New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

63 11th Hour, The
47 27 Dresses
29 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
81 Bamako
84 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47 Bella
68 Business of Being Born, The
69 Charlie Wilson's War
64 Cloverfield
30 Cover
68 Delirious
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43 Final Season, The
46 Finishing the Game
41 First Sunday
66 George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
51 Golden Compass, The
65 Great Debaters, The
63 Hannah Takes the Stairs
52 Hollywood Dreams
7 Hottie and the Nottie, The
63 How She Move
60 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
73 I'm Not There
15 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81 Juno
70 Lars and the Real Girl
47 Lions for Lambs
41 Mad Money
71 Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx Moondance Alexander
53 Music Within
77 Nanking
48 National Treasure: Book of Secrets
44 Nina's Heavenly Delights
24 One Missed Call
74 Orphanage, The
30 Over Her Dead Body
39 P.S. I Love You
37 P2
46 Reservation Road
57 Romulus, My Father
85 Savages, The
78 Starting Out in the Evening
12 Strange Wilderness
57 Teeth
92 There Will Be Blood
38 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32 Untraceable
63 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68 War Dance
71 Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43 Youth Without Youth

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Matrix, The
Warner Bros.


8.2

based on 35 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 132 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

GAMES:

MPAA RATING: R for sci-fi violence and brief language

Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano

A computer hacker (Reeves) learns that his entire life has been a virtual dream, orchestrated by a strange class of computer overlords in the far future. He joins a resistance movement (led by Fishburne) to free humanity from lives of computerized brainwashing.

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski
DIRECTED BY:	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 21, 1999 Video: September 21, 1999 Theatrical: March 31, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	136 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The Wachowskis do it so playfully well, keeping The Matrix's potentially confusing plot intelligible, intelligent, and suspenseful, that it doesn't matter.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

Bill Pope's swooping, noir-inflected cinematography is wonderfully complemented by Owen Paterson's inventive production design, a great soundtrack and the best fight choreography this side of Hong Kong. And even if this isn't "Blade Runner," it is very cool shit.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

This wildly imaginative thriller is a futuristic head trip you most definitely want to take.

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

The Wachowski Brothers have created some of the most unrivaled and imaginative sci-fi in years.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that is determined to overpower the imagination, The Matrix combines traditional science-fiction premises with spanking new visual technology in a way that almost defies description.

Film Threat Ron Wells

I'll just say to anyone lamenting the state of American cinema since the 1970s, if you're curious where the next generation of auteurs is coming from, look in the art houses and look in The Matrix.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

With its mix of Lewis Carroll and William Gibson; Japanese anime and Chinese chopsocky; mythological allusions, and machine-made illusion, offers a couple of hours of escapist fun.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

There's a kind of liberating, almost transforming energy in this film; it lights you up and sends you out all giddy with silliness.

Slate David Edelstein

One of the more lyrical sci-fi action thrillers ever made, in which space and time become love slaves to the directors' witty visual fancies.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

This full-tilt visual and aural bombardment is simply a lot of fun. It never lets up. Nor does it ever want to.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

One big, fat, honking comic book of a sci-fi-martial-arts adventure flick.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Doesn't just raise the bar on sci-fi and action films, it rips that sucker off and sends it spiraling into the sun.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The plot switches gears every time it threatens to run out of energy, which keeps the show as lively as it is preposterous.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Where most effects-laden extravanganzas aspire to be nothing more than a live-action comic book, The Matrix sees things with the venturesome clarity of a graphic novel.

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

The writing remains more intelligent than most thrillers, and the action is executed with such panache that even if you don't buy the reality of The Matrix, it's a helluva place to visit.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue

For those who have been waiting for movies to catch up with the graphic possibilities of comic books, wait no longer: The Matrix is among us.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

A dazzlingly original visual adventure.

New York Post Rod Dreher

It's like animation come to three-dimensional life, and f/x addicts as well as sci-fi fans will not want to miss a split-second.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An eye-popping but incoherent extravaganza of morphing and superhuman martial arts.

Time Richard Schickel

Given a budget that encourages their kinesthetic skills, the filmmakers tend to go on a bit, but it's mostly a kind of quick, glancing hipness that's being indulged here.

