by Fishburne, and finds out, to quote the film, just how deep the rabbit hole goes.
One attribute to the Matrix I enjoyed was that, while it is definitely a sci-fi, it crosses over seemlessly into action, a transition many movies of the same type fail to make. So many films that try to cross genres seem to crash and burn nowadays as directors become convinced that special effects are everything, a mistake that the Wachkowski brothers have avoided.
As usual, the acting was the films only weak point and even to say that much is a stretch. While Moss and Weaving give credible performances, Keanu Reeves did somewhat annoy me when he spent the first 40 minutes looking lost, but had I been in his shoes I would have felt the same way. Besides, all this is easily forgiven as soon as the action really takes off and good once again takes on evil.
While this film is fun and refreshing to watch and certainly leaves you wondering about those days when something seems mysteriously out of place, it is most definitely not for younger children as it contains extended gunfights and very realistic hand-to-hand combat sequences.
By the way, for those of you who have seen the Matrix, and are wondering if there will be another, I can tell you that two more are in the works, and in a extremely unorthodox marketing ploy, the two films will be released within months of each other.
All in all, I found this one to be well worth the $2.50 rental fee and a two hours well spent.
