The Matrix

One inconspicuous film that changed sci-fi, changed action, and changed the whole pop culture. A cult that I always enjoy watching again and it will always amaze me again how everything fit together for the Wachowskis: Characters that you care about from the first encounter, a story that is not one hundred percent original but combined in a way that leaves you speechless, and tricks that will blow your mind: the helicopter, dodging bullets, and the final chase. A unique film, no trilogy. Matrix is just one. (2006-04-29)

A masterpiece that indirectly established a new wave of action movies for the new millennium. Since 1999, countless directors have tried to copy the action from The Matrix, some were more successful, others less so. But I dare say that no one has been able to replicate the magic of this film. The action itself is excellent (perhaps occasionally overly effects-driven for my taste) and I truly enjoy certain parts of it. The excellent music, the cool costumes, and the overall style of the film suit me quite well. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne overflow with charisma, and the Wachowski siblings' inventiveness is miles ahead. I wouldn't dare to say which part of the trilogy is the best, but the first one is undoubtedly the best-written and most original – and not just because it was the first... (2006-03-04)

Of all the science fiction films that revel in imaginary worlds, in bending the laws of nature and physics, and in visually loaded, perfectly scored, and all-out action, The Matrix is the most imaginative, the most visually loaded, and the most auditorily bombastic. A visionary work where every detail is absolutely in place and brought to a timeless, seemingly unearthly perfection. 100% (2011-04-18)

I’m finally done with the entire trilogy. The first part is the most straightforward and intimate and the one works as a standalone film, but also as the beginning of a saga. A great idea, brilliantly executed and deeply philosophical (I would love to read the philosophy behind the Matrix universe, it could be very interesting. It addresses almost everything, from noetic questions about the possibilities and ways of human cognition, through the creation of one's own ontological system, to the problems of causality and the question of choice). In any case, the first Matrix is a groundbreaking and hugely important film and I could even be more in love with it if I had a fetish for the nice clothes the characters wear. (2010-08-22)

In my opinion, this film has started something... Its impressive visual rendering and stylistic polishing are still copied by many action films today, and (unfortunately) few take the time to invent an elaborate plot that would have a fairly solid philosophical footing (I don't mean the spawn that the flock of furious interpreters of every little thing have created around the film). The Matrix worked as an action film (the fights are simply a treat!), as science fiction and as a film with a deeper idea. It's certainly not cyberpunk, as many unlearned people claim, and it's certainly nothing original – most of The Matrix's "source" files are not commonly known to our culture, although all you have to do is go through the relevant sections of Japanese cinema. The Matrix is one of the first messengers of the "new hi-tech" film with everything that it encompasses, the messenger of a new futuristic conception of the action element in the story. At the same time, I won't be far from the truth when I say that it will always be a cult film – just as it's hard to take it out of the family of classic sci-fi films. (2004-02-05)