(WHOA!)
CAST: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Hugo Weaving, Gloria Foster, Belinda McClory, Matt Doran, Marcus Chong, Julian Arahanga.
DIRECTOR: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and major mind-fucks straight ahead…
In the wonderful film WAKING LIFE, which I just recently reviewed (review # 147), one of the animated mouthpieces stated, “Most of us are sleep-walking through a waking state, or wake-walking through a dream state.” That notion of questioning one’s reality and dreams was explored to kinetic and explosive effect in the 1999 film that, for better of worse, launched a million black trench coats and sunglasses: THE MATRIX.
You’d have to have an address situated directly under a rock to not have heard of this film, or at least seen its repercussion in the realms of fashion and pop culture. Anyone who’s seen the awesome GRANDMA’S BOY (2007) knows that I’m talking about. The bad guy in that movie was a Matrix-obsessed dipshit that deserved to be cold-cocked several times. Unfortunately, he has many real-life counterparts - dudes and dudettes who are just absolutely convinced that they are either Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, or Carrie-Anne Moss. And trust me: they are so not.
Anyhow, our hero is Thomas “Neo” Anderson (Keanu Reeves). By day he’s a faceless software designer who has to put up with supercilious superiors lecturing him on his lateness. By night, he is either staying up late surfing the web searching for who-the-hell-knows-what - or staying up late partying with other weirdos and selling them some sort of drug/technology that, I guess, gives them an electronic high. Pass that shit around. Either way, he stays up later than he should on school nights. Which kind of gives his supervisors a reason to be pissed off with him, truth be told.
Anyhow, during one of his night club sojourns, Neo runs into Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). She is tall. She is ravishing. She is weirder than he is. Uttering such things as “It’s the answer you seek” and “it’s the question that drives you” and “You’ve felt it all your life,” Trinity has either been using Neo’s electronic drug one too many times - or she’s just insane. Fortunately, some of what she says resonates with Neo - he asks her what “The Matrix” is. To which, she responds: “It’s the movie that will rescue your career, pretty-boy.”
Kidding. Trinity just bails, leaving Neo with a case of the blue balls and a really bad headache. Which can sometimes be the same thing.
The next day at work, Neo is (shocker) late again. His boss gives him a final warning about his tardiness, but he’s too busy to pay this any mind. Later on in the day, he gets a special delivery that turns out to be a cell phone. Now, given that this was the late 90’s when cell phones were about as common as natural blondes, this is a pretty rad present. Unfortunately, it serves a sinister purpose - as Neo finds out when it rings and a deep voice sounding an awful lot like Laurence Fishburne booms through. Laurence’s voice orders Neo to get the fuck out of the dodge - pronto. Too tired to argue, Neo complies. Bet he’d have put up more of a fight if he’d gotten some sleep.
At any rate, Neo eventually hooks up with Trinity again. She sets it up so that he can meet with her boss, Morpheus. When Neo shows up at the appointed place, he discovers that Morpheus is actually played by Laurence Fishburne. Morpheus proceeds to regal Neo with some pseudo-technical-mystical mumbo jumbo about how the world as we see it isn’t real, but rather a simulation perpetrated by the baddies who all look like Hugo Weaving, apparently. And this simulated world is actually “The Matrix.”
Morpheus gives Neo a choice between taking two pills. One will return him to his previous existence, with all the memories of his recent encounters with bizarros like Morpheus and Trinity completely wiped away. Or he can take the other pill - and be awakened.
Well, let’s just say that Neo turns into a weirdo himself. Which is just fine - because he’s played by smokin’ hot Keanu Reeves.
Will Neo join Morpheus, Trinity, and the other trench coat-wearing bizarros in their battle against the Matrix? Will they succeed? Or will all the baddies who look like Hugo Weaving infiltrate their ranks and destroy them? Will someone within their own group betray them? Can there be an end to the colossal deception of the Matrix? Is it just me or do Keanu Reeves and Carrie Anne Moss look like twins separated at birth?
To those of you who have seen THE MATRIX, you know all these answers and more. The six of you out there who haven’t are in for some mind-boggling surprises. Hope you’re comfortable under those rocks…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: As Morpheus himself says, “You cannot be told about The Matrix. You have to see it for yourself.” I can’t think of a better way to end this review than with those words.
If you’ve seen this film, then you (hopefully) know how great it is. If you haven’t, I suggest you see it as soon as possible. You are so missing out. The cast is perfectly-suited to their roles, the visuals are mind-blowing, and the plot is clever, graceful, and kinetic. It’s just as much a game-changer for the Action-SciFi genre as DIE HARD was for the Action Thriller genre.
THE MATRIX is a modern classic. Rediscover it now - or see it for the first time…. That is all I can say. The rest you must see for yourself.
