MUST READ NOTE TO EVERYONE: THERE ARE TWO REVIEWS. THIS FIRST ONE REVEALS NO DETAILS OF THE MOVIE'S PLOT. THE ONE BELOW THIS FIRST ONE IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MATRIX REVIEW, AND IT REVEALS ALL OF THE MOVIE'S PLOT DETAILS, SO IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, WHEN I TELL YOU TO STOP READING, STOP READING.

Thank you for your time. And here we have The Matrix, and don't forget, this is the review that you're allowed to read if you haven't seen the movie.

The Matrix is a very big film, in many, many ways. It takes several hypothetical and mythological ideas, and combines them all into one film, for an extravaganza packed with plot and a great amount of action to satisfy every viewer- there are very few flaws in this movie, and where those flaws are, its stupid stuff like seeing cameras in the reflections of people's sunglasses.

So precious a movie is this to behold, that I must not, in this part of the review, reveal any details of the movie's plot, for I don't want to you, the viewer, to see the film knowing what comes beforehand. If you see The Matrix, you should know nothing about it, and you should enter prepared for the unimaginable, because that's what you're going to get. Man, that sounded cheesy.

What the Wachowski brothers, the writers and directors of this movie, have put together here is a film perfect in nearly every way- it has an amazing, mind-bending plot, with twists that will blow you away. The whole concept is just outstanding. Generally when a film has a good plot, there's no action aspect to it, but here, the brothers do a great job of mixing action in with story, and creating a beautiful combination. Most of the film is done by the power of the directors- if it wasn't for the excellent angles they could create, things just wouldn't be the same.

Along with having a great plot and a cool attitude, the movie has good moral values, and I personally think its not a bad idea to show it to your kids, because the amount of violence you get here is something that you'll see in any episode of Power Rangers- there's very little blood. And maybe its just me, but what's the big difference between a gun and a laser beam? There's also very little profanity. Anyway, the movie teaches people to believe in themselves, and it does such a good job of doing this, that its changed people's lives around. There's many underlying levels to the movie that are discussable in just about every possible way, and the film has so much great dialogue, that often when someone presents with their problems, I will answer them with Matrix dialogue. I tell people, "The Matrix has most of the answers. God has all the other ones."

Keanu Reeves and Lawrence Fishburne, the movies protagonists, do an excellent job in their roles. Both playing computer hackers against the system, Keanu is well able to play off his role as a person in a new world trying to do what's right, and Fishburne does well as his wiser guide. Hugo Weaving plays the villain, and the film's image of him clearly gets it across, to kids especially, that this is not the type of attitude you want to have in life- however, its even more clearly gotten across that Neo's believe-in-yourself attitude IS the one to have, and kids will pick up on this.

The special effects of the film are ground-breaking, and reign upon the movie scene, even to this day. I've seen this movie at least twenty times, and everytime that I do, I can still watch in amazement at the things that are done. And this was only off of $65 million dollars, this movie.

So, with all that said, I'm giving a five-star recommendation for The Matrix. It is one of my favorite movies. But this is not the real review. The real review is below...




























DUUUUN! dun dun Dun duh-duh-lun-dun dun DUUUUN! dun dun Dun dun duh-duh-lun-dun dun DUUUUN! dun dun Dun duh-duh-lun-dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!

Yes, it's finally here! That damned Matrix review that I've been telling everybody that I'm going to do forever! And before I get started, let me give out a warning to everyone:

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE, DON'T READ THIS REVIEW

I think that should be enough for all of the idiots in the world to get the point. If they didn't, let me say it again: if you haven't seen the movie (The Matrix), don't read this review. I will go through everything, analysis of characters, plot, beginning, ending, philosophical view points, how beautiful Trinity is, how dumb some theories are, and so on, and so on. Alrighty kids, let's get to it.

For some reason, I feel obliged to give a history of myself, and The Matrix. Back in 1999, when it was released, I was in sixth grade. One day, me, my brother, and my dad all went to some theater about fifteen minutes away from where we live, and we had heard some good things about The Matrix. So my dad said, "Want to see The Matrix?" Unfortunately, at that time, being of age 11, I was much more of a goodie-goodie than I should have been, and I didn't want mommy getting mad when daddy told her about us seeing a rated-R film, so I said, "No, Mom might get mad. Let's go see Never Been Kissed." And we did, and I missed what was probably my only chance in the world of seeing this great film on the big screen, since there aren't any midnight showings that go on around these parts. Not a day goes by that I don't regret that decision... not a day...

Later that year, seventh grade... or at least I think. It may have been later, but I'm pretty sure it was seventh grade. By the time The Matrix is released on video, we've heard more and more cool stuff about it. So much that when I was reading up on the movie, I knew the ending (though it didn't ruin much for me). My dad went to Blockbuster one day and decided to rent it, which was a much better decision than my previous one.

So wacked out were we by this film that during certain scenes we re-wound the tape (seeing as we didn't have a DVD player then), and watched it again- of course, I would have preferred to just get on and watch the movie in whole, but my dad insisted on rewinding, particularly on that scene where Neo "awakes" in his vat. While I was wowed by this, my father was holy-sh*tted, thus making him do the several rewindings. This is why I don't much like watching films with ol' Dad anymore... and it all started with The Matrix...

So yes, we enjoyed the film. We watched it again, on a later night. I was fine with that. We watched it another time. I was also fine with that. But then, it just started getting ridiculous. My dad would rent the movie every damned time he went to Blockbuster (I swear we've rented it at least 10 times), and with those rentings, he'd watch it so many times, that eventually, I got so sick of the highly frequent viewings that I just stopped watching it with him altogether. I was no longer wowed by The Matrix. I was no longer amused. I went a year without watching it. And while I still consider the movie a five-star film, because of my dad, it is only four-star enjoyment (it was five-star enjoyment before).

However, ever since Reloaded, at least my talking, reading, and discussion that deals with the movie is five-star. I was so overtaken by the second film that I was completely depressed the first night I had watched it. After my second viewing, I was suddenly driven to read up on it, to know everything, to never have any questions about what's going on, and after enough research, my goals were fulfilled.

It all started with whatisthematrix.com. Actually, it all started with Reloaded, but the path to fulfillment started with whatisthematrix.com. A few years ago, when I actually had a DVD-ROM (I no longer do), I had viewed the website via the DVD. It was interesting, but only worth visiting once or twice. However, right after seeing Reloaded, I heard from a friend that the site was jam-packed with holy-sh*t material, and I checked it out.

I must say it quite rapidly accelerated my obsession with The Matrix. I was infatuated with the philosophy section, which contains 15 or 16 essays on The Matrix (all of these we released before anyone had seen Reloaded)- I read every single one of those sections, which I'd guess to be at least- well, I don't know how many pages of reading, but I may have put as much as seven hours into it, that accounting for reading the actual essays, checking their back-up, and reading the footnotes.

Then there was everything else on the website- the "Quicktime VRs" which allows you to view an entire room in The Matrix or The Matrix: Reloaded with one camera-thingy (they're really weird, but incredibly cool and high-tech)- I love those things, and I checked out just about every one of those too.

But after I had seen everything I needed to that was contained within that website (that includes philosophy, the soundtrack, cast and crew, the making, VRs, several interviews, and even hidden sections), a website which has more than enough to satisfy, I needed something else. The release of the Animatrix satisfied that need, that hunger for more Matrix. I'll go on more about that in the soon-to-come Animatrix review, but right now I must not be discussing that.

After all that Matrix, I decided I really wanted to do an essay/review series on "All That is Matrix," so I saw Reloaded numerous times- five times total to be exact, and so that I could give people and myself the best review possible, one time when I went to see it, I took notes. Yes, that's right. I walked in there with a notebook and a pen and took notes on everything I could. While I didn't get to enjoy the movie that time (which saddened me greatly), at least now I'll have something to remind me of parts that I have forgotten.

For a few days I seemed lost- I had seen the movie five times, I owned the original Matrix on DVD, I had The Animatrix, and I had all these thoughts in my head, but where was I to go? Enter geekroar.com, a ridiculously liberal but simultaneously excellent site which has personality and gave me a lot of Matrix information- including a forum where I could discuss my Matrix views.

