The Matrix - Movie Review Example

V. In conclusion, one may note that at the time of its production, The Matrix stood apart from other science fiction films in that the successful communication of the plot and story was inextricably dependant upon the formulation of such technologies as would do so. The Wachowski brothers' 1999 film, The Matrix, has been hailed by numerous critics as a revolution in cinematography. As the professor of film and cinematic arts, Adriana de Souza e Silva (2004) remarks, the use of revolutionary cinematographic techniques successfully allowed for the depiction of unreal' space as both real and material.

Apart from the fact that the techniques used both communicated and served the plot, the fact is that they allowed the filmmakers to depict the worlds of cyberspace and the mind as if they were material realms of existence, even as they constantly reminded audiences of the hazy and ephemeral nature of that world (Silva, 2004). While the cinematographic effects and techniques in The Matrix have been dismissed as eye candy' by some critics, a discursive analysis of these techniques, with specific focus on bullet time, shall demonstrate the extent to which The Matrix, not only represents a revolution in special effects technology but has successfully employed those effects to actualise and materialise an otherwise immaterial world and existence.

The Matrix unfolds within the ephemeral landscape of a quasi-cyberspace, difficult to depict or define. As noted by the American and cultural studies scholar, Tim Blackmore (2004), the world of The Matrix is almost impossible to define, let alone depict in material fashion, insofar as it exists somewhere within the mind and is shaped by a cyberspacian high-tech existence which is simultaneously real and unreal. The storyline, inasmuch as it derives from the traditional evil versus good, light versus darkness theme, is familiar but the world in which it unfolds is highly unfamiliar and, as such, alien to the audience (Blackmore, 2004).

Within the context of Blackmore's (2004) observations, one may define two challenges before the filmmakers. The first is to exploit cinematographic and lightening techniques to their limit for the explicated purpose of both visualising and rendering real, the unreal world of The Matri