The pacing of a movie is critical. Using too many special effects will inure the audience to any serious action and further use of special effects. Too few effects will leave the audience bored, especially in a movie not specifically designed to be a comedy. The pace of The Matrix was by far and away the most perfect of any other movie this year. The action scenes did not occur without a purpose and the "down-time" in between major action scenes was never dull. Instead, an intriguing story, not too complicated but not too simple, kept the audience in rapt attention.
To start, the opening scene, performed with amazing agility by Carrie-Anne Moss, as Trinity, was the anti-thesis of an opening action scene. The opener was not a flashy gimick to make the audience appreciate the new advances in special effects. Instead, the purpose of Trinity's wall- walking, gravity-defying, and building-leaping is to introduce the faux realism of the matrix world. The complementing music and noises that accompany Trinity's moves are perfect; the minute that she jumps into a still poise in the air, the noise of the room spirals into a vacuuming noise. Trinity's skills are reality-bending, which is a perfect introduction to the theme of the movie. Aside from the visual addition to the storyline, the flawless effect is stunning. Such an opener does not spoil the movie by giving away the best part first, rather it wets the tastebuds for the thrills that are sure to come.
After such a grand opening, an extended period of plot building might seem disappointing, yet the transistion is interesting, not a fade out, a quick journey through the wires that connect this virtual world brings us to Neo (Keanu Reeves). The situation of Neo's apartment, computers, lack-of-decorations, speaks volumes about his introvert lifestyle. Continuing the creeping distrust of conventional rules of reality, the message of Neo's screen serves to confuse and intrigue Neo and the audience, so much so that we accept, on blind faith, that somebody as paranoid and secluded as Neo would immediately agree to break routine to solve a new riddle.
Indeed, solving the riddle of the matrix is somewhat more complex for us than for any of the chracters we meet. Even Neo, who is highly skeptical for the longest time, seems to know more than the audience. He has been looking for an answer long before the audience joins the story. Yet despite that, Neo's well-played and logical disbelief serves to keep the flood of information from overwhelming the audience. Simply put, Neo's slow acceptance forces him to learn at the same rate as we do. When he learns something, so do we, and the audience is never left out. This is one of the movie's strongest points; although not told from Neo's point of view, the directors, all hail the brothers Wachowski, use Neo's POV to slide in between confusing scenes. From the moment he is freed from the matrix, Neo's weak physical strength causes him to black out often, which allows for a frequent 'out' between information gathering sequences.
As mentioned above, I can admit that the story line is not the most original, and yet give credit for the most imaginative rewrite of the typical messiah story to date. There have been science fiction saviors before, my favorites are the DUNE series by Frank Herbert (the books, not the movie) and the ever present STAR WARS. Regardless of the success of both of those series, they never evolved their saviors enough; no one was ever in doubt that Luke Skywalker would triumph, I mean, after all, all the jedi masters present said he would make it. That is where The Matrix transcends the clap-trap of savior woes.
Think about it. Neo rejects the reality long into the second half of the film; the prescient 'oracle' tells Neo upfront that he is not 'The One'. Yes, those scenes are just meant to fool us viewers into thinking he's not The One, as other films have done before, yet they work very well. Sure, Neo accomplishes impossible feats, but nothing that we can not reconcile with the 'gift' that the Oracle said he had. He bent the spoon, so why couldn't he do________(fill in the blank)? Not until the very moment of the miracle that proves Neo's destiny does the audience finally see his power. Stranger still than this suspense is our immediate acceptance of his power. Although we were sufficiently misled from believing in Neo, we, the viewers, find his fate as savior entirely correct, not false, not just an ending thrown together because the Wachowski's realized at the end that the movie would be better if Neo were The One. Again, the pacing and intensity of The Matrix allows the audience to suspend disbelief without ruining the few basic rules we have been told are still maintained in this reality.
Beyond the style of The Matrix, the underlying story is every philosopher's ponderance. We are a conscious race, but whose consciousness are we a part of? If we all dream the same dream, does that mean the dream is closer to reality than the "real world"? As Morpheus said, "What is real? How do you define real?". A short talk with my sister, who has taken courses at medical school in psychology, revealed that such questions have existed and are constantly perused by modern philosophers. Morpheus' definition of real, "electrical impulses interpreted by your brain" is the correct medical definition. We do not see, hear, taste, touch, or smell; we have receptors that take data in as patterns 'tapped' along our system of neurons. So, the question remains: if someone could produce impulses in our brains that were exactly the same as those produced by our senses, how could we tell the difference? Such questions persisted long after I left the theater. In that sense, The Matrix is completely successful at presenting an intellectual premise, a method to its madness.
Returning to the film itself, one must address the action scenes. Neo and Morpheus' fight, Neo and Trinity's effecting Morpheus' rescue, and Neo's confrontation of Agent Smith, all serve to enhance the film, none detract from the overall mood. Some people decry violence for violence's sake, but there are no justifiable complaints to be made against The Matrix. Neo and Morpheus' fight in the sparring program served to prove both men's fighting skills and to give proof of the success of the downloadable combat programs. The scene also serves to build excitement: we are thrilled by the possibility of such a technology, and amazed by the results and expectant to see Neo prove himself as The One.
