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The Matrix

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The Matrix (1999)

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Reviews Counted:28

Fresh:19

Rotten:9

Average Rating:6.1/10

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

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Reviews for The Matrix

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A must-see among genre fans, especially guys in their teens and 20s, for whom the script's pretentious mumbo-jumbo of undergraduate mythology, religious mysticism and technobabble could even be a plus rather than a dramatic liability.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/05/07
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 12 Comments
06/05/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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For those who have been waiting for movies to catch up with the graphic possibilities of comic books, wait no longer: The Matrix is among us.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
04/25/03
Ray Conlogue
Ray Conlogue
Globe and Mail
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The Matrix soars with its feet in the air -- the rest crash-lands.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment 5 Comments
05/11/01
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
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An apocalypse of kinetic joy.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/14/01
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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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
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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
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It's astonishing that so much money, talent, technical expertise and visual imagination can be put in the service of something so stupid.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment 15 Comments
01/01/00
Bob Graham
Bob Graham
San Francisco Chronicle
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...has all the makings of a cult.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dennis Lim
Dennis Lim
Village Voice
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The Matrix is mainly also an exercise in outrageous style over substance featuring flowing trenchcoats, sunglasses at night, and LOTS of guns.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Gemma Files
Gemma Files
Film.com
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The movie is kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
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The most salient things any prospective viewer need know is that Keanu Reeves makes a strikingly chic Prada model of an action hero.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
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Silly and dense!

comment 1 Comment
01/01/00
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
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The Matrix is really about filmmaking style rather than context.

comment 2 Comments
01/01/00
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
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The Matrix is too much of an outer-limits head-trip to resist!

Full Review Source: Mr. Showbiz | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin Maynard
Kevin Maynard
Mr. Showbiz
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A blast of Holly-Kong glitz that never approaches the stylistic cohesiveness of, say, John Woo's Face/Off or the charisma of that film's propulsive star John Travolta.

comment 2 Comments
01/01/00
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
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Special kudos to the mysterious Wachowski tag team, who have created a lurid, splashy nightmare for the end of the millennium.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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The only things energetic about The Matrix are its special effects.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment 3 Comments
01/01/00
Philip Wuntch
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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Given a budget that encourages their kinesthetic skills, the filmmakers tend to go on a bit, but it's mostly a kind of quick, glancing hipness that's being indulged here.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
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