I once read a quote on the back of a copy of The Lord of the Rings that went something along the lines of ‘There are two types of people, those who have read The Lord of the Rings, and those who will’. The 1999 action film The Matrix can be said much the same of, there are two types of people in the world, those who have seen The Matrix, and those who are going to. It’s perhaps one of the few films I can truly say that for as the concept seems a pretty easy sell for most people, not because it’s easy to understand, but what it represents especially today in an age where we are increasingly governed by technology. As well as that, the film has such a revered status, and left such an impact on the film industry, that almost everyone has heard of it in some capacity.
The world is staring at the dawn of a new millennia and Thomas Anderson is a computer programmer; at least by day anyway, by night he is a hacker known as Neo who is feverishly searching for the answer to one question: What is the Matrix? He is contacted by a woman who calls herself Trinity, an associate of the mysterious Morpheus whom Neo believes holds the answers he searches for. When taken to Morpheus, Neo accepts to be shown what the Matrix is but he gets more than he bargains for.
Neo awakens in a destroyed world where humans are harvested for their energy by machines, the real world. The Matrix as it turns out, is an extremely advanced computer program created by machines to keep humans unaware of the fact that they are nothing more than batteries to keep said machines alive. What Neo thought was the real world, that where it was 1999 and he was a computer programmer, was in fact all a simulation created by machines to keep him blinded from the truth.
Trinity and Morpheus train Neo how to manipulate the Matrix to his will, understand its rules and bend them as he sees fit in the hopes that he is ‘The One’. The One is prophesised to bring an end to the machines in the real world, and as such save humanity from extinction. The only problem is that some of the Matrix’s computer programs are going rogue, meaning he must also stop them before they destroy the Matrix and escape into the real world.
The world is staring at the dawn of a new millennia and Thomas Anderson is a computer programmer; at least by day anyway, by night he is a hacker known as Neo who is feverishly searching for the answer to one question: What is the Matrix? He is contacted by a woman who calls herself Trinity, an associate of the mysterious Morpheus whom Neo believes holds the answers he searches for. When taken to Morpheus, Neo accepts to be shown what the Matrix is but he gets more than he bargains for.
Neo awakens in a destroyed world where humans are harvested for their energy by machines, the real world. The Matrix as it turns out, is an extremely advanced computer program created by machines to keep humans unaware of the fact that they are nothing more than batteries to keep said machines alive. What Neo thought was the real world, that where it was 1999 and he was a computer programmer, was in fact all a simulation created by machines to keep him blinded from the truth.
Trinity and Morpheus train Neo how to manipulate the Matrix to his will, understand its rules and bend them as he sees fit in the hopes that he is ‘The One’. The One is prophesised to bring an end to the machines in the real world, and as such save humanity from extinction. The only problem is that some of the Matrix’s computer programs are going rogue, meaning he must also stop them before they destroy the Matrix and escape into the real world.
At the turn of the century The Matrix was a massive hit. It was the right film at the right time and tapped into social paranoia surrounding Y2K and the ‘Millennium Bug’ as it was dubbed where technology would begin to disrupt our daily lives due to an inherent programming flaw and begin to signal the end to mankind. Obviously, 21 year later, the millennium bug proved to be a whole load of nothing, but The Matrix remained fresh in our minds ever since.
The Wachowski’s, directors of The Matrix, wanted to create an action film that not only made a narrative impact, but also a visual one. So slow-motion, John Woo inspired action sequences were twinned with incredible cinematography to create what we all know and love today…dramatically pretending to dodge things in slow motion.
The Matrix’s action sequences are among the best in cinematic history, it goes a long way in saying that not only did everything following The Matrix’s release want to copy its action sequences, but even today we see the style imitated regularly. To add to this the film is gorgeously shot with some beautiful scenes, though it does employ a strange green tint filter over the whole film that whilst not off-putting does manage to make your eyes feel a little funny afterwards.
The Wachowski’s, directors of The Matrix, wanted to create an action film that not only made a narrative impact, but also a visual one. So slow-motion, John Woo inspired action sequences were twinned with incredible cinematography to create what we all know and love today…dramatically pretending to dodge things in slow motion.
The Matrix’s action sequences are among the best in cinematic history, it goes a long way in saying that not only did everything following The Matrix’s release want to copy its action sequences, but even today we see the style imitated regularly. To add to this the film is gorgeously shot with some beautiful scenes, though it does employ a strange green tint filter over the whole film that whilst not off-putting does manage to make your eyes feel a little funny afterwards.
The performances from the cast were also far above par for what audiences expected in an action film, with Keanu Reeves filling the shows of our main man Neo and becoming an action-film legend ever since. Perhaps the best performance of the entire film can be given to Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, a construct in the Matrix that has gone rogue and wants out at any cost.
The Matrix is truly a one of a kind film that even the sequels couldn’t compare to. If you are yet to see it I highly implore you to do so, and if you haven’t seen it in a while it is very deserving of a rewatch. Even 21 years later the film still feels fresh and has hardly dated in any way (save the occasional shot of late 20th century mobile phones or computers). The Matrix is a truly spectacular film that should be seen by anyone who enjoys action films.
The Matrix is truly a one of a kind film that even the sequels couldn’t compare to. If you are yet to see it I highly implore you to do so, and if you haven’t seen it in a while it is very deserving of a rewatch. Even 21 years later the film still feels fresh and has hardly dated in any way (save the occasional shot of late 20th century mobile phones or computers). The Matrix is a truly spectacular film that should be seen by anyone who enjoys action films.