I became a member of that forum on July 1st, I do believe. And I became obsessed with it, and I remain obsessed with it, even to this day. I check it regularly, and out of 106 members, I have done 13% of the posts there, which is quite a lot- I have over 250 posts from 32 days of being there (as of publication date, that is). If you ask me, for a community that small, this is a sh*tload of posts. I hope that soon, in return for my service and contribution of discussion to the site, I'll get promoted from regular site-goer to moderator, but I doubt that will happen- oh well, all it would do is give me power, and that's power that I really don't need.

I didn't feel like I needed more, but more came. The game "Enter the Matrix," which I had seen people play, but which had never come into my hands, was lent to me by a friend across the street. Despite its repetition, this game is just bad-@$$. Bullet time, awesome kung-fu moves, cars, explosions, scenes from Reloaded, scenes filmed especially for the game, lovable characters (I'll expand on that in the Enter the Matrix review), and getting to pilot a hovercraft- everything a Matrix lover could want (though I do wish the graphics were better). This was definitely a game worth playing, and it is at the moment, my favorite.

So, that is where I am with The Matrix right now. Just about a week ago, I took notes for the film, and I saw it today so that I could go in and write the review with the attitude that the film had given me. And here I am. Get ready, kids.

The Matrix is, in essence, the perfect film. Though because of my ruined experience of it, I can't watch it like any normal person can, I can respect it like no other- I know it inside and out, I've seen all of the site, I'm obsessed with it in every aspect, and so on. The movie combines an incredible plot and idea, mixes in levels and metaphors that even today are unseen (there's over 200 levels to the film, say the Wachowski brothers, who directed it), and then adds completely ground-breaking special effects, which sadly are the only things that people watch the movie for (thus preventing them from seeing the many levels of it). It is the Star Wars of our generation, it is the average teenager's favorite film, and, as surprising as this might be, its underrated. Far too often is it excused as a lame action movie where the hero rises at the end after near-defeat. It is far more than that. Thank the Lord Roger Ebert came to respect it more, eventually.

What kind of story the brothers are trying to tell is unclear. Some see it as their actual point of view, some see it as a prophesy of the future, some see it as something done just for fun, and many see it as a re-telling of Christ's life. Christ, according to some, was unaware of who he was for much of his, then, on his finding out, was completely shocked and traumatized by the fact. Through many years, he came to learn of his skills, and once he finally did, he did what he was supposed to, and then was soon killed. Then re-surrected. And then, he ascended to the clouds.

I have several problems with this, in the case that only the first film is a Christian tale anyway. Many claim Cypher plays Judas Iscariot, when Cypher is really betraying Morpheus, who seems to be more of a John the Baptist, but John didn't much help Christ with his self-discovery. I guess The Agents would be the Romans and what not, and The Matrix would be society, and so on, and so on... it just doesn't work for me. Neo also has a lover, and Christ didn't. And then Neo is a returning "One" being "reborn"- this could work as a tale of Christ's second coming, which still hasn't happened (though some are claiming it has), but as a tale of Christ's days, it doesn't work.

I can see how Christ's tale plays into SOME parts of The Matrix, but not the entire thing like some people (http://awesomehouse.com/matrix/) are claiming. Unless Revolutions will somehow make it into that... I don't know. We will see.

The idea of The Matrix is that we are all "slaves," humans each stuck in our own personal vat, our body heat being harvested to give energy to "the evil machines." While in our vats, we are hooked up to a computer system that makes us think we are actually in a world where it is the year 1999, and that computer system is the Matrix. While this is going on (and it has been for a myriad of unknown years), a group of rebel fighters, some of which are from a city named Zion, some of which have been freed the Matrix by other fighters, are struggling against the machines to free the human race from their grasp. We don't know this until later in the film, but since you've already seen it (I would presume you have), I'm saying it.

What sucks about all this is that it may be happening, or it probably will happen some day (though I think the machines would just use a nuclear plant instead- though hell, that could be more difficult than I think). Then there's all the other possibilities, most of which are contained in the philosophy section of whatisthematrix.com. It is possible that if we are in a fake world, in the real world, all that is exists is some evil, brilliant scientist who created your brain and put it in a vat, connecting it with all the right plugs to make you think you are in whatever time you are in now- you might be the only brain-in-a-vat around, and all this scientist does is watch your brain activity, operate your world, and work on his garden (and maybe his farm). Where's everyone else? He killed them all. Of course, there's also the possibility that there's 6 billion other brain-in-vats, but this would of course require more than one evil brilliant scientist to do the maintenance, so if that's the case, than we're all brain-in-vats, and there's about 2,000 evil brilliant scientists watching over our brains. Man, that would suck, wouldn't it?

Or, perhaps you don't even have a brain, or a body, nonetheless. Perhaps your world was created by an evil, malicious demon/being who makes you think you are real when you and your world are really just something created by the evil demon, when in fact you don't exist. If this is the case, you have no choice whatsoever. The demon creates the world around your non-existent self and laughs maniacally at your misery and misfortune (being the whiner I am, sometimes I can say this would make perfect sense). When you "die," the demon's creation will end, and that will be it. He might just move on to torture another non-existent self.

There's also the possibility that long ago you went into a virtual-reality place, owned by some company, that would hack you into a computer and make you believe you led a different life than the one you do. It could even restart your life completely, and maybe some day a rep of the company will come and inform you of this (Cameron Crowe, anyone?). As for your "knowledge" of your past, you experiencing those things may have just been those memories being programmed into you.

Then there's my own idea, that maybe we're all the manufacturing of somebody's dream, and we're just a conscience within a conscience. When that conscience wakes up from his dream (or even a coma), we will end, and we won't even know it. Hell, you could just a program in the Matrix, and maybe everyone else is hooked up like Neo once was.

Oh man, I hope none of that's true. But you never know ;). I prefer to think that we're all real in the sense that the things we see actually exist without being just a manufacturing of our conscience or whatever, and I really do hope that's all true, because if it's not... well... "The Matrix cannot tell you who you are."

Ah yes, The Matrix. Perhaps I should start talking about that, seeing as this a review for the movie. Here we go...

The theme colors of The Matrix, both in film and in the "actual" thing, are black and green. When see the Matrix's code, there's a black background, with green numbers and symbols. Why these couldn't be white and black, or vice versa, I don't know, but hey, black and green are fine by me.

Because those are the theme colors, the movie opens with a black and green, or "Matrixed" WB (Warner Bros.) symbol, which I guess produced. Succeeding that, we have a Matrixed Village Roadshow symbol/words, and then, we get to the movie, after a bunch of code falls to reveal the words, "The Matrix," which of course is the title of the film.

A Matrixed computer screen appears, and it seems the date is 2-19-98 in the film. We hear a man's voice come on over a phone line, that man's voice being Cypher's, who comes in more importantly later in the film. Cypher says "You weren't supposed to relieve me," to Trinity, who is on the side of the line. They talk about "someone," and Cypher, oddly enough, says "We're going to kill him," which I guess suggests that the group's efforts will end up killing the guy, unfortunately. However, Trinity appears to disagree with this, saying that Morpheus believes he is the One. Cypher asks if she believes it, and she says it doesn't matter what she believes. Then Trinity asks "Did you hear that?" Cypher replies with, "Hear what?" Trinity says "Are you sure this line isn't traced?" and then Trinity says she has to go, after Cypher guarantees its not. While all this is happening, We watch a trace program that seems to be tracking wherever Trinity is calling from. She hangs up, and we get closer to the computer screen with the trace program, and fly into a computer-coded number zero, which transforms into a flashlight. We are intrigued from the start.

A policeman is holding the flashlight, and it seems like he, and a number of other police, are about to charge into a room. The flashlight guy gives the signal, and that is what they do. Upon entering the room, they see a woman clad in a black latex uniform, in front of computer screen. The leader of the group points a gun at her and says, "Hands on your head! Do it! Do it now!" And she does. The film seems, at the moment, to have a weird, weird atmosphere.

