The old saying goes that the people who often write the stories that people consider to be new and fresh often end up being the most predictable stories of them all. It still mystifies me how this film became such a pop culture icon while films that explored similar ideas (and did them better) like They Live, Ghost in The Shell, and The Truman Show go on to become mere cult films.

As a critic, I sometimes fear that I've become another cog in the machine, repeating praises that other, more worthy critics have already lavished upon a film, so I suppose there's a certain relief to be found when I find a film that's widely praised as The Matrix to fall short of its said praise. That's not to say that I hate this film simply to stick it to the popular opinion, I genuinely don't like this movie.

It was originally Doug Walker's video on The Matrix that initially inspired my anger and disdain for the film, as before then I was rather mixed on it, not entirely sure what to make of it but realizing that it wasn't the mind blowing experience that I expected. I know there's some out there who've grown disenfranchised with Walker's style for various reasons, and even I've noticed that he's begun to grasp for straws with The Nostalgia Critic, and I've grown to prefer his videos where he's himself, allowing himself to flesh out his ideas. But the video, obnoxious as it might be for some, did open my eyes to the fact that perhaps The Matrix isn't the film that people thought, alongside what people claim it to be.

Predictably, it's been my disdain for The Matrix that has caused the most derision from people, which I find odd as it makes me wonder how so many people clicked with this film. A friend of mine explained it to me: much like Star Wars, no one had ever seen anything like The Matrix before. Then again, most people probably hadn't seen Ghost in The Shell, a thoughtful, radical reinvention of the cyberpunk genre, and one that The Matrix would shamelessly knock off 4 years later, or They Live, John Carpenter's pulpy yet also surprisingly thoughtful critique of Reagan era politics, or Dark City and The Truman Show, two films that had come out the previous year and both that I thought had a much more complex and thorough exploration into similar concepts that The Matrix would touch upon.

The Matrix is basically a dull retread of Plato's Allegory of The Cave, touching upon the ideas of Plato's original story but never really bothering to say anything about them, it's the same critique that Ebert lobbied upon Fight Club, ironically from the same year, yet at least Fight Club had decent characters, intriguing ideas, and an dirty, grungy style, (though I much prefer Se7en) but with The Matrix...there's nothing.

Perhaps that's hyperbolic, The Matrix does have several things going for it. The slick cinematography certainly oozes atmosphere, I quite enjoyed how the font would change from The Matrix to the real world, the action is well helmed, as The Wachowskis have been well regarded as action directors, and its paced quite nicely, yet the film would be dragged down by its dull characters, overtly expository dialogue, and flat storytelling.

Nothing is left to the imagination in The Matrix, as much as its avid supporters would have you think otherwise. Characters dump information in the same dull, bored tone, there's no variety or humanity within the characters, and the film spends too long over-explaining things. The audience's intelligence is constantly insulted throughout the film, which is probably what angers me the most about this film. I've had more forgiving friends of mine who would explain to me how the studio had interfered with the film and forced them to change several things from it, though I don't easily buy into that excuse. If that were the case, then it shouldn't have been so hard to get around the hurdles and keep it compelling, yet alas they didn't. There are several scenes that I exempt, like the initial red pill/blue pill scene as well as the deja vu sequence (which is actually my favorite bit of the film). But asides from that, the film is a rather dull, flat experience, asides from flashes of excellence split throughout the film. There were bits throughout the film where I came up with ideas with how they could have made it better, like how in the Matrix, the people could be more dull and emotionally stunted since the robots don't know human nature as well, though when they're out of the Matrix, they can act more human and expressive, yet they didn't do that.

In the end, it's another piece of science fiction fluff that thinks itself smarter than it is, and it made me think back to a quote from Ellison.

"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you."

*sigh* how right you were, Harlan...how right you were.