The Matrix Part 1: Whoa!

OK right well, its time for a bit of review-age, and yes this is becoming a review blog, but every now and then there will be one or two different posts thrown in, but for now I've decided to cover a trilogy of films, and this time I've gone for the Matrix Trilogy.  The general concensus of the Matrix films is that the first one is the best and the other two are pretty naff, however I like all three of them, although I would be hard pushed to say the last two are better than the first one.  But anyway this post will focus purely on the first film, or simply The Matrix, so here we go....

Righty starting with a ridiculously lengthy (well maybe) plot summary, the film starts with the main character Thomas Anderson  (Keanu Reeves) who is a computer hacker who is trying to understand cryptic messages he receives on his computer about the Matrix.  One night Anderson receives a message on his computer telling him to follow the white rabbit, when a group of punks take him to a club where he meets another hacker, Trinity (the gorgeous Carrie Ann-Moss) who calls him "Neo", and tells him he is in great danger, but a man that Anderson has been tracking can help him, the man is Morpheus.  Next day Anderson wakes up and goes to work where he receives a phone call, with a mysterious voice on the line, the caller indentifies himself as Morpheus, who offers Anderson his help, as a group of agents are enroute to capture him.  However before Anderson can do anything he is captured by the agents, and interrogated by the lead agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), but Anderson refuses to help them and therefore Smith then implants a bug into Anderson's body.  Waking up the next day in his bed as if he had awoke from a nightmare, Anderson receives another call from Morpheus who tells him to meet him under a bridge, where he meets Trinity again, who uses a device to remove the bug implanted in Anderson's chest.  Soon Anderson is taken to meet Morpheus who offers him the truth about the Matrix, where he gives him the choice of a blue pill or a red pill, the red one will tell him the truth of the Matrix, which Anderson takes.  Anderson soon awakes inside a liquid filled vessel to which he is wired up, as he looks around he sees he is in a vast cavern full of a vessels containing people inside who are wired up like to a big life support system.  Anderson is then rescued by Morpheus's people who take him onboard Morpehus's spaceship, the Nebuchadnezzar.

Soon after Anderson is taken onboard, his body, which was filled with tubes and plug holes for his life support system in the vessel, is rebuilt as his muscles have atrophied due to lack of use.  Anderson or as I might as well call him now "Neo" awakens after his surgical work has been done, and Morpheus explains to him about the Matrix, via the use of a virtual reality program, which involves Neo being strapped into a chair, with a plug that is inserted into the back of his neck (which has a plug hole) by the ship's operators.  Morpheus explains that the Matrix is in fact a system of control created by intelligent machines, who were created back in the 21st century, who have now dominated the Earth, and that they are now possibly in the year 2199, and not 1999 as Neo had been led to believe when wired into the Matrix.  The machines use the Matrix and keep the human population in the liquid filled vessels in order to harness their bioeletrical energy.  Neo refuses to accept this truth at first, but soon comes to  accept what Morpheus tells him, who says that they have since been releasing other humans from the Matrix in order to fight against the machines.  In doing so, Morpheus and his crew have been going into the Matrix, and have learned to use special skills within the system, that allow them superhuman abilities, which they use in order to fight against the machines.  However the programs inside the Matrix, the agents, are also very dangerous and have powerful abilities themselves, and Morpheus says every person that has fought them has died.  After this Neo undergoes training programs via a virtual reality console, that teach him various forms of martial arts in order that he can fight the agents and become "the one" as Morpheus prophises to Neo, that he will end the war between the machines and the humans.  Morpheus soon takes Neo to meet with the Oracle (Gloria Foster) who is a program within the Matrix, with clairvoyant powers, who tells Neo that he must choose between saving himself and Morpheus, but that he isn't the one.  

And after the meeting, its soon revealed that one of Morpheus's crew, Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) is a traitor who betrays Morpheus and his team to the agents, killing three other members of the crew, Apoc, Switch, who are still plugged into the Matrix, and using a plasma gun to kill the ship member Dozer.  As a result of this Morpheus is captured by Smith and his agents, who try to break his spirit in order to reveal the codes to the Zion mainframe (Zion being the last city on the real world).  Neo realises now that he must make the choice based on what the Oracle told him, and that he decides to save Morpheus's life from the agents.  Neo then goes back into the Matrix with Trinity and together they fight their way into a maximum security building where Morpheus is being held, after many bodies and bullets have been dispensed off, Neo rescues Morpheus.  At the exit point where they can all safely unplug from the Matrix (which is a phonebooth usually) Smith follows them, as Morpheus and Trinity escape, leaving Neo to face Smith.  But at this point rather than run, Neo turns to face Smith, now starting to believe in his power, the two of them have it out in a climactic showdown....

