What is the Matrix? It's very difficult to accept a concept that
is so far from normal thought as to be nearly incomprehensible. Even more
difficult, I imagine, to incorporate such an unimaginable concept into your
everyday realm, and be told to forget everything you know and understand as
reality. Add to that, the responsibility of being told that you are the
new Messiah, the next Saviour, the only hope...The One.
Well, I'd say "fuck it" and probably cave. Or, I'd face this new
adventure with open eyes, an open mind and hope it's not too terrible. For
this adventure is an amazing one. The story is tried and true - Good vs
Bad, it always is. But it's a gripping story with incredible...no, better
than incredible... more like Un-Fucking-Believable special effects and
fight scenes.
I was entranced. Not once as I watched did I utter the phrase "Oh, I am
so sure". Not even once! I perceived the fights as real, accurate,
believable. I'm very critical from watching Hong Kong action and their
hyper-dramatic martial arts fight scenes, but here, we are led down a path
gently focusing our eyes to what the filmmakers wish us to believe and the
concept placed in my mind made all the amazing fight scenes (by Yuen Wo
Ping) jaw-dropping.
It's all like that. The unbelievable is now not only believable, but a
working part of the universe as we know it. Or maybe not. Confused? Oh you
will be. You will be. And then, like an epiphany...or maybe a two by
four board slamming you in the face, it hits you all at once and is, for
some, too much to bear, but it makes perfect sense.
The Matrix is visually, audially and intellectually stunning. One tends
to try and focus on one or the other of the qualities enmeshed within the
film. I was awed by the special effects, the graphics, the fight sequences
and will need to see it again to fully appreciate the storyline. The
characters are all beautiful in their journey to face the truth and the
sacrifices they have to make. The bad guys are deliciously evil and I
almost sympathised with their truths and reasonings, although I was still
rooting for the good guys, and not only cause they were seriously cool
dressers.
What is the Matrix? It's worth a trip to a big screen cinema to
find out. It may awe you, it may disturb you, it may floor you, but also,
you may not look at anything in the same way again.
Chris Fata
Scottsdale, Arizona
