THE MATRIX REVIEW!!! (THROWBACK FRANCHISE SERIES!)

Initial release date: March 31, 1999 (24 years ago!!!)

Studios: Warner Bros./Village Roadshow Pictures

Tagline: Free Your Mind

Plot: Neo believes that Morpheus, an elusive figure considered to be the most dangerous man alive, can answer his question - What is the Matrix? Neo is contacted by Trinity, a beautiful stranger who leads him into an underworld where he meets Morpheus. They fight a brutal battle for their lives against a cadre of viciously intelligent secret agents. It's a truth that could cost Neo something more precious than his life.

Cast

Keanu Reeves - Neo

Laurence Fishburne - Morpheus

Carrie-Anne Moss - Trinity

Hugo Weaving - Agent Smith

Gloria Foster - Oracle

Joe Pantoliano - Cypher

Marcus Chong - Tank

Julian Archange - Apoc

Matt Doran - Mouse

Belinda McClory - Switch

Anthony Ray Parker - Dozer

Paul Goddard - Agent Brown

Robert Taylor - Agent Jones

Writer/director: The Wachowskis (The Matrix series; Jupiter Ascending)

Rated R for sci-fi violence and brief language (136 minutes)

The Matrix franchise has been a series I always wanted to check out. Surprisingly, I've never seen a single film in this series. So, over the next week, I will be taking a first time look at the series - obviously starting with the ground-breaking first film released in 1999 ... by the way, it's still hard to believe that 1999 was 24 years ago!

The visuals that are in this film are incredible and most of the effects still hold up today. The action/fight sequences are amazingly shot and kick ass to watch. There are even some moments during the film that are really thrilling.

I do admit that there are some bits that are rather confusing and might be one of those films that I may have to watch a couple times to thoroughly understand it. The last act of the film is both extremely tense and visually breath-taking.

Later in the week, I will be taking a look at the remaining installments of The Matrix franchise. Even though the recent 2021 sequel was only released a not too long ago and isn't exactly considered a "throwback movie," it's still part of the series so why not.

The Matrix series is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

Here are several fun tidbits about this ground-breaking film!

• To prepare for the scene where Neo wakes up in a pod, Keanu Reeves lost 15 pounds and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look.

• The opening action scene took six months of training and four days to shoot.

• All the scenes that take place within the Matrix have a green tint, as if watching them through a computer monitor. Scenes in the real world have a blue tint. Blue was also used at a minimum within the Matrix, since the directors thought blue was more of a real-world color (despite, ironically, blue being the least-occurring color in nature). The fight scene between Morpheus and Neo, which is neither in the real world, nor in the Matrix, is tinted yellow.

• After the lobby shoot-out, the camera pans back, showing the aftermath of the gunfight. A moment passes, and a large chunk of one of the pillars falls off. This wasn't planned, but was left in for effect.

• The studio insisted on a great deal of explanatory dialogue, as they described the screenplay as "the script that nobody understands."

• In 2012, The Matrix was selected by the US Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

• In Greek mythology, Morpheus is the god of dreams. This is ironic, considering Morpheus' role in the film is to "awaken" people from their "dream states" within the Matrix.

• By mid-2002, the famous "Bullet Time" sequence had been parodied in over twenty different movies.

• Gary Oldman was considered for Morpheus at one point, as well as Samuel L. Jackson.

• Warner Brothers green-lit the movie fairly late during pre-production. For a long time, artists working on pre-production weren't sure whether the film was ever to be made.

• Takes place six months before The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

• In 1994, the Wachowski's presented the script for the action movie Assassins to Warner. After Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the president of production at the time, read the script, he decided to buy the rights to it and included two more pictures, Bound and The Matrix.

• The cast were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.

• The film is known for popularizing a visual effect known as "bullet time," which allows a shot in progress in slow motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed. Bullet time has been described as "a visual analogy for privileged moments of consciousness within the Matrix, and throughout the film, the effect is used to illustrate characters' exertion of control over time and space.

• The Matrix grossed $27.8 million during its opening weekend, as well as earning $34.7 million in its first five days. In its original run, the film warned $171.4 million domestic and $292 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $463.5 million.

• In North America, it went on to become the fifth highest grossing film of 199 and the highest-grossing R-rated film of that year.

• In 2001, The Matrix placed 66th in the AFI's "100 Years ... 100 Thrills" list. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called the film the best sci-fi piece of media for the past 25 years.

• The film's mainstream success led to the making of two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Both sequels were filmed back to back and released on separate dates in 2003. A fourth film was eventually released in 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKQi3bBA1y8