Verdict:
This movie looks cool.
The review should end there, especially if we want it to stay positive. The Matrix is a technical achievement. It looks and sounds good to this day. It is, however, style over substance and that’s totally fine.
This is the movie that invented or at least perfected bullet time, which is actually two effects in one: the effect of bullets flowing through the air in slow motion and the filming of an object in a circular arch by using several still cameras and digital motion compensation. The green computer code (digital rain) became an instantly recognizable Matrix effect. People would get screensavers with that effect for their Windows XP. The long black coats with a black shirt underneath have become universally associated with that movie. You could just say the “Matrix outfit” and people would know. All these things became part of the cultural matrix for at least a decade and were featured in countless spoofs and memes.
All these spoofs are as much a compliment to the film’s visual style and influence as they are a criticism of its narrative problems. I have never heard any of the quotes from this film be used with the same respect as something from the Godfather movies. It is fun to make fun of the film’s silly writing.
The action is jaw dropping and the acrobatic scenes with guns and martial arts are superbly choreographed. This film can have all the Oscars for its visuals, but the plot is garbage.
The movie starts strong, with artfully crafted mystery and tension, right up until the moment when the premise is revealed by means of an information dump to the main character. And just like that, the story becomes nonsense, and the film loses all its gravitas. Your enjoyment of the film from that moment on is entirely dependent on your ability to let go of thinking. This ability is achievable because of how awesome the visuals and audio presentation are, but when the action stops and the movie wants to have a slow moment to unload some more story, it becomes challenging to take the film seriously.
How is the acting in this long coat fashion show? For most of the runtime, the characters are walking around with no expressions on their faces and speaking calmly. Their eyes, the most expressive part of the human face, are covered with sunglasses, including at night…indoors, because these characters are very cool, you see.
The bottom line is that this film is worthy of praise for its innovative and unique visual presentation, but the film is also the most clear-cut example of style over substance, with a nonsensical premise and barely any performances to speak of.
On its own, that fact would be completely fine, and this would be the end of the conversation. As time went by, however, I learned that certain people started attributing some sort of philosophy to this movie. There have even been whole books written on the subject, apparently. This was never a thing amongst my classmates and friends. We all appreciated the movie for what it is: a big cool silly flashy action scene. But this newly found worship injects a layer of pretentiousness either into the Wachowskis, if this was their intention, or into the audience, and I sincerely hope that it’s the latter.