The Matrix

Revisiting 1999's THE MATRIX was done with a bit of trepidation.  I hadn't watched the entire thing in quite a few years and in that time technology and film f/x had progressed swiftly.  Watching any beloved movie from years past is always a potentially dicey thing.  Sometimes nostalgia carries what proves to your old, hopefully more developed self a just OK or even lousy film.  But sometimes a film will be just as magical as you remembered, perhaps even moreso.  

Writers/directors the Wachowski brothers (yes, I know they have since become sisters but at the time they were Larry and Andy) created a new template for science fiction.  Watching the movie in 2021 only made that more apparent.  At its essence the film is cyberpunk, but genres are cross pollinated with rousing success.  There are elements of anime, martial arts, straight action, spy thrillers, and so on.  The Wachowskis' script is also a heady stew of philosophy, religion, evolutionary psychology, and more traditional dramatic arcs.  All of this comes together quite perfectly.

It's sometime in the late 21st century, and a godlike figure named Morpheus (Laurence Fisburne) seeks to rescue humans from "The Matrix",  a simulated world made to resemble the late 20th century, created by Artificial Intelligence supermachines who keep humans there to harvest their energy.   Morpheus' colleague Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) is dispatched to recruit a computer hacker named Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) to be the latest rescuee from said Matrix.  He is believed to be "The One".  The one who will save mankind from the machines.  Those who have been freed from the Matrix exist in a dank world known as Zion, the results of a previous war between man and machine. After awhile, you might side with Cypher (Joe Pantaliano), one of Morpheus' crew who's grown weary of the fight and just wants to return to oblivious bliss. 

I've read that many in Hollywood found THE MATRIX's plotting and ideas to be inpenetrable. Including the actors originally considered.   It is fairly dense, and many who subscribe to various religions have seen parallels to their beliefs.  Again, it's all what you bring to the table.  The Christlike imagery is there, but so are allusions to Buddhism. Oh, and uh, John Woo.  As a Christian film buff, I've always had plenty of references to sift through, but there's much I'm sure I'm still missing.  Some have even found metaphors for transgenderism, foreshadowing the Wachowskis' own transformations.

For many reasons, THE MATRIX remains a red pill joyride, a true classic.  Even if some of the bullet time effects, endlessly imitated later, are now dated.  The film is a relentless feast of action setpieces, with jaw dropping scrapes and mayhem.   The fight scenes were designed by the renowned Yuen Woo-ping.  Some moments unavoidably call attention to themselves, and may not necessarily advance the plot or its themes,  but they're so kick ass awesomely rendered you just don't care.   

THE MATRIX is one of those rare films that invites deep discussion and matinee gasps in equal measure, and is essential viewing.  The sequels, however......