Movie Review Assignment

Maybe it’s just a dream

Slow motion and dodging bullets – the two key features of this multi-award winning classic will surely attract your eyeballs.

         The Matrix tells the story of Thomas Anderson, a computer programmer, who maintains a double life as “Neo” the hacker. On an unexpected occasion, Neo meets a mysterious woman, Trinity. She tells Neo that he is in danger, and keeps saying a strange word -- “The Matrix”. Wanting to find out what “The Matrix” really means, and why his life is endangered, Neo meets Morpheus. This man in black cloak explains that in the 21st century, humans waged a war against intelligent machines they had created. Humans blocked the machines' access to solar energy, which forced them to use humans' bioelectricity as a substitute power source. The world Neo has been living in is a “dream world” created by machines to blind humans from the reality. Through intense training with Morpheus, Neo develops a deeper understanding of this simulated world. His skills convince Morpheus that he is the One, a man prophesied to end the war between humans and machines. With the help of other rebels, Neo fights against the machine's enslavement of humanity as he begins to believe and accept his role as "The One".

        The Matrix suggests many frightening ideas which we are not willing to accept. (Who can imagine that what we call “reality” is actually a “dream world” created by scary machines that suck out our life.) Besides being just a movie full of kinetic energy, The Matrix leaves us many unanswered philosophical questions as well. What is real? What is this life all about? Are you living in The Matrix? It calls us to think about life, and to search for its ungraspable meaning and purpose.

PS cool quote from Morpheus. "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

Maybe it is a dream after all ......