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Matrix, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 35 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 146 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller
Written by:
Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski
Directed by:
Andy Wachowski
Larry Wachowski
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 31, 1999
DVD: September 21, 1999
Running Time: 136 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for sci-fi violence and brief language
Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano
A computer hacker (Reeves) learns that his entire life has been a virtual dream, orchestrated by a strange class of computer overlords in the far future. He joins a resistance movement (led by Fishburne) to free humanity from lives of computerized brainwashing.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Speed Racer The Matrix Reloaded The Matrix Revolutions
GAMES: Enter the Matrix (PS2) The Matrix Online
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
The Wachowskis do it so playfully well, keeping The Matrix's potentially confusing plot intelligible, intelligent, and suspenseful, that it doesn't matter.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
Bill Pope's swooping, noir-inflected cinematography is wonderfully complemented by Owen Paterson's inventive production design, a great soundtrack and the best fight choreography this side of Hong Kong. And even if this isn't "Blade Runner," it is very cool shit.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark
This wildly imaginative thriller is a futuristic head trip you most definitely want to take.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon
The Wachowski Brothers have created some of the most unrivaled and imaginative sci-fi in years.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that is determined to overpower the imagination, The Matrix combines traditional science-fiction premises with spanking new visual technology in a way that almost defies description.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Ron Wells
I'll just say to anyone lamenting the state of American cinema since the 1970s, if you're curious where the next generation of auteurs is coming from, look in the art houses and look in The Matrix.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
With its mix of Lewis Carroll and William Gibson; Japanese anime and Chinese chopsocky; mythological allusions, and machine-made illusion, offers a couple of hours of escapist fun.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
There's a kind of liberating, almost transforming energy in this film; it lights you up and sends you out all giddy with silliness.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
One of the more lyrical sci-fi action thrillers ever made, in which space and time become love slaves to the directors' witty visual fancies.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Bill Gallo
This full-tilt visual and aural bombardment is simply a lot of fun. It never lets up. Nor does it ever want to.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
One big, fat, honking comic book of a sci-fi-martial-arts adventure flick.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Doesn't just raise the bar on sci-fi and action films, it rips that sucker off and sends it spiraling into the sun.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The plot switches gears every time it threatens to run out of energy, which keeps the show as lively as it is preposterous.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
Where most effects-laden extravanganzas aspire to be nothing more than a live-action comic book, The Matrix sees things with the venturesome clarity of a graphic novel.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
The writing remains more intelligent than most thrillers, and the action is executed with such panache that even if you don't buy the reality of The Matrix, it's a helluva place to visit.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
A visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue
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.
Read Full Review >New York Post Rod Dreher
It's like animation come to three-dimensional life, and f/x addicts as well as sci-fi fans will not want to miss a split-second.
Read Full Review >Variety Todd McCarthy
An eye-popping but incoherent extravaganza of morphing and superhuman martial arts.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
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.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Janet Maslin
The martial arts stunts that are its single strongest selling point.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
With an arsenal of cool f/x at their disposal, the Wachowskis have come up with a dizzyingly enjoyable junk movie that has just enough on its mind to keep the pleasure from being a guilty one.
Read Full Review >Film.com Sean Means
Aerves up so much visual wizardry and thought-provoking ideas that even the inevitable Silver touch -- a finale with more bullets than the opening of "Saving Private Ryan" -- can't destroy the magic.
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
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.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Even if a lot of adults have problems following this picture 100%, look for computer-savvy teen-agers to guarantee this sometimes original but too often derivative time-killer a shelf life.
Read Full Review >Film.com Gemma Files
An exercise in outrageous style over substance.