We get down to the streets outside the apartment, where several police vehicles are. A plain black car pulls up, and suited men (who look much like Men in Black) climb out, all having weird earpieces by their ears. One of the suited men walks over to the lieutenant cop, and gives him a talk about how he was given specific orders to leave this girl in her room. The lieutenant says he's just doing his job, and that his units are bringing the girl down now. The suited man says they're already dead.

Ah, screw it, we all know who every character is, so I'll just start talking like it. We cut back to the room that Trinity is in, and as an officer starts to approach her to arrest her, she stands, and starts to kick every cops @$$. I remember how blown away I was just watching this scene for the first time- watching Trinity walk the walls, do that slo-mo kick thing, and that final high kick at the end. Its such a cool scene to watch, and I get a maximum enjoyment of it every time. She does seem to be super-woman upon a first watching.

The agents approach the room, and Morpheus informs Trinity of the fact. He gives her confidence that she can escape, and she proceeds to do this. There's that rooftop chase, where we see her jump over a gap, and the Smith and the cops follow, and that one cop almost missing at his abdomen just barely catches the end of the ledge. After that, she makes that HUGE leap (with a jump that is mocked in Enter the Matrix), and the agent follows, with the leading cop saying, "That's impossible," when seeing it. That, for some reason, may just be the most well done line in the movie- they zoom in on his face, we see his sad amazement, and then the unforgettable dialogue.

Trinity makes that dive, going through a window (that weirded me out the first time). Then, with helpful self-encouragement after aiming at the window (thinking that Smith will dive through it, which must be impossible for him or something), she gets up, and gets to the phone booth, in an intense scene where she just barely makes it before the truck crashes into it. I was full of suspense right there, even as I wasn't completely sure whether or not she was good or evil- I just hoped she'd be alive (or gone, for that matter) when they cleared the wreckage. And, she was.

The agents, looking upon the crumpled phone booth, talk about an "informant," which, in the case, is Cypher, who is helping them to get a hold of Morpheus. We're not supposed to know this at the point. We hear about some Neo guy, and then...

Thomas A. Anderson, software writer for a respectable computer company, viewed from the ceiling, weird music playing in his stereo, as he sleeps on his computer desk. We see the results of a web search for the hacker alias Morpheus flashing on his screen- pictures and articles. The screen goes black. Words pop up- "Wake up, Neo." And he does.

Neo's weirded out by this, and he tries to exit by hitting escape, but it doesn't work, quite fortunately. He's told "The Matrix has him," and he's also ordered to "Follow the white rabbit." We can tell by now he has no idea what's going on. "Knock, knock, Neo," appears on the screen, and of course, "knock knock" happens on the door.

Neo asks who it is, and his friend Choi replies. When Neo answers it, he tells Choi he's two hours later, yada yada, its Dujour's fault, and so forth. Neo asks for the money, and Choi gives it to him. The count of the cash is $2000, and I'm guessing that's supposed to have some sort of millennial reference. Neo's gets the chip he's supposed to be giving Choi from a carved out book called "Simulacra and Simulation," by some French dude named Jean Beaulliard, which the Wachowski brothers asked Keanu Reeves to read before he read the script. Neo gives Choi the chip, they have a talk about not being sure whether you're awake or still dreaming (which is obviously a Matrix reference), Choi calls it mescaline and says its the only way to fly (mescaline is a hallucinatory drug, which is actually kinda funny, when you look at Choi and his weird crowd). Choi notices that Neo is a bit whacked, and tells him he needs to get out. At first Neo says no, but then he sees a white rabbit tattoo on Dejour's shoulder, and decides to go.

I'll tell you what, Choi and those people are just WEIRD. Disturbingly weird, I find them, even to this day. That one chick has chains going to her nose... and that one guy is just a freak... and Dejour has those Chinese neck rings or whatever, and... whoa...

Anyway, loud Rob Zombie music comes in, we see people doing the weirdest of nightclub dancing, we see Choi and crew, then Neo, alone, leaning against a pole, completely uninterested, but expecting something to happen. Trinity approaches, and tells him who she is (I'm guessing she cracked the IRS D-base before she was freed, but who knows, that's still pretty amazing). They talk, she says that famous "most guys do" line, which I suppose suggests that society believes men are more skillful than women.

Trinity approaches Neo, and I guess being the way I was at the time, I could have sworn she was going to give him the sluttiest kiss in all of history, and it only would have been natural of Neo to reply with passion. Bu t she doesn't give him that kiss, she just tells him that the answers are out there (in a much more drawn out way), and then she, walks away. The sound of the alarm clock seeps in, and Neo gets up, saying "sh*tshi*tsh*t." Cut to the evil corporation boss, Mr. Rhineheart, "the ultimate company man," owner of Meta Cortechs, one of the leading software companies in the world. A window washer is outside, and Neo is in his office. Rhineheart gives him a talk about how he believes he is special, but he is not, and how he can either choose to stay there or find another job- this is all metaphorical talk, all relating to Neo being "special" and having to choose to either stay in the Matrix, or to leave, and have a new life. And no, I didn't figure that one out myself. However, to help with the metaphor, one should take notice that Rhineheart seems to have an "agent" look to him. Heh, those Wachowski brothers... Rhineheart asks if he's made himself clear, and Neo says yes.

Neo is sitting in his cubicle, living the normal, every-day cubicle life. He sits and does nothing, sort of like Peter in Office Space (that's really funny, actually). A FedEx guy shows up, and gives him a package, saying "Have a nice day" on the way out (perhaps this is a joke from the brothers, because we all know he's not about to have a nice day). Neo opens the package, and a phone slides out. Though we don't see his face, we can feel his confusion. The phone rings immediately, weirding us out (I thought, "cool,") Morpheus is on the phone, and he says "They're coming for you." Neo figures out who, is instructed on escape plans, and he follows them to an office with a window view. Inside this office, we should note, are pictures in black and green (another inside joke, perhaps). Morpheus tells Neo he can escape in "their" (the Agents') custody, or through a scaffold outside. At first, Neo tries to get to the scaffold by climbing the outside of the building (which he actually had to do, believe it not), then there's that slo-mo cell phone drop, and then, after muttering to himself over and over again, he turns himself into the agents. Trinity, on her motorcycle mirror, sees him in their custody, says "Sh*t," and drives away. Neo is pushed angrily into a black car.

Next, we have my favorite scene in the whole film, the green room scene. We see several television screens, go into one of them, and see Neo taking a seat at a desk. Smith sits across from him, with a binder with several files in it, supposedly on Thomas A. Anderson. Smith talks to Neo about his two lives, one of them with a future, one without (its strange how this really turns out to be that Neo's life has a future, Anderson's does not), and Smith also makes that unforgettable, "And you help your landlady take out her garbage," quote, with that awesome cringe that comes afterward. I love that cringe. Its the best facial expression in the whole movie.

Neo hears the deal, tells Smith he has a better one, and gives him that oh-so-memorable finger in exchange for a phone call, apparently unaware of an agent's power. Smith, when seeing the finger, makes the funniest grunt I've ever heard in my life, and tells Neo he is disappointed. Then, there's the "if you can't speak" think, Neo gets the weird feeling, his mouth closes (Tom's 7th grade thoughts: "that is the most f*cked up thing I've ever seen), and then his shirt is ripped off. Smith takes out that weird thingy, which turns from machine to organism, tells Neo he's going to help them no matter what, and the organism climbs inside Neo's belly button (that just freaked me out completely).

Neo suddenly awakes, and it is to suggest that Neo was just dreaming, but the audience obviously suspects this may not be true. His phone rings, and it is Morpheus. He instructs him to go to the Adams Street Bridge after telling Neo is the one.

Neo stands underneath a bridge, and it is pouring with rain. Lots of rain. Its a great shot in the movie. A car pulls up, Trinity opens the door, tells Neo to get in, and he does. Right as he sits down, a woman clad in white, named Switch, points a gun at him. I wonder if the actress, Belinda McClory, was at all offended when she read the script, which describes her as a "beautiful androgyne." Sure, its not bad to be beautiful, but ANDROGYNE!? Like, hermaphroditic? What the hell was she thinking, accepting that role? They must've offered her quite a lump of cash. Oh well. She fits it (I'm not saying she's androgynic, I'm just saying her character in the film definitely looks it.

