With Speed Racer coming out this weekend, I thought that I would take a look back at the film that put The Wachowski Brothers on the map. When this film came out back in 1999, the duo were only known for the crime film Bound. As such, you can really consider The Matrix a surprise success.
I remember reading how the film was better liked than Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and The Matrix was being heralded as the next big sci-fi franchise. Sadly, this resulted in high expectations, which resulted in dividing the audiences for the “like em or not” sequels.
Sequels aside, I found this a very good stand alone film. While you have the watch both sequels to get the whole story, if this was the only film in the series you watched, you would still be satisfied that it had a beginning, middle, and an end.
Finally, a discussion of The Matrix wouldn’t be complete without talking about the “bullet time” special effects. Even though it was unique to American audiences, I believe such effects were being used in Asia for years. It still looks neat though.
The Matrix still stands out as one of the great sci-fi action films. While the expanding philosophy may have turned off audiences in the sequels (for the record, I like them just as much), this film helped redefine science fiction for the 21st century.
10/10