Rather exactly like Star Wars, then...
Look, it was a cool movie in a cool world with a cool storyline with cool gnarly bits attacched that kept nearly everyone enthralled, especially MY generation at which it was targeted. Derivative? Who the bloody hell cares? So is nearly EVERYTHING! The sort of person who would view it like that has amazingly missed the point. It's what you do with it that counts, and NO-ONE had put things togeether that well before.
In terms of imagination to screen, it was the best translation since A New Hope.
Well SW is of course a basic fairy tale, I'll give you that. Although it does have more depth than The Matrix does.
The big flaw of The Matrix actually lies in the storytelling. Although everything looks great and that it might seem to indulge in excessive violence, why oh why are two such talented flimmakers not able to TELL a story with images. WHY is there such a boring, dull, tedious middle part where EVERYTHING is explained by TALK TALK TALK. That is a major cinematographical flaw, one that would cause the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, to turn in his grave. Compared to films like Dark City, or even They Live with similar thematics, these brothers have demonstrated that they can make excellent pictures, scenes and effects, but that visual storytelling is not their strongest point. SW is a lot better when it comes to that.
IMHO OC.