The New York Times Janet Maslin

The martial arts stunts that are its single strongest selling point.

Newsweek David Ansen

With an arsenal of cool f/x at their disposal, the Wachowskis have come up with a dizzyingly enjoyable junk movie that has just enough on its mind to keep the pleasure from being a guilty one.

Film.com Sean Means

Aerves up so much visual wizardry and thought-provoking ideas that even the inevitable Silver touch -- a finale with more bullets than the opening of "Saving Private Ryan" -- can't destroy the magic.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

It may bore you to death or blow your mind -- and it's long and convoluted enough to do both -- but it holds nothing back.

USA Today Mike Clark

Even if a lot of adults have problems following this picture 100%, look for computer-savvy teen-agers to guarantee this sometimes original but too often derivative time-killer a shelf life.

Film.com Gemma Files

An exercise in outrageous style over substance.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

The cumulative effect is perversely deflationary: long before it's over, the film has flushed the paranoia from its system.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The real soullessness here is built into the production, a polished adaptation of Hong Kong-style filmmaking that, with its cast of depressive characters, allows for little Hong Kong-style joy.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Snazzy visuals, of which she (Moss) is one, carry The Matrix past its klutzy script.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

It's astonishing that so much money, talent, technical expertise and visual imagination can be put in the service of something so stupid.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 132 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Noah S gave it a10:
The Matrix is without a doubt one of the best movies ever made. Period. I will explain though. Most people have an issue with the movie for one of two reasons: the special effects and the plot. First, I'm not a huge martial arts guy, so I'm definitely nowhere close to being an expert on this, but the action scenes were pretty awesome. The combination of slick and fast hand-to-hand with a load of guns thrown in...awesome. The music to the fights completed the experience. The second issue most people have with the Matrix is something I am quite familiar with: the plot. The plot of the Matrix is fantastic. That is because of two things: One, it is a fresh idea. The Matrix's plot is not a clone of anything. And two, the plot is incredibly deep, having multiple levels for every part in it. The agents, Neo being freed, the idea of the Matrix itself, all great. If you don't like sci-fi, then that's fine. You probably won't like this movie. You definitely won't like the sequels. But don't knock them for being "stupid" or "moronic." Because they simply aren't. And on a last note, the acting is exactly suited to this movie. The people in this movie act exactly how their characters should. Keanu Reeves was cast BECAUSE he acts the way he does on camera. It was perfect for the part. Hugo Weaving is SUPPOSED to be dry and humorless. Keep in mind the context of the characters when you judge acting. If you have any complaints, I'll be willing to defend the greatness of this movie. A 10 out of 10.

Elena B gave it a10:
It is an epic. Classic. Great philosphy.

Mark W gave it a10:
Gobsmacked all the way! This is a mile marker movie in the cinema time line. The cinematography is ground breaking and impressive - evidenced by how much it has been imitated. It is a movie for both Joe Six-pack and the philosopher at the same time. Joe S. will be satisfied with the Kung-Fu action and gun fighting expolosions, while the philosopher will scratch their chin with a new perspective on Descartes' Mind-Body problem. The kissy-kissy scene between Neo and Trinity is a bit hokey ... but I survived it and still left the theater slack-jawed. The next two movies in the trilogy do not follow this one very well. In fact, I think the trilogy is still incomplete. I am waiting for the next two...proper follow-ups.

Robert S. gave it a9:
A fantastic film that is as creative as science-fiction films get. A great take on the "What if" question, and although the action is a bit over the top, it's supposed to be and it doesn't go too far. Makes you think and combines good use of colour, atmosphere and truly believable fear from some of the characters to make on of the best sci-fi films ever. Go buy it. It's just a shame the sequels were so bad.

Donna M gave it a10:
The movie is excellent! I did not even pay attention to the special effects, It is the concept that really rocks! Extremely mind blowing! This is the best movie I ever saw!

Kevin V. gave it an8:
What a concept! Although the movie is well executed, it is not exceptional. It makes for an entertaining ride.

Michael R. gave it a10:
Easily in top 20 greatest movies of all time.Action packed from start to finish.

Matrix, The Warner Bros.

Matrix, The
Warner Bros.