Neo asks what's going on, and he's told its necessary for their protection from him. When he's told to take off his shirt, he starts to ask questions, and Switch gets p*ssed and stops the car. She calls him a "coppertop" (which suggests he is a battery), and does that whole "our way or the highway" thing. Neo steps out, then Trinity stops him with her whole speech about knowing where the road ends (which is a metaphor for knowing how deep the rabbit hole goes), and he gets back in the car. They pull out that bug-tracker, which is powered by the car's cigarette lighter (and you can actually see this). Three things hook onto Neo's stomach, then there's the blue electricity, the removing of the bug, and the throwing of the bug onto the street, after Trinity almost "loses it." Apoc, the driver, continues down the road, and they pull up next to an apartment building, and it is still heavily raining (I'd guess the rain is metaphorical for Matrix code, but who knows).

Trinity and Neo are outside Morpheus' door. She tells him to tell the truth, and he walks in. A lot of suspense, at this point, has built to us wondering who the hell Morpheus is. Here, we find out. Some people may think it was a let down. I don't. Some bald genius in an overcoat, looking out the window, with sunglasses on. He actually looks pretty cool, dominant, and majestic. "At last," he says. Hell, he even has the voice of some enlightened guy. I love Morpheus.

Morpheus shakes Neo's hand, and does that "The honor is all mine thing." They sit down in those burgundy leather chairs, and a glass of water is inbetween the two of them. Morpheus does that whole Alice and rabbit hole thing, and asks Neo if he believes in fate. Neo says no, because he doesn't like the idea that he's not control of his life. Morpheus says he knows exactly what Neo means. Then he explains the Matrix, talks about Neo's feeling about the world being like a splinter in his mind, then there's that quote, "Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is... you have to see it for yourself," which the brothers used for the movie's theatrical trailer, quite ingeniously, I will add.

Morpheus offers Neo the choice between the red pill and the blue pill, the red pill keeping him in Wonderland, and seeing how deep the rabbit hole goes. The blue pill would make him wake up in his bed, believing whatever he wanted to believe. There's that infamous glasses shot of Morpheus, one glass reflecting Neo and the blue pill, another reflecting Neo reaching for the red pill, which is symbolic of "Neo" and "Thomas A. Anderson." Neo chooses the red, swallows it, and follows Morpheus into a room with several people, many of which he has met before.

Neo, after being explained to about what the red pill does, takes a seat by a cracked mirror. He watches at the mirror synthesizes so that it is no longer cracked. Cypher does that whole "Kansas is going bye-bye" thing, which kinda leads me to like him, even today. Neo reaches for the mirror, and then there's that intense, incredibly cool sequence where the mirror's "goo" overtakes him. Things build up, the other people in the room get worried, Morpheus calls Tank, and then, we are swallowed by Neo, that happening with a most awesome sound.

Here, we have the sequence that denounces any possibility of "the real world" being a Matrix- Neo awakes, and he has no residual self-image- he is the real Neo, in a thick goo, with several cords connected to his body. He breaks free of the goo. He surveys, in amazement, every thing that is around him. Watching this scene, I was amazed, for I hadn't imagined something so complex to be "the real world." My dad was so shocked that he decided to ruin the movie for me (if you know what I mean). Neo, like me, is also amazed, but not in a cool way. After pulling that thing out of his throat, he surveys the scenery, and we're all in sick shock. A machine pulls up. It does something that disconnects him from all of the cords, after which causing him to slide out into a toxic waste area. A "claw" comes down and grabs him, and he's pulled into a great white light. Disgusting and covered in glob, Neo is carried to a table, and Morpheus tells him, "Welcome to the real world." This is metaphoric in saying that the real world is sick and ugly.

After this comes a bunch of music and talking about whether or not Neo is the One, then some of Neo's questions, and the whole "Your eyes hurt because you've never used them before," which is saying that it hurts to see the world as it is if you haven't seen it like that before. Heh.

Later, after all of the pins in his body, Neo awakes in a bed, this time with some hair and eyebrows, and he pulls a steel object out of his forearm. He feels something on the back of his head, and he reaches around to grab it, and we hear that Matrix sound, in suggestion that the hole in his head is what plugs him into the Matrix. Before he can completely grasp it, Morpheus walks in. Neo asks him what this place is, and dumbly, Morpheus replies with, "More important than what, is when." Is the time more important than the fact that they're in a real world where six billion people are slaves? Who the hell is this guy? Some moron?

Oh well. Morpheus explains the time, saying its closer to 2199 than it is to 1999, but note that this does not mean that its in the 2190's- its just means its closer to that year. It could be in the 2110s, or the 3000s- they just don't know. Regardless, its closer to 2199. Yeah.

Morpheus introduces Neo to the crew, and we get a close up of that plaque with the Nebuchanezzar's creation date and sorts, "Mark 3, number 11," which is for a Bible verse- "And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out saying, `You are the Son of God.'" That's kinda cool, really.

So yeah, the crew. We see Trinity, Switch, Apoc (Apocalypse), Cypher, then Tank and Dozer, the two Zion-bred brothers, and "the little one behind you," Mouse, who looks weirdly more mature later in the film, despite his... mousiness, right now.

"You wanted to know what the Matrix is, Neo?" and then we go into the construct... Neo questions the thing's reality, then there's residual self-image, the leather chairs, and then Morpheus goes into the explanation of the machine history, and... man, Morpheus has a cool suit, that green tie and stuff, and then there's that whole awesome "What is real?" dialogue, then the world at the peak of civilization, and finally, that cool sequence where we see the fields of vats, and the babies being moved and what not. "Watch them liquify the dead." Yeah... Morpheus gives that whole speech about how all these people are really slaves, and then, in a great delivery, brings up the Duracell battery (they don't show the label to get rid of product placement). Neo doesn't believe it, and asks to get out.

Once he's out of there, Neo frantically gets out of his chair, scurries away, telling everyone to get away from him. Cypher says "He's gonna pop," and he does. Neo pukes onto some grated floor. Its kinda disgusting, really, but effective, as we are wowed, just as he is- but once more, his isn't in a cool way.

Neo is alone in a room. Morpheus walks in, explains that he had to free Neo because minds shan't be freed beyond a certain age. Then he tells the tale of the One, how the One freed the first of them (this plays well into the Architect's speech in Reloaded), and how the Oracle prophesized he would one day be reborn, and he would end the war and bring about the destruction of the Matrix. Then, Morpheus informs Neo that he believes that search is over, and then he tells Neo to get some sleep for his training tomorrow.

The lights go out, and the next day, Tank walks to Neo's room, to find his just sitting on the floor, more than likely thinking about events of the past few days. I must say, though he's gone now, I always liked Tank. However, he was "fired" because he stole food from the directors during the production and made harassing calls to them... there were also money problems and sorts... he wanted a lot more than they were willing to give him, thus giving Marcus Chong, his actor, the label of an @$$hole which he may very well be. But Tank himself is just bad-@$$.

Tank and Neo shake hands after Neo says that he didn't get any sleep- Neo notices Tank is without plugs, and Tank goes on to explain how he and his older brother Dozer were home-grown in Zion, the last remaining human city. Zion is heaven in the Bible...

After this talk, Tank gets Neo into the seat so that he can load combat training programs for Neo's fighting skills. Neo is supposed to get operation programs first, but this is just "major boring sh*t" to Tank, so he skips it. Neo is first shown Jujitsu, my martial art of choice :-D, and then he goes on to learn just about every fighting style in the universe. "Hey Mikey, I think he likes it." Is that a Life Cereal reference? Morpheus walks up to Tank and asks how he's doing, and Tank replies, "Ten hours straight. He's a machine..." Some think this implies that Neo IS a machine, which is just about as ridiculous as it gets...

