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Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
USA, 1999
Rated R (sci-fi violence)
FANCIFUL BANALITY
It is quite evident from The Matrix that the two directors and screenwriters
of the film, the Wachowski Brothers, enjoy moviemaking. Their debut,
Bound, which I haven’t seen, was an erotic caper, and The Matrix, their
sophomore effort, feels like it was made by wide-eyed college students who
enjoy pushing the envelope in f/x. It is similar to Dark City and a bit like
Blade Runner. The movie is a visual effects extravaganza with an intricate
but familiar plot and a formulaic ending. The whole thing works quite well
for majority of its running time because of the sheer fun of the effects
wizardry. Sadly, it begins on an unpleasant, bleak note that leads the
audience to think it has something to say, and then at the end, it becomes
disappointingly contrived and the only things the viewer is left to
remember from the film are stunning images and confusingly paced
storytelling.
To divulge too much of the plot would be silly and unnecessary- the story is too complicated to put into words. Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), a computer programmer with an alias "Neo," is the film’s main character. He leads a double-life as a quiet, mannered employee by day, and a hacker who sells illegal software by night. Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a leather-clad woman from cyberspace, contacts him and offers an answer to his silent questions about the meaning of "the matrix." Anderson meets with Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), the leader of the mysterious group to which Trinity belongs, who gives him a choice between taking a blue pill, which would cause him to wake up as if the experience were a dream, and taking a red pill, which would allow Morpheus to show him the truth of life and the world. Anderson takes the red pill and is shown the dark reality: a struggling, gloomy place that exists behind the illusion most people know as the real world. The matrix is what keeps the people who live in the illusion slaves.
The Matrix poses some interesting questions. Would you want to live in truth or in illusion if reality was a painful, ugly place? If you knew what the ‘real world’ looked like, would you take the red pill or the blue pill? The Wachowski Brothers seem to have wanted to create a poetic, metaphorical work. The Matrix did not quite turn out that way. Its visual brilliance is a greater part of why it works than its tackling of issues of reality.
The Matrix’s first 110 minutes go by at a nice pace, one that is interrupted by a 20 minute climactic sequence that is all excitement, adrenaline, and beautifully choreographed kinetic energy. The majority of the film’s pacing does not match up with the film’s finale, which creates a certain unease at the end. The Matrix’s finale is excessively gun-happy- most of the gun fights and martial arts fights in midair serve no purpose but to look visually dazzling. A lobby shoot-out scene brutally annihilates illusion-folk with strange, fantastical ways that are hardly appropriate, but then again, few action films are tasteful. The 20-minute climactic sequence is filled with simply breathtaking images of Neo and Trinity bouncing off walls and flying in midair with their evil opponents. I’ve never seen movie violence try so hard to look poetic. There is one visual effects scene that is particularly amazing in which a helicopter slams into a building and causes ripples in the glass that culminate with a perfect shattering. Some of the film’s most awesome moments come when bullets are filmed falling from overhead in slo-mo. The Wachowski Brothers pay meticulous attention to angles, space, and time. The movie shifts from the clean, Gattaca-esque texture of our world of illusion to the machine-driven, cheesy production design of reality.
If you’re going to see this movie, you have to see it in widescreen. There is no other way to receive the visual impact of the film. The film’s framing can be given credit for how it is able to pull off such difficult imagery. With pan-and-scan versions, you no longer have the immaculate framing that makes The Matrix’s imagery successful. The film’s fight sequences often indulge in operatic, ballet-like movements that can only be experienced the widescreen way.
In a Making-of documentary of the movie included on the DVD release, it is made clear that The Matrix’s makers intended it to be groundbreaking, which ends up being too ironic when the film ends itself with a ‘love-conquers-all’ message that is manifest in a scene right out of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The ending is optimistic, which I like, but it is optimistic with trite screenwriting decisions that I don’t quite appreciate. The Matrix looks like it will be a challenging sci-fi thriller from its first few scenes, then it hands the audience a sci-fi cliché that is more annoying than enlightening.
So, did I like the movie? Yes, I liked its enthusiasm to experiment with effects and the look of a film. But it’s a bad sign when the visual effects designers can be given more credit for the audience’s enjoyment of a movie than the film’s directors, screenwriters, or actors.
By Andrew Chan
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