The Task: Watch and write about every movie on my shelf, in order (Blu-rays are sorted after DVDs), by June 10, 2015. Remaining movies: 34 Days to go: 24
Movie #406: The Matrix
A very good friend of mine had seen The Matrix in theaters eleven times before I even knew it existed. It came out days before my first wedding and I wonder if I just had other things going on or if the early marketing and release of the film was super small or what, but I have no memory of it at all before the moment she and I were going to see something else weeks after my honeymoon and she mentioned it. Or crazily cackled about how fantastic it was and suggested we go see it instead. One of those. And for whatever reason I am historically resistant to any sort of over-the-top fandom. If you suggest something to me in a positive and logical fashion, making thoughtful arguments about its merits, I am 100% more likely to be interested than if you slather it with giddy praise. I’m not sure why. Maybe I’m backwards.
Anyway, I ignored my very dear friend’s obsessive infatuation and never once gave the movie another thought until I was babysitting for some lovely boys I knew from a daycare I’d worked at a few months earlier. When their parents came home their dad was talking movies with me and asked if I’d seen The Matrix. I demurred and he replied only with, “Oh, you should. We could be in the Matrix right now, you know” which somehow clicked in my head more than anything else and I made a point to drag my husband to the movies to see this one.
The Matrix is every bit as astounding as my friend said it was. I swear, I am such a goober sometimes.
The Matrix did incredible things with special effects, both large-scale (the frozen, rotating perspective, the super-slow motion bullets) and small (the liquified mirror overtaking the body of Keanu Reeve’s Neo, the skin growing over Neo’s mouth), but it also told an original and fascinating story. Who hasn’t woken from a dream that felt entirely too real? Who hasn’t been disoriented for a moment, sure that something in a dream — no matter how ludicrous — really did happen and now you’re awake to the consequences? Who hasn’t had a memory that they’re no longer sure really happened? Our minds play all kinds of tricks on us on a regular basis, and yet we’re forced to accept what it presents to us as reality because we have no other options. Our minds are the filter through which everything passes. What if they’re being manipulated from an outside source to lie to us? How would we know?
In essence, The Matrix is a philosophical story wrapped around a futuristic sci-fi one. The amazing special effects and the ability to manipulate the Matrix are simply trappings of the setting. The real theme of the film is enlightenment — having your eyes opened and reaching a greater plane of understanding of the universe. It’s a theological story too. Neo is called The One, but what he really is — what Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and the Oracle (Gloria Foster) are looking for — is a savior. Someone to free the world from their chains and set them free. There is even a Judas in this Jesus story, as Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) betrays them to the Romans (AKA Hugo Weaving’s Agent Smith, et. al.). And let’s just say it’s not a coincidence (nor is it a subtle reference) that Morpheus’s ship is the Nebuchadnezzar, named after the Biblical king. (See also: Morpheus is the name of the mythical god of dreams. Trinity stands for the holy trinity. Oracles were ancient prophets, whereas Neo — meaning new — is the second-coming.)
The story has holes in it, though. If the agents are so dead set against disruptions in the Matrix, how is the Oracle’s living room of crimes against the laws of physics allowed to exist? Why was Morpheus so sure Neo was The One? What did the Oracle say to him and how do we know she wasn’t lying? Speaking of which, is it not awfully convenient that she tells Neo he isn’t the one simply because that’s what he needed to hear? I mean, if your Oracle goes around telling you falsehoods, how do you trust her? Not only that, but Neo finds his power when Trinity tells him she loves him, which proves he’s The One because the Oracle said so. First of all, what kind of garbage is that? We’ve already established that we can’t trust the Oracle. Beyond that, though, the actual events of the film give no supporting evidence AT ALL to the idea that Trinity loves Neo except some occasional googly eyes. At best, I’d be willing to except that Trinity is hot for Neo, nothing more. On the romantic front, it’s just incredibly weak storytelling.
And of course, once you try to take a metaphor too far, it starts to fall apart. But that’s more an issue for the sequels. By itself, The Matrix is an impressive, thoughtful, mostly stellar piece of filmmaking with only a few weak spots. It’s earned its spot as one of the last century’s most iconic, groundbreaking movies, and I’m really glad I saw it.
Viable Option 