The Matrix really captured the hearts of the Gen X and later millennial masses when it came out in 1999. It not only tapped into the nihilistic feelings of an entire generation of bored of life office workers but also added awesome groundbreaking special effects and sweet supernatural ninja style action! So taking that into account it's a perfect movie, right and up there with all the classic masterpieces? Not quite. The Matrix is a classic example of a movie that has so much going for it everyone would rather praise it as a perfect film than point out any of its flaws. The main thing it suffers from is the high budget action blockbuster element. It just doesn't blend well at all with the science fiction and 20 years later seems very dated and silly. Everything about the special effects, the costumes, and the action choreography just screams 1999. So instead of coming across as a timeless classic it's more like "oh man, doesn't this bring us back to playing Playstation 1 in middle school?!" If you think about every masterpiece level sci-fi film they all have one thing in common; limited or no action. The only exceptions I can think of are Terminator, Alien, and Blade Runner but those movies blend the action well within the story. In The Matrix it's very forced and pretentious. They wanted to make it marketable to the widest demographic possible by adding "sweet video game style action". The base sci-fi reality concept would have worked much better in a half an hour Twilight Zone episode. In The Matrix it's drowned out by seemingly endless gunfire and slow-motion leaping jumps. The entire last segment basically turns into Mission Impossible 2 or any overdone John Woo action movie.
Laurence Fishbourne is very strong as Morpheus but I think Hugo Weaving gives the best performance of the film as Agent Smith. The whole love story between Neo and Trinity is flat and ultimately doesn't make any sense. Why does she instantly fall in love with him, just because he's "The One"? It's unconvincing throughout. As a whole The Matrix is a giant mess with poor continuity but it has a lot of strong individual scenes and elements. The "red pill, blue pill" has been used endlessly as a pop culture reference. That entire scene is wonderfully timeless set in the old slum apartment with just a couple leather chairs and rain pouring. But the simplicity is what makes it good and memorable not junk spectacle like the action sequences. All and all I give The Matrix a 7 for everything going for it and lasting cultural impact but 2001: A Space Odyssey it is not...
Laurence Fishbourne is very strong as Morpheus but I think Hugo Weaving gives the best performance of the film as Agent Smith. The whole love story between Neo and Trinity is flat and ultimately doesn't make any sense. Why does she instantly fall in love with him, just because he's "The One"? It's unconvincing throughout. As a whole The Matrix is a giant mess with poor continuity but it has a lot of strong individual scenes and elements. The "red pill, blue pill" has been used endlessly as a pop culture reference. That entire scene is wonderfully timeless set in the old slum apartment with just a couple leather chairs and rain pouring. But the simplicity is what makes it good and memorable not junk spectacle like the action sequences. All and all I give The Matrix a 7 for everything going for it and lasting cultural impact but 2001: A Space Odyssey it is not...