[8.4/10] *The Matrix* plays different to me now than when I was a teenager, which is as it should be. The philosophy that blew my mind in middle school seems a little rote as an adult. The omnipresence of dialing phones as the bridge to cyberspace feels a bit quaint. And the dark heart beneath the prosperity and anti-authoritarian/conformity speeches seem a little outdated when more of that dark heart has been on display in modern society and we’re more worried about unseen pockets of hate that metastasized on the internet than we are about the web as a mean to strike back against the system.

And yet, *The Matrix* still “slaps”, a word that is appropriately du jour now but likely to become passe in twenty years. While the film’s approach to special effects and adoption of wire-fu became so influential that it became ubiquitous, there is still such tension in every set piece. While the film’s questioning of what counts as reality and choice and control feels a little freshman philosophy class, this is still a film with something on its mind. And the premise of a boundless digital world, controlled by A.I., after our old one was brought down by our own hand, is still enough to power a film like this.

Those factors, and the unmitigated style oozing out of every frame, make *The Matrix* just as memorable, if not necessarily as deep, when returning to the film twenty years later. The story, which I once found compelling, if not outright inspiring as a teenager, feels a little rote now. Maybe it’s just that we’ve had beaucoup chosen one stories since then, but the whole “you’re him, Neo” routine comes off much more staid and standard when your movie is sandwiched between Luke Skywalker and Buffy Summers on one side, and Aang and Harry Potter on the other.

What’s more, *The Matrix* is mostly one big long introduction. In an odd way, it feels a lot like a phase one Marvel Cinematic Universe film, where it’s devoted as much to establishing the main character of a soon-to-be franchise as it is telling a plot-driven story from start to finish. Most of the film’s runtime is about what The Matrix is, what happened to lead humanity to this place, and a lot of exposition and ruminations on the nature of experience and truth beyond any full blown narrative developments. We basically get Neo being brought into the Matrix, learning about “The One” and then, in the last half hour of the film, the plot obstacles actually pile up. It’s a personal journey or a pilot more than a full-fledged story on its own.

Beyond that, the acting seems far shakier as an adult than it did when I was a kid. Keanu Reeves’s lines in the film became the stuff of memes before memes were really a thing. While occasionally grazing profundity, the script is full of action movie one-liners and platitudes than even the more seasoned performers have trouble making sound convincing at times. And even Hugo Weaving, whose mannered performance is one of the most memorable in the film, feels like he verges into Shatner-ing at times.

And yet, those elements, which would sink most films in my estimation, are more than counterbalanced by the aesthetic brilliance, the intense fights, the unmitigated style, and yes, the thoughtfulness baked into an otherwise standard “he is the chosen one” tale. It’s striking on rewatch how much of *The Matrix* is about choice. There are some strong themes about mental liberation, about what we perceive versus what is real, and the way that what we believe informs what we’re willing to see and experience. But choice is at the core of the film’s ethos, about deciding what kind of person you want to be, what kind of future you want to have, despite fate or destiny or predetermination, that permeates the film and emerges in monologues from both the good guys and bad guys.

Plus, it’s just a damn imaginative and durable premise. *The Matrix* was not the first work to prophesize a digital world, or an omnipresent artificial intelligence, or virtual reality as a refuge from a battered real world. But the film combines all of these elements into a setup that works, with infinite possibilities that can spring from it. As much time as the script spends establishing how things got to this point and what the rules of this universe are, it’s compelling just to learn more about this setting and see its limits and possibilities dramatized before the actual conflict kicks in. Frankly, I’m shocked that, despite the polarizing reaction to this film’s sequels, we haven’t had a reboot or reimagining or late sequel based on the potential to reuse this film’s premise alone.

But even if the premise wasn’t as good as it is, even if the film didn’t have more on its mind than the average actioner, the visuals and direction alone are enough to make it worth giving *The Matrix* another spin. While some of the CGI doesn't pass the eye test as well in 2019, the writer/director Wachowskis still make all those groundbreaking skirmishes stunning whether or not you can see the seams. Beyond the famed bullet time sequences, which still stand up today, the fight scenes are directed, blocked, and edited almost perfectly. There’s enough cuts to liven up the shot selection, but we get to see enough sustained combat and movement to understand the geography of the showdowns and believe our heroes as masters of their trade. There’s a lot of borrowing going on here from East Asian films that use the same approach, but the Wachowskis deploy it masterfully. The use of the virtual setting and the longer cuts amid the fireworks help find the middle ground between the impossible and the believable that makes Neo and Morpheus and Trinity’s battles so damn captivating.

At the same time, there’s just oodles of style in this thing. There’s the obvious washed out green sheen to everything, an omnipresent color grading that signifies sci-fi dystopia before we’re two steps into the film. The black leather, monochromatic aesthetic feels timeless, with distinct looks for even the more short-lived members of Morpheus’s crew. And the larger than life actions by our heroes and villains -- impossible firefights, wall-walking evasions, daredevil leaps -- are all done with the right amount of slow motion, musical accompaniment, and virtuosity to make the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar seem like the coolest people in the world, whether you’re 13 or 30.

*The Matrix* isn’t a film with a powerhouse plot or indelible performances (give or take Laurence Fishburne) or deeply-sketched characters. It’s a film with high-minded themes, an outstanding setup, and unbelievable action and aesthetics that elevate beyond less successful fare and make it a stone cold classic. It may not rock my world the same way it did when I was a teenager, but even today, the film is enough to get my blood-pumping at the same time it gets me thinking. That combination lets the film soar even after its innovations have become commonplace, because nobody’s quite topped the Wachowskis in their ability to marry top notch, jaw-dropping action with general audience appropriate but still thought-provoking ideas.