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Posted by: Whiggles at May 23, 2002, 3:45 pm

Topic: Reviews: The Matrix Forum: JoBlo

I swear, if I hear one more rave review about this film, I'll scream. This one almost lives up to The Lord of the Rings in terms of hype; however, whereas The Lord of the Rings is actually a very good film (just too long), The Matrix suffers heavily from being badly plotted, badly written, (in most cases) badly acted, and so heavy-handed you want to hit someone. So what's not like here? On first viewing, The Matrix will probably woo you with its interesting cinematography, set design, and of course the infamous Bullet-time (which gets spoofed in every single movie made after this, and becomes more annoying each time). However, the more you watch it, the more you notice its flaws, especially the bad story construction and the hideous acting. Let's face it, Keanu Reeves is one of the worst "actors" in Hollywood. Let's put quotes round "actor", because in my opinion you have to bring something to your character in order to pose as an actor. Well, Mr. Reeves, if you consider looking stupefied and breathing "whoa" at everything you see to be acting, then you should pack your bags and go back to selling Big Macs. Whereas Reeves has absolutely no acting ability, the other main players, notably Laurence Fishburne and especially Hugo Weaving, overblow their characters so much that it makes me laugh. And I don't mean laughter as in enjoyment, I mean laughter as in extremely sarcastic amusement. The only member of the cast who seems to have any understanding of showing any sort of emotion or thought in characterization is Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Trinity and also looks quite pleasing in black leather. Ironically, from what she says during the audio commentary, she comes across as very cynical and appears to think that the amount of hype given to this movie was ridiculous. I'll drink to the that. None of the other characters are really developed to any extent: they just sort of take a back seat and react to the main characters. The majority of them are either stereotypes or completely lacking in any sort of personality. The first third or so of the film is actually pretty good. Nothing makes much sense, and I think that works. The atmosphere, especially during the nighttime scenes, is also really impressive. You're actually interested to find out what's going on. Unfortunately, once they start to explain it all to you, you'll end up wishing they'd kept their mouths shut. The entire premise spews out of Laurence Fishburne's mouth in five minutes of lame exposition, and after that you start asking yourself, "so what"? I mean, I really want to know why those idiots left the "Matrix" and entered the "real world". The real world sucks by the looks of it, and given the choice between that shit-hole and blissful ignorance, I don't think the choice is difficult to make. I mean, so you're actually attached to a generator and being sucked dry of energy... but if you don't actually know it, then why is it a problem? Fearless prediction: in ten years, we'll look at The Matrix and laugh. This thing is going to date so quickly that it won't be long before it looks like the Beatles looks to us today. Overall: 5/10 (PS. This analysis taken from my DVD review of The Matrix at http://www.whiggles.0catch.com/whiggles_dvd_matrix.html. That's not a plug or spam -- it's just there if you're interested.) [This message has been edited by Whiggles (edited 05-23-2002).]

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