Neo gets done with the program loading, and tells Morpheus his famous line, "I know kung-fu," Morpheus replies, "Show me," and they go into a Kung-Fu-esque training room, each in their own little ki suits. Morpheus explains the training room, with how some rules can be bent, and others can be broken (I've only seen Neo "break" rules). Then, there's that huge fight. Neo's infamous triple-kick that I have actually mastered (that means I can do it), Morpheus' huge ground-breaking (literally) jump, Neo's leg twist thing, Neo's walk up the post (which is a bit ridiculous, really), Morpheus' finger-beckon, and then, Morpheus' other famous line, "You think that's air you're breathing now? Hm?" It's all done really well, the music being its usual techno self, and Morpheus at first kicking Neo's a*se. Mouse scrambles to the crew, which is now eating in the "cafeteria," and tells them the two are fighting. They all run and jump over things to the main deck as fast as possible.

"Don't think you are, know you are" are so forth, Cypher's evil smile as it looks like Neo's about to beaten, Trinity's encouragement, then Neo all of a sudden coming out with a huge burst of speed, punching Morpheus in the chest, and almost landing one in his face. Mouse says "I don't believe it." I first time I saw this I thought Neo had not hit Morpheus, so I didn't believe it either. But he turns out he did, and with incredibly fast speed, which will some day accellerate him to being the One.

Jump program, Morpheus' monstrous leap, and Neo's only really famous line, "Whoa." Neo falls on the jump, which gets everyone thinking that he's nothing special. Then there's that weird bouncy thing, and that really freaks me out, even to this day. There's just something weird about it.

Neo jacks out, and is told about how his mind makes it real with his lip bleeding. Now for some reason, I just don't understand how the rebels can't seem to get a true grasping of the fact that the Matrix isn't real- if I was one of them, I'd sure the second I walked in there, I'd be reassured with confidence that this is nothing special at all, just some dumb VR program where I can manipulate the rules. But perhaps the stories of Agents cast them into fear, and that fear casts them into an ungrasping, and... the poor Matrixites.

"I don't remember you bringing me dinner," the obvious implication that Cypher is jealous of Neo in some way, shape or form, bla bla bla, the whole Oracle thing. Its the most insignificant scene in the film, but I guess it has to be done, as some sort of interlude.

Following that is the simulation program with the woman in the red dress, who isn't all THAT attractive, but hell, when you're living in the real world, you need something like that to keep going, some sort of Marilyn Monroe. Neo walks through, thinking its the Matrix, seeing all these business people (and this, on first viewing, came off to me as strangely fake, so I figured something was wrong), and then, the woman in red, which Mouse designed. Neo turns around again, and Smith is in his face. "Freeze." The explanation, the seagulls in the air, and what not. Morpheus tells Neo that the Agents are everyone, and they are no one. I understood this completely the first time. After that- "They will never be as strong or as fast as you can be." The dodging bullets thing. "You won't have to."

Then there's the sentinels scene, where we learn the purpose of those little things, which is to find ships and kill them. The EMP is charged, we learn a bit about the tunnels, and the scene is over. It comes, of course, with a nice shot of the Neb. Man, that thing sounds cool.

Neo runs into Cypher as he's trying to run a hack where he can get into the Matrix to talk to Smith. We don't know this at the point, but I wasn't surprised when I found out later. Cypher goes through the matrix code and how he only sees girls, gives Neo "the good sh*t," and gives Neo scary talk about agents. Neo, not satisfied with the talk, walks away.

Ah, the Cypher and Smith scene, and as I said, I wasn't surprised, nor disappointed. Kinda expected some sort of betrayal. This scene is good- really atmospheric, and full of nice little quotes. I like the harp that plays, the nice little dinner scene that goes on (where Smith doesn't eat, though that would be funny). There's the whole talk about ignorance being bliss, which is Cypher's point of view, but when Cypher tries to go back to the ignorant world, it destroys him, and that is symbolic of what ignoring the truth can do.

That Cypher scene... nice... though you have to wonder if Smith was less helpful to Cypher for having been such an @$$hole... and Cypher's name was Mr. Reagan. Were the Wachowski's calling President Reagan a traitor?

Hm... I speculate too much.

The tasty wheat scene- "if you close your eyes, it almost feels like runny eggs," (or a bowl of snot), and then there's all that funny talk about why chicken tastes like everything, which would actually make perfect sense, supposing we are in a matrix. Afterwards, Mouse talks about possibily hooking Neo with the woman in the red dress, in which Switch responds with one of the best lines in the movie, "The digital pimp, hard at work." After that, Morpheus walks in, and says they're going in to see the Oracle, and there's that stylish phone ringing scene, which is cool the first time, but it gets tedious, the way I see it.

After they walk out of the phone room, and Cypher drops his cell phone in the trash to signal to the Agents that they have arrived, there is the most unnoticed scene in the movie, where Neo is being driven to the Oracle. He talks about the memories of his life, and how they don't exist. He's told that this means the Matrix cannot tell him who he is. This makes perfect sense- living in a fake world and ignoring what is real won't help you with self-discovery, but living in the real, dirty world will. So many levels...

After that comes Trinity's little choke in her response to Neo's question about what the Oracle told her, and then Morpheus and Neo walk inside, Morpheus nodding to a strange, insignificant, bearded old man on the way (I've always questioned his purpose), and Neo and Morpheus talking about the Oracle on the way there, and what she knows, and her telling Morpheus that he would find the One.

They get to the door, and Morpheus says that while he can show Neo the door, Neo himself has to walk through it. As Neo turns the doorknob, the door is opened by a lady from inside, who looks and talks like a doctor's assistant. She invites Neo in, and tells Morpheus to take a seat wherever. Neo is placed in a room with all the other potentials. We see the kid reading the Korean book, the letter-blocks twin girls, and the movie "Night of the Lepus" on television- this is a film about giant killer bunny rabbits taking over the world, and reading about it, it sounds really funny. Its another allusion to Alice in Wonderland.

SPOON BOY. The most memorable minor character in the history of film. Man, is he cool. A band even named themselves after him, and they're stationed in Indianapolis- "Spoon Boy and the Potentials." Heh, freaks. Anyway, Spoon Boy is one cool mofo. If you ask me, he largely contributes to Neo's One-ness, making him realize there is no spoon, thus helping him survive where he must. "There is no spoon" is even said in that one guy's acceptance speech for his Oscar. Okay, continuing... Neo twists the spoon...

"The Oracle will see you now."

"Not quite what you were expecting." I don't know if I can sympathize with this. I think the Oracle was mostly what I had expected, but not perfectly what I had expected- however, she wasn't enough for me to be surprised. But she is all she's built up to be, and more. Her conversation with Neo is one of the best in the film- the vase part (which freaks me out, the baking your noodle thing), and then, "Comet Nosce," or, "Know Thyself," which changed Jessica's life or something, and then the fact that Neo is not the One. Now, what people imply is, later after seeing it, they say "SHE NEVER SAID THAT!" Ah, but she did, just indirectly. But there is a catch! She said, "It looks like you're waiting for something... your next life, maybe, who knows... that's how these things go..." Neo DIED and was RESURRECTED, bringing about a NEW LIFE, where he was officially the One. Note, he did not have the One's powers until his resurrection. Then he was the one, in his next life. Get it now? Good. The Oracle did say he wasn't the One- some people are just too stupid to understand how she said it.

After that comes her telling of Neo's choice, and how she hates having to give Neo bad news. I can honestly say I had forgotten all of that part on first viewing.

"Have a cookie," "Being the One is like being in love," when Neo is the One, he knows it. "I can see why shes like you... not too bright though." Note the Oracle's mother figure. This contributes to the second film...

"What was said was for you and for you alone." They step out. Cypher gives Neo a look, which creates a creepy Matrix sound, automatically making us know something is wrong. They get inside the building, walk the stairs, Mouse looks at the woman in red, and then... "Deja vu." Seeing that cat twice even freaked me out. Deja vu, hell yeah. Everyone panics. The brick wall. Mouse: Oh no. Tank: Oh no. Mouse gets shot up, and blood pours out of his mouth. This is the part where he looks weirdly more mature.

