The Matrix review (By: Peter Kaczmarek)
Matrix(1999)
The matrix was a movie made in 1999 and was one of the highlight movies of that year. Directed by the Wachowski brothers, it stars Keanu Reeves as Neo, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. The movie was hailed by critics and viewers alike due to the good presentation and structure of the film. The film features many and is iconic for its slow motion sequences which are now being incorporated more into modern films. Additionally, the movie features many allusions to works such as Alice in Wonderland and ancient mythology, as well as being thought of as an allegory similar to Plato's Allegory of the cave from book VII of The Republic. The film deals with the themes of reality, and knowledge, specifically, how do we know we know and how can we know what is real or not. It also deals with the theme of perception and ignorance. In the movie, Neo, a computer hacker, gets contacted by some mysterious entity about the matrix. As he continues to pursue this he eventually finds out that he was living in a computer simulation of the year 1999, and that humans are artificially created and harvested for their energy by machines, which in turn created the matrix to keep the minds of their "batteries" occupied.
The iconic bullet dodging scene
As the movie progresses Neo finds out more and more about the real world, the matrix, and his role in it. The movie pioneered several great advances in the field of film production. To create the "bullet-time" sequences, producers used an expanded version of an old-time photography technique known as time-slice photography, in which a large number of cameras are placed around an object and triggered nearly simultaneously. Each camera is a still-picture camera, and not a motion picture camera, and it contributes just one frame to the video sequence. When the sequence of shots is viewed as in a movie, the viewer sees what are in effect two-dimensional "slices" of a three-dimensional moment. Watching such a "time slice" movie is akin to the real-life experience of walking around a statue to see how it looks from different angles. Moreover, the film, and its subsequent sequels, is known for popularizing slow motion action sequences and the visual effect known as "bullet-time", which allows the viewer to explore a moment progressing in slow-motion as the camera appears to orbit around the scene at normal speed. For example, in the iconic bullet dodging scene in the movie. If you have not already watched this movie, then I ask you: What other movie could you be possibly watching that would cause you to skip this one? It's a great watch and a must-see.
Writer's commentary: this is one of my favourite movies.