The Matrix (1999)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 136m
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
Synopsis:
Two hundred years in the future the Earth is ruled by machines who 'grow' human beings and use them as a power source, but keep them under control by feeding them the illusion that they are in fact leading lives indistinguishable from the end of the twentieth century. This virtual reality is called the Matrix and the last free humans set out to destroy it with the help of a 'chosen one'.
Review:
As a celebration of design over content by film buffs this is brilliantly realized and very entertaining; as a thoughtful addition to the S-F genre (The Forbin Project, Total Recall, Demon Seed) it is even compelling, since in plot terms here design is content! The Wachowski brothers seem to have digested a clutch of classic Sci-Fi novels together with some basic phenomenology and Lewis Carroll, and dressed it all up in comic book clothing as presented by John Woo: a construct about a construct. They also harnessed digital technology to the action movie aesthetic in a totally new way, employing multi-camera frozen action and CGI, as well as conventional slow-motion and deafening sound, to give cinemagoers the ride of their lives.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 136m
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
Synopsis:
Two hundred years in the future the Earth is ruled by machines who 'grow' human beings and use them as a power source, but keep them under control by feeding them the illusion that they are in fact leading lives indistinguishable from the end of the twentieth century. This virtual reality is called the Matrix and the last free humans set out to destroy it with the help of a 'chosen one'.
Review:
As a celebration of design over content by film buffs this is brilliantly realized and very entertaining; as a thoughtful addition to the S-F genre (The Forbin Project, Total Recall, Demon Seed) it is even compelling, since in plot terms here design is content! The Wachowski brothers seem to have digested a clutch of classic Sci-Fi novels together with some basic phenomenology and Lewis Carroll, and dressed it all up in comic book clothing as presented by John Woo: a construct about a construct. They also harnessed digital technology to the action movie aesthetic in a totally new way, employing multi-camera frozen action and CGI, as well as conventional slow-motion and deafening sound, to give cinemagoers the ride of their lives.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 136m
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
Synopsis:
Two hundred years in the future the Earth is ruled by machines who 'grow' human beings and use them as a power source, but keep them under control by feeding them the illusion that they are in fact leading lives indistinguishable from the end of the twentieth century. This virtual reality is called the Matrix and the last free humans set out to destroy it with the help of a 'chosen one'.
Review:
As a celebration of design over content by film buffs this is brilliantly realized and very entertaining; as a thoughtful addition to the S-F genre (The Forbin Project, Total Recall, Demon Seed) it is even compelling, since in plot terms here design is content! The Wachowski brothers seem to have digested a clutch of classic Sci-Fi novels together with some basic phenomenology and Lewis Carroll, and dressed it all up in comic book clothing as presented by John Woo: a construct about a construct. They also harnessed digital technology to the action movie aesthetic in a totally new way, employing multi-camera frozen action and CGI, as well as conventional slow-motion and deafening sound, to give cinemagoers the ride of their lives.