The Matrix Review
by "Stephen Graham Jones" (stephen AT cinemuck DOT com)December 3rd, 1999
The Matrix: virtual messiah
The most successful use of the messiah-figure in movie-land so far has to be Star Wars, where young Luke 'redeems' that far away galaxy. And of course the narrative arc associated with the messianic character is the monomythic cycle, per Joseph Campbell, whom Lucas supposedly read heavily. Meaning Star Wars was no accident (i.e., was already ingrained into our cultural unconscious). Neither is the Wachowski brothers' (Andy & Larry, best know for Bound) The Matrix, which, instead of picking and choosing from the monomyth per Lucas, instead just uses it all, from the 'parentless' birth to the prophesied appearance to the ability to transcend reality. The messiah here even dies and gets reborn, which means, yes, this has all been done before. Thing is, though, it's never been visually-realized so well, from the opening frame on.
It all starts with a nifty little showcase of the Gap-commercial camerawork we know from the trailer, which provides perhaps the best opening-action sequence around, counting Bond. The woman in black is Trinity (sci-fi newbie Carrie-Anne Moss), and, while the special effects do get all the attention, they also serve a second purpose: to make us wonder just how she can pull them off. Meaning there's already a question to be answered, a mystery to be solved, which in narrative terms translates as a compelling reason to move forward. By the end of that opening sequence, we're hooked. And it only gets better (or, the mystery, as all good mysteries must, only deepens).
Cut now to Neo (Keanu Reeves, already at home in the sci-fi future, via Johnny Mnemonic, even Bill & Ted), our messiah, a cubicle-sitter by day, minor league computer hacker by night. It's his night job where he really lives, where he hears whisperings of the 'Matrix,' and some shadowy terrorist figure called Morpheus (sci-fi veteran Laurence Fishburne). But whisperings aren't enough: like Kirstun Dunst in Interview with the Vampire, he wants some more. Soon enough he gets it, gets pulled into answering the mind-bending question Donald Sutherland asked a long time ago in Body Snatchers: What if this world is just nested in another world, which is nested in another world, and on and on? He's introduced to the question--introduced to the 'Matrix'--by none other than Morpheus, who dresses it all up like a Through the Looking Glass experience. You almost expect Grace Slick to punctuate the background for us some, but the Wachowski bros. are able to reel it all in nicely, put the white rabbit on someone's arm instead of onto the soundtrack. It all makes sense if you pay just a little attention.
Once you're in on the secret then, (real, or Memorex?) everything shifts into overdrive. Lots of spaghetti-western hero shots, with Neo's overcoat whipping dramatically (see Cage in Face-Off for more shots like this). Lots of gunplay and techtalk. Lots of stepping into and out of realities, per Millennium (1989) or 12 Monkeys. Even a little romance. The Matrix simply has it all, and then some; you'll want to see it twice, at least. And yes, it does get a little gun-heavy for a while, but this is an action film, after all. Slow-motion leadslinging is part of the package. And the spent cartridges never quite rise above story-level, anyway, but not so much because there's not a lot of cartridges to spend, but simply because there's so much story there in the first place. That is what drew us to Star Wars, after all, yes? The Matrix, though not a space opera, is just as good, and has the added bonus of updated effects technology. The only place Star Wars might have a clear advantage, really, is that Lucas didn't tack an unnecessary coda on, where the Wachowski bros did. Minus those four or five seconds at the end, however, The Matrix is the best sci-fi to come along since Bladerunner. Just a lot louder.
(c) 1999 Stephen Graham Jones, http://www.cinemuck.com
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