The Matrix was something of a landmark when it came out and it also popularised the "bullet time" effect where we see an event happen in slow motion while the camera moves around at normal pace.  This effect is most memorably used in the sequence where Neo tries to dodge the bullets that the agent fires at him, as bends over backwards to evade them, and we see the bullets flies past.  Visually the film is also very impressive and it lends a bit toward Alien with its designs especially within the "real" world in the future where we see the huge caverns filled with the human vessels wired up a massive power system.

But what makes the Matrix stand out so well is its incredible action scenes, where after the first half of the film is mostly exposition we get into the nitty gritty of the good guys vs the bad guys.  The fight scenes are particularly great, and they were coreographed by the great Hong Kong action coreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping (now that's a name!).  The fight scenes that stand out particularly are the one where Morpheus and Neo fight each other in the virtual sparring program, and the showdown between Neo and Smith in the subway.  Then there is of course the cool lobby scene where Neo and Trinity fight their way past many armed security guards in order to get to the top of the building.

However while the Matrix is a highly entertaining film, it isn't without its flaws, and it one of its flaws for me is to an extent the plot itself, as at times the film get's itself bogged down in trying to explain the background of the machines and the humans.  But I guess being the first of the trilogy, there will always be questions that are left unanswered, but for me personally it took quite a while to realise about how the humans were all really kept alive in these tanks, plugged into what is basically a big computer program.  Call me stupid, but at the time I didn't quite understand the scene where it transitions from Neo being in the Matrix world to the real world, however I do know, but prior to that I just don't think that scene is very well explained for an audience. 

Other flaws in the film probably also boil down to characterisation, or maybe a lack of it, as the three principal characters are pretty one dimensional, Neo in particular is pretty dour, and one note, probably not helped along by Keanu Reeves mumbling performance.  Don't get me wrong, Keanu does a fine job at playing the part of Neo, which is mainly a phsyical job anyway as he doesn't have a vast amount of dialogue in the film.  Laurence Fishburne however does fair better as Morpheus, mainly because Larry is a fine actor and despite his character being somewhat pretentious, he lends an aura of respect to him.  Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity is also good, but her character is also pretty one note, as she is basically so seriously given to Morpheus's cause that there is not much room for development or humour, but she looks mighty fine in that leather suit! ;-)

The supporting cast however fair much better, especially Hugo Weaving as agent Smith who plays him with a cool calculating sense of evil, and he also manages to convey moments of very dry humour.  Also more interestingly Smith is a character who wants more out of the world than just being inside the Matrix, as in one scene he reveals to Morpheus that he despises the Matrix and that he wants to get out into the real world, so he can destroy Zion.  Joe Pantoliano who is always good in pretty much everything he does, doesn't disappoint here as he probably gives the best performance of the film, as the traitorous Cypher.  I quite like the scene where he meets with Smith where he gives his demands in order to give Morpheus over, as they sit in a restaurant, Cypher chews on a piece of steak and says "you know when I chew this I know this isn't real. But you know what I've learned in all this time? Ignorance is bliss!".  Gloria Foster as the Oracle also gives the film some much needed colour in terms of personality as she plays the Oracle, like she is everyone's favourite Aunt, baking cookies, yet making vital prophecies at the same time.

Visually however as I said the film looks spectacular and the Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the film, did a stellar job with the visuals on the film, with the sets of the futuristic barren Earth, the CGI effects of the machines and the ship, all looking great.  The photography is also really interesting as the Matrix world is tinted green, while the real world has more realistic tones (or more like blue!).  The film itself was shot in Sydney and they make great use of the city throughout for the Matrix sequences.  The Wachowski bros also back up the visuals with a good soundtrack, as they choose some fine tracks such as the Propellerheads "Spybreak", "Clubbed to death" by Rob D, and of course they round the film off nicely with Rage against the machine's "Wake up".  Ron Davis's original music score is not too bad either, even if it is a bit overly melodramatic sounding at times, but then it is a pretty melodramatic film! 

So The Matrix is a very entertaining film and a great start to the trilogy, and people must have known it would follow as it is left pretty open ended for another sequel.  And I will get onto them in a short while....

Till then that's it for part one.