1999 Rewind: The Matrix

 


Films released in 1999 will turn 25 this year. Over the next few months, I'll be looking at some of the memorable films from that year, including some of my favorites. Today, I'm continuing with another blockbuster that changed films.

The Matrix
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburn, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving
Director: The Wachowskis
About: I remember when I first saw The Matrix. I had just started college, and we went to see it in IMax, at midnight, at the Universal City Walk. It was a theater unlike I'd ever seen, coming from a small, coastal town. And it was a film unlike anything I'd ever seen. The way the Wachowskis crafted the world, the post-modern swirl of religions and philosophies, and the characters was great. But what was the most amazing was the action. We've seen a lot of progressions in the last 25 years, but I remember seeing bullet time and the action sequences and framing here when it was released. It felt like a completely new concept and, even 25 years later, it holds up really well. I've long enjoyed The Matrix as a wildly original and compelling film. I didn't love the original two sequels, but the revisiting of the world in 2021 felt like a more fitting cap to the action. Still, nothing compares to the original, a film that's among my all time favorites and one that moved the art of filmmaking forward at the time.

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