The Matrix

The Matrix (1999)

Image From IMDB

Few movies are as important to me as The Matrix. I still remember seeing the first stills, the question being posed everywhere, What is the Matrix? The hype as the movie drew nearer. I’d just finished school and this was the most exciting thing in the world to me. The build. The cast. The everything. And then sitting in the cinema my mind was absolutely blown when Trinity was suspended in mid-air and the camera went 360 all around her. I’d never seen anything like it. Fuck I loved the Matrix.

All of that amazement is still with me now twenty-five plus years on. Plenty has changed in my life, but my love of the original Matrix is not one of them. The movie changed cinema, and was one of the things that opened my mind to a lot of Asian cinema too with its connects to Yuen Woo-Ping.

I loved the characters. The leather. The coolness of everything. It was the best soundtrack I'd ever heard. My grunge heavy metal teenage self couldn’t get enough of it. The action was incredible, the dialogue so fucking cool. The aesthetics were great, and that was all before you even got into the story.

We’re all hooked up to a virtual world called the Matrix because machines took over and need us as batteries. Fuck yes. What an incredible concept. The world building is exemplary with the differences between the real world and the Matrix working together incredibly well. That lived in barely getting by look against the slick virtual world.

I was amazed by the training programs, I know kungfu. You think that’s air you’re breathing. The lady in red. All of it was just too much for my geek brain. I was already in full sci-fi mode by this point thanks to it being a part of my life since I was practically born, but this added other stuff that I loved too. More computer talk, rock music and martial arts.

And everyone was so damn good as well. I was already a big Keanu fan thanks to Point Break (one of the best movies ever) Laurence Fishburne was amazing as Morpheus, Carrie-Ann Moss entered the realms of badass female heroine, Hugo Weaving became instantly quotable. There was no weak link.

The bullet time was obviously revolutionary, but all the effects looked great. The sets were amazing. The fights exciting. The lobby shootout still gives me goosebumps. Morpheus asking ‘now do you believe?’ gives me chills. Neo turning back to fight Smith is chief kiss. There’s not a frame of this movie that doesn’t excite me.

I could probably write about the Matrix for days on end, but I'll stop here. If you haven’t watched it in a while, go back and watch it again. It’s an absolute treat, and only feels better now that modern cinema is so bland. The Wachowski’s where at the top of their game, and The Matrix is a gift to cinema.