Earlier this week I swallowed the red pill and re-watched The Matrix on the big screen to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary and I gotta say it stands the test of time pretty well.
I remember watching the film back in 1999 at my local cinema in Omagh and being blown away by the kung-fu action and special effects. Unlike films like The Terminator, Blade Runner and Star Wars (the originals not the prequels) this was an instant cult classic, I was able to enjoy for the first time on the big screen.
Months later, when I got the film on VHS (remember those) I’d re-watch the film repeatedly, allowing myself to be sucked into its mythology and paranoia-tinged philosophy. Was the world around us really real, where we were really masters of our own domain (Insert a Seinfeld reference here if you wish) and could I lift my leg as high as Keanu Reeves does in the film?
Only one of those questions was ever fully answered and quite painfully so I might add!
No one can be told what the Matrix is!
There’s no denying this film raised the bar for visual effects, bar the odd clunky CGI moment the special effects still holds up. They’ve only really lost their ‘wow factor’ because the Wachowskis’ style has been replicated so many times ever since.
Even the much-lauded ‘bullet time’ sequence still looks pretty impressive by today’s standards. Compare that scene to the similar ‘bullet dodge’ moment from Stephen Norrington’s Blade, which was released a year before the Matrix and it just looks terrible in comparison.
What helps the film stand the test of time is that it doesn’t rely too heavily on it’s CGI, so much of the film’s impressive set-pieces were achieved as practically as possible onset with a mix of stunt and wire-work as the actors performed many of their own stunts themselves.
Upon re-watching it’s surprising just how sparingly these action sequences are used throughout the entire film! After a belter of an opening, the film’s first-half plays out quite slowly, setting up character and establishing the film’s world and mythology.
It’s not until that iconic lobby scene that the film really goes up a gear and descends into a frenzy of gunplay and kung-fu action.
Exploring how Deep the Rabbit-Hole goes!
Even with its slow-pace the film never gets bogged down with too much exposition as we venture down the rabbit hole with Neo. Like Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese in The Terminator, Laurence Fishburne’s Morpheus gives us just enough information to keep us on-board with everything that’s going on!
Just like The Terminator the concept of artificial intelligence gone rogue seems more relevant to society now, more so than it would have been 20 years ago. Nowadays many of us have Siri, Alexia and Google Assistant in our homes, whilst I’m not saying they’re actively conspiring against us (yet), but the ideas of AI, even simulated realities (well VR) that thus film explores seem less like the realm of science fiction and more science fact.
Probably the one aspect of the film that has dated most is our protagonists’ reliance on payphones and landlines to jump in and out of the matrix, in today’s smartphone world it’s harder than ever to go off-grid.
But enough of the original, let’s talk about the sequels…
Cause and Effect, my Love!
I’ll admit first time round I wasn’t a fan, filmed back to back and released within six months of each other these two films were clunky affairs that had serious pacing issues and terribly weak screenplays. In the years since their release, I’ve come to conclude that there was probably one great film lurking within The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and a more ruthless edit of these two mediocre films could’ve easily turned them into a much better single feature.
In the first film, the balance between action and narrative was almost perfect, The Matrix gallops through its 136-minute runtime, but the same can’t be said about these two sequels.
Reloaded in particular is just too baggy, there are too many fight scenes littered throughout the film, yes the freeway sequence is great, but did we really need that scene where Neo fights Seraph, just to prove who he is? Even the multiple Agent Smith idea, which sounds fantastic on paper, is overplayed and revealed far too early; sadly it also delivers some of the worst onscreen CGI seen throughout any of the three films.
Even with the increased focus on the action the Wachowskis still try to expand on the original’s mythology, too much, expanding it to near breaking point! Debunking and demystifying almost everything about the matrix with an air of pretention that was so off-putting and underwhelming.
Unlike Chris Nolan’s ‘wait, whose dream are we in now approach’, they adopt an expositional heavy approach as they sit us down and explain everything that’s going on before moving on to another overly elaborate set-piece.
Yes, we get it, ergo… Vis a Vis… Concordantly!
How would you know the Difference Between the Dreamworld and the Real-World?
So yes whilst the sequels never matched the original, but I don’t bemoan them as much as others! The original Matrix was a game-changer and you can’t change the game every time.
If you’ve never seen The Matrix on the big screen I’d definitely recommend you do so whilst you’ve got the chance, because it’s impossible to disregard its influence and legacy upon cinema, even beyond the sci-fi genre in the twenty years since its release.
I’d also recommend seeking out Alex Proyas’ criminally underrated Dark City, released a year before The Matrix, it explores similar themes to the Wachowskis’ film, maybe even a little more satisfactorily and is well worth a watch if you can seek it out ( We recently screened it as part of our Dark Hedges Movie Club here in Belfast).
So if you get the chance, choose the red pill and see the horrors that are really lurking beneath wonderland.
The Matrix is showing at the Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast from Friday 21 July until Tuesday 22 July.