Cypher makes a fake panic. Neo's given a gun. They try to escape inside the walls, but Cypher, intentionally or unintentionally (to this day I don't know), coughs. Neo escapes death by firing at the SWAT searching for them. Smith appears- Morpheus saves Neo and tells everyone he's all that matters. The rest of the crew escape (Neo and Trinity bringing down tons of bricks on the way), and Cypher gets out of there, somehow, without getting shot, though he misses the vent.

Morpheus and Smith fight, without any art to it, just brutal fighting, Morpheus does that kicking from the corner, and gets his head slammed against the sink. We discover Smith's name. "You all look the same to me." Morpheus, after the defeat, gets the pulp beaten out of him by SWATs. That scene alone, while often unnoticed, is a great fight scene.

Cypher is freed after telling Tank about the "godd*mn car accident," and Tank gets ahold of Neo and crew. Cypher gets one of those weird guns, and fries Tank, almost missing. Dozer gets fried to death, which is strange, seeing his Samson-like strength.

Cypher answers Trinity's call, after the phone hangs up, and he gives her his whole speech, which really makes you hate the guy, and also makes you proud to see his death. Joe Pantoliano, nonetheless, is a great actor. He talks about how he thought he loved Trinity, how Morpheus is a jack-off, how he's just a messenger... what he means when saying that this world can be more real than the Matrix, is that we get to watch death in the Matrix, and not in the real world... "Not like this... not like this..." he kills Switch and Apoc (those deaths are powerful, suddenly we actually really care for them)... and almost kills Neo, before "a miracle" stops him. Tank is still alive, and ends Cypher's life, also breaking part of the ship in the process. Lord, the relief that came to my mind seeing this evil man die... Cypher... that bastard... "You better believe it, you son of a b*tch, you're still gonna burn..." great line, great line...

Trinity is let out first, and hugs Tank after learning of Dozer's death.

Cut to the Matrix, and that helicopter and its reflection on the building. That's one of the coolest shots in the film- I love that shot.

Next we're into Smith's gridded interrogation room, in that one government building, where he gives his ever-memorable speech. I love that speech, and the good points he makes in it... the discussion of the history of the Matrix... notice how he learn more about the history with each film... heh... anyway, yeah. I love this speech.

Smith goes on about how humans define their reality through misery and suffering, and this makes perfect sense- things are just too good to be true when everything is happy. How true that is- when dreams just seem too good for me, I always wake up. Heh. So, as a result of that, a bunch of humans woke up, entire crops were lost (crops of humans), and the Matrix had to be reloaded into a world that is much like that of our world today. Man, those poor machines. Imagine how many sentinels had to sacrifice their existence so that they could all stay alive...

Back to the Neb- because of the fear that Morpheus' mind will collapse because of the drugs they give him (it's like hacking a computer, says Tank), and Morpheus would give the Zion mainframe codes, Tank decides they should pull the plug. He talks about how Zion is more important "than me, You, even Morpheus," but note, out of the possibility that Neo is the One, he does not say Neo.

Right before Tank would be pulling the plug, Neo says "stop," and Tank asks why, then Neo goes into his whole thing about he's not the One (its not possible, says Trinity, because she loves him, though she does not say that second part), and then he says he believes he can bring Morpheus back. Tank says its "loco" (a line barely heard), and Neo says he's going to do it anyway. Trinity says she is going with him. Neo declines, but Trinity, being the "ranking officer on this ship," says if he declines, he can go to hell, "because he isn't going anywhere else." That's a sad view to have.

Next, we have Smith's ever-so-brilliant VIRUS speech, which I just love in every aspect for what it has to say. Smith tells Morpheus that he's had a revelation in his time here, and that revelation is that human beings are not mammals, for mammals develop an equilibrium with their surrounding environment- but we humans do not. We MULTIPLY and MULTIPLY until every natural resource is consumed. When Smith said this, I knew where he was going, and I could only righteousness in his speech. "Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You are a plague. And we... are the cure." Where is he wrong? Nowhere. I don't think that we should be wiped off the planet or anything but in truth, we do follow the pattern of the virus, and its almost terrifying. This is one of my favorite selections of dialogue in the film.

Next, we have Neo and Trinity inside the construct. Tank asks them what they need, besides a miracle, and Neo replies with the should-be-famous, "Guns. Lots of guns," and Trinity steps forward as guns appear and almost knock her over. Neo starts grabbing guns, and Trinity advises him that no one has ever done this before. Neo tells her that's why its going to work.

More Smith- the serum isn't working, and Smith thinks he can make it do so, so he asks Brown to leave. Here we have another selection of dialogue that I love, though I can't particularly sympathize with Smith for it. Smith tells Morpheus that he hates the Matrix because how disgusting humans are. "I can taste your stink... and every time I do, I feel as if I've been infected by it... its repulsive, isn't it?" We can see, quite clearly, that Smith is gaining human emotions, such as anger, and he is quite frustrated by this. However, there is a slight bit of machine left in him, as in that one part, he says, "And in this mind is the key-my-key", like its all one word. Morpheus makes disgusting choking sounds as Smith threatens his life. Then...

The hardcore, unknown metallic instrument music kicks in, and we see Neo and Trinity entering the government building, for the infamous Lobby Shoot-out. Neo puts his bag through the metal detector, the guard asks him for any keys, chains, and what not, and then Neo opens his trenchcoat. "Holy sh*t." Neo kicks the guard, making him fly back, and proceeds to shoot everyone in the lobby. One guard jumps out of the way, and manages to call for SWAT back-up. Trinity shoots him subsequent to this.

The SWATs enter, and yes, finally, we have the ever-cool. Lobby Shoot-out. That cool bass line kicks in- doob doob doob, ba-doob, ba-doob, ba-doob, and it plays throughout the entire scene- it is a truly perfect, cool song. Concrete blows everywhere in slow motion as Neo and Trinity do cartwheels and shoot the police. Trinity does that one thing where she kicks the cop's gun, makes it fall into her hands, and shoots the guy in the back. Cool. Finally, at the end, Neo does that final kick to that one guy's head, and the man falls to the ground. Concrete lies everywhere. Neo and Trinity grab their bags, and go to the elevator, which ironically has the words "Do not use lift if there is a fire" by it. Few people ever notice that little joke.

They get inside the elevator, and the bomb is placed. Hooking themselves onto the elevator cord thing, Neo looks down, and whispers: "There is no spoon." This is to remind himself that because the Matrix is not real, he can do anything, and that is essential for bullet-dodging, and all that good stuff. He shoots the cord thing, and he and Trinity are shot up into the air. The bomb goes off, and we see the lobby being destroyed as the elevator door bounces towards the screen amidst the explosion- strangely enough, all the concrete in the lobby is gone. The pillars have been perfected. Ha.

The sprinklers go off, and Smith is p*ssed to see that a rescue attempt is being made for Morpheus. "Find them and destroy them!" He says. And Jones goes off.

The rooftop fight. The head of the police says "I repeat, we are under attack!" and Neo does that things where he kicks those two guys three times each. There's a bunch more @$$-kicking, then finally, Trinity throws that knife into that guy's head before he can shoot Neo, which is one of the cooler parts of the movie. The Agent appears, and weirdly, when he is morphing onto the scene, we can see the green Matrix code on the SWAT's body. Hm...

Neo tries to shoot the guy, and then we get that ever-cool bullet-dodging normal-motion thing from the Agent, where we see six of him at one time, which suggest that he's moving at about 900 mph, and that's pretty scary. Neo's clip is emptied. "Trinity! Help!" He yells.

Ah, the slow motion bullet-dodging scene. Neo bends back, and the first bullet is fired. He moves his arms and his waist to avoid it. We get those super-cool ripple-effect bullets. Subsequently, other bullets are fired, and Neo dodges the most of them. But finally, one gets him in the shoulder. He falls. Jones walks up. "Only human," he says, in a cold tone. That's a memorable quote. Following that, Trinity's gun goes to his head, and she says, "Dodge this," and we see her saying that from Jones' point of view. It is an excellent moment. She fires, and Jones disappears, turning back into the policeman.