The rescue of Morpheus is ethereal, and thus is deserving of its own paragraph here. The scene is the embodiment of smooth action, and because no other word can convey this meaning, it was kick-ass cool. We know that the black trenchcoat-clad, booted figure is Neo, who seems to finally have mastered the other Zionists' ease and menacing demeanor. He's bad news the minute you see those boots walk slowly out of the revolving door. When he walks throught the metal detector, and we get a good look at his face, complete with sunglasses and a look of firm determination, we are ready to see Neo make a bigger show of his abilities. The unexpected laughter bubbled out at the bumbling and obviously weaker and oblivious guard asking Neo to remove all metal items, little things like keys, etc., only to have Neo nonchalantly open his coat to expose his small, or not so small arsenal. Neo's lack of secrecy is off-beat and it catches us, since we're all excited to see some action, off guard. Then as swiftly as Neo's jab to the guard's sternum, the action jumps at us. The guards will, of course, be no match for our hero, but Trinity's arrival, likewise heralded by the beeping of the metal detector, completes the clean sweep. Neo and Trinity move together, interpreting the situation in the same way, at the same time. The quick look they share when the riot cop yells "Freeze!" is priceless. From there, we can sit back and soak in the contoured action that differs from other cut and paste action movies(if you see almost any Bruce Willis movie, you'll know what I mean by cut-and-paste action). Trinity reprises her wall walking, and Neo has his impressive gun battle and final gravity-free knock-out. Afterwards, we are once again thrown off by the hero and heroine's nonchalance about the violence (it is, after all, only a simulation), as they take to the elevator and we finally get to find out what's in the bag.
The following short scenes involving Neo and Trinity are each impressive interludes: the ride on the broken elevator cable, the explosion of the bomb, the battle on the roof, and the resuce of Morpheus. The roof scene is another clue, one I couldn't decide on the meaning of. The whole while along, ever since the meeting with the Oracle, I'm skeptical of Neo's fate, but perhaps it is the impossible feats on the roof that helped me overcome any disbelief when Neo is revealed as The One. His moves, quick as the agent's, are one of the neatest parts of the entire special effects panorama. That scene particularly jumped out from the trailers, and I was not disappointed by it. The rescue of Morpheus, leading to the helicopter crash, left me a bit puzzled however. When the helicopter crashed into the building, Tank said Neo was The One...but why? I never quite understood, but I could see why Trinity believed, especially in light of her later confession.
From there, Neo's fight with Agent Smith is the last blast of action, intrigue, and mystery unraveling. The fight in the subway station was interesting, the special effects, known as "bullet-time", were just as outstanding there as on the roof. Yet such a cliched battle was to be expected, so that scene was not the best of the end sequence. Neo's defeat or death was imminent, and so no one could be surprised that since he managed to win the first time that he wouldn't stick around for another conflict. Neo's escape and marathon to reach another exit was one of the funniest sequences, yet it still fit the tone of the movie. Neo kicked open doors, ran like mad, did a jump or two, started in slow-mo and sped up to actual time as he hit the ground. As all that was happening, Neo was also dodging bullets from agents that turned up in everyone, left and right. Agent Smith jumped so many times, and each jump was great: first into the guy whose cell phone Neo stole, then a mother still holding her daughter's hand, the old lady with the knife...hilarious!
To me, the best part of the ending sequence was Neo's death and resurrection. His death was, again, surreal. The motion, the sound, the impact of the shot from Agent Smith's gun all seem to be fake...too muted to be 'real'.
Not until the second shot, for not even Neo feeling his blood brings the idea home, does Neo snap out of the haze of slow-mo into real time. His death seemed to confirm the hesitant rejection of his potential. His face, shock and
lost consciousness (not to forget pain, of course) written on it, as he falls is wrenching, and we feel how unfair it is for him to die; The One or not, we have formed an attachment to Neo because his journey has been ours;
we shared the trip, step by step. I remained skeptical as to the effect Trinity's declaration of love in reviving Neo, but I loved it anyway! So what if it makes no sense to have Trinity's love be the life line to Neo? In essence,
Cypher was the one who stated it best: "There'd have to be some kind of miracle..." and there was. Perhaps Neo's "one-ness" saved him, not Trinity's love. Either way, the moment of Neo's revival in the Matrix started the sequence I can
reasonably call one of my favorites. Neo's power to stop bullets was interesting, and so was his amusing fight with Agent Smith; who couldn't find the humor in Neo looking bored as he faced an agent head on, in fact so bored he used
only half his effort--'with one hand tied behind his back'? Yet the best scene had to be Neo's emergence from Agent Smith's shell. You can just make out Neo flexing, forcing outwards without moving (not bending, just appearing to will
outwardly), glowing with an impossible glow, stretching out the walls along with himself, his clothes unbloodied, his wounds gone. The threatening look towards the agents was priceless (as was their response!). The other significant piece
was Neo's new ability to 'see' the Matrix. The image of the hotel and the agents existing as a series of program codes. The finale, Neo's emergence from the Matrix and the subsequent destruction of the sentinels was the after-climax. Although
I can't say it was the most exciting kiss, the ending left me entirely hopeful for their future and for a sequel. The last scene, Neo's direct challenge to the Matrix, only increased my hopes for a sequel. The underlying current of The Matrix,
the superb storyline, has enough questions still to be asked and answered to provide fuel for a trilogy. And The Matrix will return...
