THE MATRIX (63)

Directed by: The Wachowski Brothers

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

The Pitch: In a futuristic world controlled by "The Matrix", computer hacker Neo is recruited by the Resistance as their hoped-for saviour against the ruling machine class.

Theo Sez: "What is The Matrix?" ask the characters ; more to the point, what is THE MATRIX? A magpie's-nest of assorted treasures, some real, some tinny : an action movie, a game of what-if - what if the real were in fact virtual? - a fusion of sci-fi and martial arts, a collection of self-fulfilling logic puzzles (think of a book whose name is "What Is The Name Of This Book?"), a semi-coded pro-drug tract, a plug-in to the videogame culture of the late 90s plus the nameless dissatisfaction that makes us imagine hidden powers and conspiracies ; above all, a film about choices - red pill vs. blue, Morpheus' life vs. Neo's, respectable programmer vs. outlaw hacker, virtual reality vs. the other kind. The question is whether our lives are pre-ordained or free-willed by ourselves, especially relevant in a culture where 'consumer choice' is king yet consumers are increasingly in thrall to controlling multinationals - on the surface we can always decide what we want yet choice is often an illusion, like when Keanu goes to his boss's office and is told he has two choices, Mr. Anderson : "You can choose to be at your desk on time every day. Or you can choose to find yourself another job". The film's answer is to "free your mind", get beyond the System to a genuine choice, floating between dream and reality - a state indistinguishable, as someone notes, from a drug-fuelled high, and this is very much within the rave-inspired chemical culture exemplified by GO and TRAINSPOTTING, only with a twist : escape can't be based on nihilism here - it's about "believing", given its own moral weight (these characters, unlike the ones in TRAINSPOTTING, quite literally "choose Life" - that slogan being, incidentally, yet another example of coercion presented in the form of choice in our society). Alas, the film doesn't let the Mobius-strip mind-games take over (as, e.g. TWELVE MONKEYS did), settling for comic-book thrills 'n spills which, though well-crafted (Keanu's giggle-inducing jiu-jitsu moves excepted), make it considerably less fun than the much cheesier eXistenZ ; kick-ass action scenes, including possibly the best tall-building-and-flying-machine stunt since TRUE LIES, don't quite make up for the various fascinating bits never really gelling into an unforgettable whole. In the end, it's a bit like free gifts in a box of breakfast cereal : they make it more interesting, but it's still only cereal when you get right down to it.