Village Voice Dennis Lim
The cumulative effect is perversely deflationary: long before it's over, the film has flushed the paranoia from its system.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
The real soullessness here is built into the production, a polished adaptation of Hong Kong-style filmmaking that, with its cast of depressive characters, allows for little Hong Kong-style joy.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Snazzy visuals, of which she (Moss) is one, carry The Matrix past its klutzy script.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham
It's astonishing that so much money, talent, technical expertise and visual imagination can be put in the service of something so stupid.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 146 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
R. Lopez gave it a10:
When I first saw this movie when I was twelve I didn't think much of it, I thought it had a confusing story and a mindless plot that was supported and only succeeded by out of this world slow motion stunts. Boy was I naive or what!? Now seeing it again after all these years I could see that I was not ready back then to handle a movie of this complexity and strange coherent means of story telling. But now I fully respect and love this movie for what it is and for what it always will be, mindbogglingly, mind blowing, out of this world fun. When the Matrix was released in 1999 this was the film to go see people were busting out of the theater's and telling anyone they can to go see this movie. It was the "It" movie of the year and it gained the title justly. This film mapped out new territory in action and ushered in a whole new generation of action & Sci-Fi thrillers and video games as well(Max Payne comes to mind) it is one of the biggest and most beloved film of the 90's and has one of the biggest fan base out there. This movie unique and I mean unique story and style has such and impact on you when you first see it you'll want to see it the minute it's over and some more after that and after that and you'll want to see it a million times it's just that good. The Matrix put's a Gothic and dark spin on the dystopia and apocalyptic themes that have become very common in Sci-Fi films, this film does it one better it takes those overly used themes and creates a completely original and unique world around which everything we Believe is a lie. It has a great monolithic tone to it that makes it a masterpiece by any standards and it creates a great aftershock in which few films can actually do these days. It purposes that machines while enslave humanity and use us as a battery source to power there vasts armies of machines around the world. But that's what makes it so great to watch it gives you a sense of hope and a sense of justice that you just feel all the way to your bones. This movie has given the fellow movie goer what they've always wanted and always searched for in a film, great action, a smart story and plot, acting you can live with and put them all together and what do you got? The Matrix! This movie will stick with long after it's over and even after tour old you'll still remember one movie that rocked your world like none other. All in all this film delivers great any day entertainment that is like Laurence Fishburn said, " Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is you have to see it for yourself." And trust me once you do you won't ever look at Sci-Fi or other movies the same way again. This movie delivers.
Mike M gave it a10:
Best movie Ive ever seen besides Braveheart. The fight scenes were amazing. Loved the rotating camera and slow motion effects. The story line was really good. Anyone that does not give this movie a ten obviously has bad taste in movies or just didn't really understand the movie!.
[Anonymous] gave it a6:
Simulated reality does not make much sense in this movie - the human battery concept is ridiculous for any number of reasons: 1. It takes more power to keep people alive than the power that you could theoretically receive from them. 2. Nuclear power anyone? Are the robots so eco-conscience that they can only use solar power? 3. Why not just lobotomise the human 'batteries'? IF you argue that the 'real world' is just a deeper level of a virtual reality, and that the actual real world is never discovered, then the film might make sense [particularly since Neo has some of his Matrix powers available in the 'real world' in the subsequent movies]. Yet, the film does nothing terribly interesting in this department, but instead fills the void with silly pseudo-philosophy such as, 'There is no spoon'. Having said that, if its a silly, self-important, high-budget kung fu movie with guns that you want; this is for you!
Mark J. gave it a10:
Its funny how some people give this movie a low rating. I don't think they fully understand the concept of a simulated reality. There are many actual scientific hypothesis regarding the subject, many of which seem extremely logical and involve Quantum Computers trying to calculate every possible combination and outcome of everything. Another considers the progression of technology and computer systems, and how they are already running complex simulations to help us decide the best course of action in many situations and where resources should be allocated. The matrix falls under the category of "Brain-computer interface" or "direct neural interface" and correlates directly with Neuroprosthetics which is an actual area of neuroscience. This is the first film to consider technologies impact on primitive culture, and the behavior which could result from direct technological integration into semi-intelligent organic life.
Dom K gave it a0:
Only morons like this film. Ok, the principal concept is a good one, but that is completely ruined by an extremely poor script with appalling dialogue and ill-thought out story. One of my favourite worst lines is when Neo first sees a "squiddy" and asks what it is. The reply: "It's a killing machine designed for only 1 thing". (And what would that be, the viewer thinks, killing, per chance?) But, no! It is to "Seek and destroy". In case it needs pointing out, that's two things. You may think I'm being pedantic, but this is not an isolated example. It's full of bad lines and pathetic attempts to be all philosophical. Fans often say how "thought provoking" and "deep" it is. Can you actually say what thoughts it manages to provoke? The only thought it provoked in me was "Why have I paid £5 to see this?" And "Ur an idiot if u hate this film": I've READ Alice in Wonderland, not watched it (it was a book before it was a Disney cartoon, you know) and seen Akira many times. Studying Japanese culture will not make this absolute turd of a film any good. It's just extremely poor.
Andrew R. gave it a10:
Phenomenal don't believe any of the ratings under a 7, they're simply trying to keep you from being unplugged.
Leo R. gave it a10:
The greatest action movie of all time, my favorite movie, its so perceptive so mind boggling you will watch it more than once to then fall more in love with the matrix a world without borders or boundaries. I love this movie.