Trinity comments on Neo's fast bullet-dodging, which I didn't really get upon first viewing- he sure didn't seem to be moving that fast. Neo comments, "Not fast enough," pointing at his shoulder. Neo looks to the helicopter, and asks Trinity if she can fly it. "Not yet," she says, and she calls Tank, asking for a pilot program to the helicopter, and it really does kick @$$ when we see the information being loaded into her brain, both in the real world, and in the Matrix.

Back into the interrogation room. Jones enters, and Smith is standing. He hears the helicopter, and we can see the cringe settle across his face, as he turns around to see Neo, in the helicopter, with the machine gun, about to give us another kick-@$$ slow motion scene. "No," Smith says.

And, the bullets rain down. At about 1/4th the real speed, I'd guess, we see bullets tear apart Smith, Jones, and Brown, in a watery room already flooded by the sprinklers. This is just an awesome scene. Smith tries to fire at Neo, but he still destroyed. The bullets come amazingly fast. From below, looking up above, we can see the shells falling the ground, and that is one sweet shot. Finally, Neo stops, and he beckons Morpheus to come. Morpheus, in some super-power struggle, breaks free of his handcuffs, and starts to unhook himself, apparently free of the drugs. Smith and the other agents morph into existence outside the room. Morpheus is free of everything, and he starts to sprint towards the copter, but Smith busts in, and in another slow motion sequence, shoots Morpheus in the ankle, causing him to limp before he can jump. Neo sees he's not going to make it, and leaps after Morpheus, and they grab each other in mid-air. Trinity takes off as Smith fires more. As she tries to get away, Smith somehow manages to shoot essential tanks in the helicopter as Neo and Morpheus hang by the cord-thingy, and the helicopter loses altitude. When they are close enough to a building, Neo drops Morpheus off, and Morpheus rolls to safety. However, Trinity looks to be in danger. As the helicopter heads towards the side of building, Trinity grabs on to the cord Neo was holding, and jumps off, and Neo tries to hold on to her. The helicopter crashes into the building, creates a very sweet ripple effect in the side of it, and an explosion follows the ripple effect- its one the best sequences in the movie. Trinity lands safely against a piece of glass on the building that Neo was located on. Tank, in the real world, is amazed, and he says, "I knew it. He's the one." Once Trinity is up to the building, Morpheus asks Neo if he believes that he is the One now. Neo says, "But the Oracle said..." and Morpheus interrupts him with, "She told you exactly what you needed to hear." That was being that Neo still is the not the One. Heck, he won't be in this life. But, on his resurrection, he will become the One. Morpheus proceeds to say, "Soon you'll learn just as I did- there's a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path." And that is very, very true. Apply that line to your life, kids. Just because you know how to do something does not mean its going to be as easy a walk. People expect things to be too simple in life.

Tank is phoned, and is happy to hear Morpheus' voice. He gives them all an exit.

The Agents get on top of the building that Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity were on, and see they can't find them. The tracking system shows where the Neb is, and sentinels are deployed to go and destroy it. Smith is angry with the fact that they even have to do this. He says, "They're not out yet." And they aren't.

The three make it down to the exit, and Morpheus goes first, in a really weird but excellent computer effect which shows him disappearing into the phone. An old homeless drunk who is watching completely freaks upon seeing this. In the meantime, Trinity tells Neo, as the phone rings for her, that everything the Oracle has told her as come true, "except for this." What she means when she says that is that Neo has not died, because the Oracle did prophesize that for Trinity. But before Trinity can tell Neo this, she decides she has to go, and puts the phone to her ear. Smith appears, and Trinity notices, and she puts her hand up to the booth like in the beginning, disappearing right before the phone is shot, while suspended in mid-air.

"Mr. Anderson," Smith says, that ever-so-classic line that can get quite annoying. Trinity, in the real world, wants to get back in, but Tank tells her she can't. She whispers, "Run, Neo, run." But Neo doesn't. She asks what he's doing, and Morpheus answers for Neo: "He's beginning to believe."

Smith and Neo stand across from each other at the subway station, Neo with a gunfighter's resolve. An old newspaper flies between them, and Neo cracks his fingers. A Western allusion is clearly given.

They both jump towards each, bouncing off of a pillar to unleash their bullets. Both dodge them in mid-air. When they get close to each other, they twist around, each having his gun to the other's head. I always thought this scene kicked @$$- when I was in jujitsu, my friend Max and I would imitate it. Anyway, Smith says the excellent line, "You're empty." Intelligently, Neo comments: "So are you." Both realizing the truth, Neo twists away so not to be hit, and Smith just gets up. They proceed to fight. There's some punches and kicks, Smith punches through the concrete, and Neo kicks his glasses, breaking them. Smith is angry. He loves his glasses. They are his only possession in this world. He says with a crude voice, removing his glasses, "I am going to enjoy watching you die... Mr. Anderson."

There is, in short, a sh*tload of fighting. Neo gets knocked the ground once, and coughs blood. Smith thinks he has defeated him, but is angered when Neo rises, gets the dust off, and beckons Smith. Smith starts to get his @$$ kicked, as Neo does that triple-kick thing in the air, which I love to do realistically, being as bad-@$$ as it is, and then Neo does that thing to Smith throat, but finally, Smith is able to grab ahold of Neo, and throw him into the wall, where he proceeds to beat the sh*t out of him with the universe's fastest, most deadly punches. He then throws Neo over into an old ticket booth. Neo cannot get up. Smith, knowing this, drags him to the train tracks, and a train is approaching. Hearing the sound of it, Smith gives a really cool little speech, saying, "Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitablility. It is the sound of your death. Good bye, Mr. Anderson." But, in a rage of dominance, Neo says, "My name... is Neo," jumps up to the ceiling, is released by Smith, and does that back flip onto the waiting area, and Smith is crushed by the train. We can hear him morphing back into the homeless man as he is hit. Neo starts to run, but as he does, Smith morphs into someone else, and gets off the train. Neo gets up the steps, and takes off.

In the real world, the kids of the Neb realize sentinels are approaching, and they have five, maybe six minutes. This, coincidentally, limits Neo's time to get to his exit, and if Neo doesn't get to his exit, than the EMP will have to be fired, and Neo will die. Things are looking unfortunate.

Neo, while running, takes that one guy's cell phone. The man starts to complain, but as he does, he turns into Smith.

Neo runs through a market, and the Agents follow him closely, shooting watermelons, and whenever I watch this scene, I always notice this one lady, right when the watermelons are shot, putting her hands above her head, and looking really pathetic in her panic. It scares me.

Neo survives the market escape, and gets into that one building as the Agents follow him. He gets the room with the old ladies, and continues to run. One of the old ladies, who is cooking, turns into Smith, and throws a knife at Neo. Now that is just scary. Old ladies with knives. But it's cool stuff.

The sentinels, being the bad-@$$ mofo's that they are, land on the Neb, and we can see their lasers start to tear it apart. Really weirdly, underneath each sentinels are a bunch of little hands. Where the hell do those come from?

The sentinels get inside. There is a hull breach, and the crew is getting really worried, as the machines draw near.

Neo is inside the hallway, and he reaches room 303, where the phone is. Right there, waiting for him, his Agent Smith, with his gun. BOOM! In what I consider to be an incredibly effective scene, Neo receives his first bullet. He looks down, and we can feel the pain as he looks at the blood. There is another shot, and Neo hits the wall, leaving a larger blood mark on it. Now we get a side view, and we have to watch, in agony, as round after round are pumped into Neo, and he falls to the ground, dying, more blood left on the wall. All seems lost.

It even seems to be the end of hope in the real world. We see the lasers from the sentinels rain down, sparks fly everywhere, Morpheus sweating in shock from the impossibility, saying, "It can't be."

Smith says, "Check him," and Brown does. Neo is dead.

Sadly enough, I knew all that came after this, all because in my young age of 11, I looked at movie reviews on the Yahoo! forums, and I read the ending of this. I think I've said that. But, the film was not ruined for me.

