The Matrix

Perhaps the most impactful film of 1999, both on culture and on the movie business, was The Matrix, which took everyone by surprise in the spring of that year. It was wholly original, dealt with themes of philosophy, and utilized a new form of visual effects. It was a huge hit that spawned two sequels and gave us lines like "the red pill or the blue pill" and "Whoa!"

The Matrix is about computers--Thomas Anderson is a software designer and part-time hacker who goes by the name of Neo--and he learns that our entire lives are a lie. We live in a computer simulation that has been designed by the computers who took over humanity. A band of resistors tries to fight back, going in and out of that simulation, called the Matrix. Neo joins the group, as he is thought to be "the one" who has the power to free all of mankind.

That "one" business gives the film a patina of theology, as there are comparisons between Neo and Christ, although I don't know if Christ knew Kung Fu or fired hundreds of round from a machine gun. But the comparisons are certainly there (Neo is itself an anagram of One).

The film is mind-bending--I've seen it three times at least and I still have trouble wrapping myself around its central conceit. The characters exist in two realms--the ship that they pilot through the industrial wasteland of machine-land, where humans are kept in pods to provide electricity like batteries--and the Matrix, which isn't "real," and anyone could be an "agent," a sentient program that keeps order. Agent Smith is the main one, who attempts to hunt down Neo and his friends, led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who, if Neo is Christ, then is his true believer Paul. Trinity (another name denoting Christianity), played with sexy cool by Carrie-Anne Moss, also comes to be a believer in Neo, while Cypher (Joe Pantaliano) becomes a traitor, as he would prefer ignorant bliss in the Matrix. He is offered a deal by Smith, and wants to be "someone important, like an actor."

The cinematography by Bill Pope has sickly green overtones, like the green of the computer screens. As with most science-fiction, real life has outpaced the fantastical, so it is with some amusement that two hundred years from now computers are still using phone lines, and that there is a major reliance on phone booths as escape portals.

But the film remains fresh and exciting, with a lot of fun fight scenes (choreographed by master Yuen Woo-ping) and a visual effect technique called "bullet time," which allowed actors to be filmed in slow motion, avoiding bullets in 360 degrees.

Keanu Reeves was cast as Neo after many others turned down the part, most notably Will Smith, who didn't understand it and did Wild Wild West instead. Smith has done more than okay, but that decision must have cost him some moolah. The film was directed by the Wachowskis, who were brothers then but are sisters now. Their audacity is breath-taking, and kudos to those who believe in their vision. They haven't recaptured that since then, failing with a big-screen version of Speed Racer, and the two sequels to The Matrix had diminishing returns.

The Matrix makes reference to Alice in Wonderland, as in going down the rabbit hole, and to The Wizard of Oz, as Neo is told he is not in Kansas anymore. The Matrix just may be The Wizard of Oz of the computer generation.