Wow. What a great flick. Yeah, sure, it looked pretty cool when we saw the first glimpses of that bullet-time effect during the Superbowl way back when, but C'mon! It had Keanu Reeves in it fer fuck's sake! Eventually I did go see it in the theater, and was thoroughly surprised to walk out of there knowing this was a truly excellent film (and a sci-fi one at that). Great characters (even Keanu, he plays the clueless angle almost to a fault), innovative effects and photography, and a great fuckin story. You can't accuse this film of style over substance, it's got plenty of both.
Thomas Anderson is living a double life. By day he works for a very respectable software company (or so they say), and in his spare time is a computer programmer of a somewhat deviant nature, going by the handle Neo. But things don't exactly jive, and he is driven to find one of the world's most notorious hackers who goes by the name of Morpheus in hopes to get some answers. Then his life changes literally overnight as he slips into the role of Alice, traveling into a Wonderland that is both amazing and horrifying in its ramifications. With an entirely new reality to contend with, Neo must also face choices that could end with catastrophic results for humankind (well, what's left of it).
This is everything a great, action-packed movie should be, regardless of the genre. It's a good story, great transitions, and the actors involved (minus Keanu, I still think he's a chode) all really shine. Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, Joe Pantoliano as Cypher, and the rest. But I gotta say much kudos to the superior portrayal of the bland yet hypnotic Hugo Weaving in the role of Agent Smith. As for the sequels, well, that's a different story. I'm writing this before seeing Reloaded, and will state my reservations beforehand:
#1 Neo is no longer the clueless dude. Can Keanu pull it off?
#2 The originality and intrigue of the first film has already been played out. As much as I love to see the continuation of the storyline, I fear it will mostly result in an action-packed extravaganza that plays out like a bad video game. I can only hope the Wachowski brothers make the next two films not only visually spectacular (which is pretty much a given), but provide a decent story as well.