Trinity gives her little speech to Neo in his slumber, and tells him that the Oracle told her that she'd fall in love with a dead man, as she is doing right here, and the man that she loved would be the One. So, Neo can't be dead, because he's the One. And thus, Neo, in the courage of the fact that love conquers all (another underlying theme of the film), awakes in the Matrix, his heart beating in the real world, and he stands up, turning to the Agents. They hear him. They turn, and start firing.

The bullets slow down, and we aren't in bullet time, we're in real time, as coolly, Neo puts his hand up with style, and stops those bullets, about 20 of them. We see the ripple effect. Neo, while the bullets are suspended in the air, grabs a bullet, and looks at it. He drops it, and all the other bullets are dropped. Holy sh*t.

Neo looks at the Agents, and sees beyond the curtain of the Matrix, seeing it all in code, which is really tight-looking. Smith is p*ssed. He rushes toward Neo, ready to kick his @$$. Neo, however, now being the resurrected One, turns to his side, and blocks all of Smith's moves with one arm. After this, he grabs Smith's wrist, twists it, giving Smith a growl, and he kicks Smith all the way to the other side of the hallway. "Who's the bad @$$ muddaf*cka now, foo?" -Dawg Neo

Neo then proceeds to run towards Smith and as Smith throws a punch, Neo is inside him. Smith wonders what the hell is going on, and he turns to the other Agents, seeming to ask for help, as little bumps in his skin crawl up to his forehead, expanding it, until a seam comes through, and Smith explodes into green little pieces, part of his face flying towards the screen, screaming. It is a glorious scene.

Neo stands in the wake of the explosion, and he creates a ripple effect in the hallway. He looks at Brown and Jones in a threatening way. They, in turn, look at each other, and run their own ways. Neo kicks @$$.

"Neo!" Trinity yells. Neo, being connected to Trinity through love, hears this, and runs to the phone. He gets there as it rings, gets free of the Matrix, and then Trinity shouts "Now!" right as sentinels appear, and one stands above Neo, intent on killing him because he is the One. The EMP is triggered by Morpheus, the sentinels collapse, and the ship shuts down. We can see the effect of the EMP's blast outside the ship, and we see sparks of lightning, until eventually the camera goes back. In the aftermath of it, Trinity is above Neo, and they kiss.

Finally, we have the ending. This ending is quite, shall we say, controversial, in Matrix forums around the world. Many of us, me included, believe it to be the end of REVOLUTIONS, not the end of The Matrix, the first one. We think its the end of it all. We believe that in the end, machine and man will walk together, hand in hand, co-dependent on one another, this being because the machines were only being like this to man because of man's wrong ways. Now that their differences are settled, they can live in peace.

But hey, that's just us. What you believe about this ending is up to you. After Neo gives his little defiant speech to the machines about how this is all going to begin, and after the tracking system fails, he walks out of the phone booth, and much like Christ's final ascension, flies into the sky. "Wake up!" Rage Against the Machine there, kids.

Holy damn, that took forever for me to write, and I'm not even done.

Did anyone here ever notice that the real world has a BLUE tint/bias to it while the Matrix has a GREEN tint/bias to it? The real world's tint is to give a cold and gloomy look. The Matrix's tint is to follow the code.

I just figured that Cypher's name Reagan, comes because he wants to become an actor, like Ronald, and he wants to remember nothing, like the President's Alzheimer's. Read it somewhere. Interesting, eh?

Alright kids, I think now we can get down to the characters of the Matrix, which I've been wanting to do for a while. Here goes...

Neo- I like Neo, but to a degree, I've never quite understood the narrative's perception of his intelligence. Being a hacker who has committed virtually every computer crime there is a law for, you'd think he's some super genius, but as the Oracle says, and as we come to find, he just ain't that bright. Even in M2 he doesn't seem to shine with intelligence. What the hell happened?

I honestly don't know, but anyway, I must say, I do feel kinda sorry for the kid, being as dumb as he is and all- he can't even come up with any memorable lines of dialogue besides "Whoa," and I've said that before. The only place he seems to shine is knowing the Matrix isn't real, and seeing it all in code... and getting to fly and what not... yeah...

Origins on Neo's name: Neo is an anagram for "One." Thomas in Hebrew means twin, and Smith says to Neo, "You've been living two lives." Anderson means "Son of Man." Thomas was also the doubter of Christ's resurrection in the Bible.

Morpheus- Morpheus is a pimp. He's intelligent, has a way with the ladies (you saw the way Niobe looked at him in Reloaded), and he has that really cool voice, kinda like Keith David's, that would seduce me if I was woman. He has that jump, that way of walking, that dominance, the leadership role, and his beautiful corny speeches- Morpheus. You gotta love him.

Origins on Morpheus' name: Morpheus is the god of dreams in Greek mythology.

Trinity- I love Trinity. Carrie-Anne Moss is so beautiful. I like Trinity's leadership role as a girl, and how it kinda seems like she's gonna kick Neo's @$$ sometimes. And she just has that leather-clad sexiness to her that would seduce any guy, if she was right in front of them.

Origins on Trinity's name: All my Matrix people can think of is that in the beginning of the film, Smith trying to kill Trinity is the world, the system, society, trying to kill religion- in Christianity, the Trinity is Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit.

The Oracle- I've always liked this lady, and it is a true shame that Gloria Foster had to die. The Oracle just has this sass to her, this groove, that makes you really want to love her.

Tank- Tank is a good man- Its a sad thing that Marcus Chong is supposedly the biggest jerk-off in the world, because I would have liked to see him return to Reloaded and Revolutions.

Dozer- Tank's older brother is a compassionate one, and you could truly sense the sadness overcoming him in seeing what he thought was his little brother's death. Unfortunately, in fighting for his brother's life, he died.

Cypher- One can't help but admire Joe Pantoliano's personel. While he's an @$$hole, the actor brings the villain to life in a way that makes him likable.

Switch- Believe it or not, I've grown an appreciation for Switch in my days- even though she may seemingly be without sex, she's still a b*tch, and I love b*tchy women. :-D

Apoc- In all honesty, the guy never impressed me . They could have booted him for all I care. His name comes from "Apocalypse."

Mouse- Moooouse. The true one I can sympathize with. The admirer of computers and respecter of beauty. He would, without a doubt, be my best friend on the ship. He talks a lot, thinks a lot, and has some logical reasoning. I like the guy a lot.

Smith- Well, I think if you read the review, you'd get my quite positive opinion of this little @$$hole. Smith is badass in defintion, my friends. In definition.

SPOON BOY- Well, you all know my opinion on him. I hope he returns in Revolutions.

Alright now that the characters are out of the way, lets get down to the bonus DVD features. In all honesty, without the DVD-Rom, the Matrix DVD sucks as bad as most other DVD's- you get a cool opening, and a cool main DVD screen, but besides that, all you have is "Cast and Crew," and a making-of-the-film featurette that is really just "The Matrix: Revisited" bogged down to 20 minutes. It's not worth checking out.

However, if you DO have the DVD-Rom, as I did at one point in my life, you get one of the sweetest DVD's in history of man. There's a "Are you the One?" section that quizzes you on your Matrix knowledge, and that's... well, fun. Then there's a section called "Do You know kung fu?" where you can watch all of the martially artistic fights. You can also check out the film's original website, and of course, there's trailers. There is a new DVD out, released April 29th, that I was not made aware of until recently, and soon I shall be checking this DVD out, and updating this part of the review with that. Yeah...

So my friends, I think that is all I can say for now. The Matrix is one SWEET film, complete with everything a GREAT film needs, and it gets my five-star rating. The Wachowski's are just brilliant directors; its like they think with the same mind or something- check out the angles on this film, everything- its extremely effective. And all of the memorable speeches and what not, and Don Davis' thrilling, perfect music... and... wow. The Matrix is just a work to behold. Curse all those who give it a four-star. Damn them to hell. They deserve to rot.

I have one final note- who exactly is Neo's phone call at the end to? The Architect? Hm? Who knows? What are your ideas? What do you think of mine? Please, I'd like some feedback. And with that, I bid you all adieu.

Rating: A

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12