Gecko Flashback: ‘The Matrix’

the-matrix-poster It’s been a while since I’ve seen ‘The Matrix,’ and I totally forgot how much fun it is. And also what a great action star Keanu Reeves is. The State Theatre in Traverse City, Michigan is playing free movies all week for Spring Break. Of course, we plan on seeing quite a few, with ‘The Matrix’ being the first. 

If you’re not familiar with the movie, Reeves stars as Thomas Anderson, a software programmer by day and a computer hacker by night. After some mysterious messages show up on his computer, he finds himself targeted by guys in suits with dark glasses.

One thing leads to another, and Anderson, a.k.a. Neo (his computer hacker name), learns the awful truth: everything he knows is fake – his job, the city where he lives, everything. In reality, the world is a burned-out wasteland where most of humanity has been captured by a race of machines that live off the humans’ energy. The world where the humans live is, in fact, an elaborate computer program known as the Matrix.

Neo falls in with a group of rebels led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) which also includes Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Cypher (Joe Pantoliano), Tank (Marcus Chong), Mouse (Matt Doran), Switch (Belinda McClory) and Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker).

More after the jump…

the-matrix-keanu-reeves-2 The team’s home base is Neo’s spacecraft, were they’re wired up to the Matrix any time they need to access it and become part of it. Within the Matrix are “agents,” powerful computer programs devoted to killing Neo and other rebellious humans. Hugo Weaving plays one of the main agents, and he’s frighteningly machine-like.

It appears that Neo is “the one,” the guy destined to overpower the Matrix and bring humanity back to life.  As such, Neo is “downloaded” with all sorts of programs that give him awesome knowledge and skills to get the job done. He’s like the predecessor to Chuck Bartowski on ‘Chuck.’ Need to know Kung Fu? Just have the program downloaded to your brain. 

This movie has some kick-ass action scenes where the fighters appear to walk up walls, leap amazing distances between buildings, dodge bullets at lightning speed, that sort of thing. There have been tons of these types of stylized fight scenes in movies since, and they’re all based on ‘The Matrix.’ I also have a big girl-crush on Carrie-Anne Moss – that girl can move.

Everyone should see ‘The Matrix’ at least once, because it’s a reference in so many ways.

Images: Warner Bros. Pictures

Comments

One response to “Gecko Flashback: ‘The Matrix’”

  1. Kate Avatar

    Even if you have not seen the Matrix movies, you will find this an effective spiritual and mind-healing book. Written by a scientist, it will help you understand “Reality” and lead a stress-free life.

    I wish the filmmakers had had the courage to take the movie one step further. Rather than Neo awakening in some far future, as he did, I would have liked to see him awaken to the PRESENT. I would have liked to see Morpheus point to the burned out city and say “This is what our egos really are. This is where we really live.” Neo could have been an Avatar, and Morpheus and the others enlightened masters.

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