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The Matrix

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The Matrix (1999)

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Reviews Counted:123

Fresh:106

Rotten:17

Average Rating:7.4/10

Consensus: An ingenious combination of Hong Kong action, ground-breaking Hollywood FX, and an imaginative vision.

Runtime: 6 hrs 43 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: There are two realities: one that consists of the life we live every day - and one that lies behind it. One is a dream. The other is The Matrix. "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you... There are two realities: one that consists of the life we live every day - and one that lies behind it.

One is a dream. The other is The Matrix.

"Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo? How would you know the difterence between the dream world and the real world?"

Neo (KEANU REEVES) is desperately seeking the truth about The Matrix - something he's heard of only in whispers - something mysterious and unknown - something, Neo is certain, that has unimaginable and sinister control over his life.

What is The Matnx?

Neo believes that Morpheus (LAURENCE FISHBURNE), a person he knows only through legend, an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can give him the answer.

All I am offering is the Truth.

One night, Neo is contacted by Trinity (CARRIE-ANNE MOSS), a beautiful stranger who leads him into another world, an underworld where at last he meets Morpheus and learns for himself the truth about The Matrix.

No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

There, Neo faces another question, as startling as the first:

Is he The One?

Before he even understands what that means, Neo is certain the answer is "no." Some, like Morpheus' colleague Cypher (JOE PANTOLIANO), agree. Others are not so sure.

There are also those who protect The Matrix. Led by the relentless and literally indomitable Agent Smith (HUGO WEAVING), they have methods of gathering information that astound and terrify.

What good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?

Neo, Morpheus and Trinity must battle brutally for their lives against this viciously powerful cadre to find the answers they seek, to understand their own roles in the epic drama unfolding around them, to learn their true power and to recognize their destinies.

Guns. Lots of guns.

Every move, every second, every thought is crucial if they are to free themselves from The Matrix and the existence it represents.

Free your mind.

Every move, every second, every thought is crucial once Neo learns the truth about The Matrix.

It is a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life. [More]

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

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Gloria Foster, Marcus Chong, Anthony Ray Parker, Belinda McClory, Julian Arahanga, Matt Doran

Director: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski

Director: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski
Screenwriter: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Producer: Joel Silver
Composer: Don Davis

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 21, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Matrix

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1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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With its cool gadgets, natty outfits and smashing action-set pieces, Matrix kicks serious butt, virtual and otherwise!

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
E! Online

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
03/02/02
Hollywood.com

One of the most visually stunning films of all time, and a welcome reminder as to why sci-fi fans, such as myself, became sci-fi fans in the first place.

Full Review Source: Juicy Cerebellum | comment Comment
01/01/00
Alex Sandell
Alex Sandell
Juicy Cerebellum

A lot of the fighting and shoot-out scenes are positively balletic and great fun to watch.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Amy Taubin
Amy Taubin
Girls on Film

As a bonus, the soundtrack rocks as much as the movie.

Full Review Source: Radio Free Entertainment | comment Comment
01/01/00
Andrew Manning
Andrew Manning
Radio Free Entertainment

It may bore you to death or blow your mind -- and it's long and convoluted enough to do both -- but it holds nothing back!

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Hollywood has finally successfully captured the Asian city's action-filmmaking style in a star named Keanu Reeves and writer-directors called the brothers Wachowski!

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Annlee Ellingson
Annlee Ellingson
Boxoffice Magazine

...peppered with good looking special effects, is designed in stylishly noir decor, and is generally well paced.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
01/01/00
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

...worth plugging into.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

The Matrix is fun. It's thought-provoking, especially if you are touched with a pinch of paranoia. It's loud, explosive and a movie science fiction fans will appreciate.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Bloom
Bob Bloom
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The Matrix flings around enough imaginative ideas and digitized bodies to make it a definite check-out-this-one for all science-fiction fans.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Bob Fenster
Bob Fenster
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Matrix is packed full of cutting-edge special effects and stunts.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

With a better cast and a tighter script, this could have been a knockout.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

A reminder of how exhilirating it is when Hollywood hits a home run

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

The Wachowskis are bold and daring appropriators--there's nothing they can't recycle.

Full Review Source: Matinee Magazine | comment Comment
04/28/01
Chuck Rudolph
Chuck Rudolph
Matinee Magazine

Keanu Reeves makes a lean, strikingly beautiful tabula rasa hero, twisting out of the way of bullets that elongate like silver beads of mercury, and he's partnered by the equally hard, blank, and androgynously gorgeous Carrie-Anne Moss.

Full Review Source: Slate | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
Slate

A movie so visually enthralling, so exciting and so elaborate that it deserves nothing short of universal acclaim. It's lavish, fascinating, beautiful, magnificently written, well directed, and effectively executed in every way.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

A contradiction in terms, a big-budget action/science-fiction epic that’s also riveting, ambitious and intelligent.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Luty
David Luty
Film Journal International

A surreal, icky, post-apocalyptic cyberpunk hacker mind-trip of a movie.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

What makes the film weirdly compelling is the sheer audacity of its screenplay.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
01/01/00
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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Latest News for The Matrix

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