'Matrix' comes to end, but legend will live on

By Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

"The Matrix" films, co-starring Keanu Reeves (stopping bullets, above), altered the way people watch movies, ushering in the era of the home entertainment system. Advertiser library photo • April 2003 'The Matrix Revolutions' R, for sci-fi violence and sexual content 130 minutes Opens tomorrow. Check movie listings for showtimes.

That's the ultimate 911 call in "The Matrix," when things have fallen apart and a character must escape. With tomorrow's release of "The Matrix Revolutions," the trilogy is wrapped up, and the quintessential escapist fare seeks its own exit.

So the question becomes: What is the legacy of "The Matrix" — a latex-garbed, superslick curiosity, or a lasting piece of cinematic art?

"I think 'The Matrix' will be remembered as a classic trilogy that was truly unique," said Glenn Yeffeth, author of "Taking the Red Pill: Science, Philosophy and Religion in The Matrix" (BenBella Books; $17.95).

"It brought something new, and opened people's eyes in a way that very few things have done before, if only because of the powerful effect it's had on so many people."

From a practical standpoint, "The Matrix" had an undeniable impact on Hollywood. The high-wire acrobatics and "bullet time" effects forever changed how films are made, from crime thrillers ("Swordfish") to Hong Kong action movies ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") to big-budget fare ("Kill Bill: Volume 1.")

"The Matrix" also fostered a science fictionifriendly atmosphere in which studios put significant backing behind such fantastic tales as "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" and "Minority Report," both directed by Steven Spielberg.

The first "Matrix" film, released in 1999, altered the way we watch movies, helping usher in the era of the home entertainment system. With dazzling visuals and wall-shaking sound effects, the movie outstripped the limited capabilities of VHS tapes.

"The DVD of 'The Matrix' broke all records," Yeffeth said. "In fact, it almost established the DVD as a viable medium. A lot of people bought their DVD players because of 'The Matrix.'

" 'The Matrix' is a film people want to see over and over again because there's so much to it, so much richness to it," he added. "I can't think of a film that was as popular and as philosophical."

The vision of the enigmatic Wachowski brothers, "The Matrix" has been notoriously difficult to copy, perhaps because the story is so idiosyncratic. In a way, it operates as a Trojan Horse, concealing a dense, if sometimes conflicting, metaphysical belief system within a futuristic yet visceral shoot-'em-up.

"The amazing thing about 'The Matrix' is when you walk out of that film, you ask a question that Plato wanted us to ask, Descartes wanted us to ask: Is the reality as we perceive it the true reality?" Yeffeth said. "I think almost everyone who walks out of 'The Matrix' at least for a split second thinks, 'Boy, I wonder if we are in the Matrix?' "

In short, the films' message — that reality is actually a computer-generated ruse designed to placate a population in servitude — struck a chord with people who found themselves crammed into cubicles by corporate America and questioning the meaning of their lives. "If you're working in a cubicle 10 hours a day and going home to four hours of television, you might as well be in the Matrix," Yeffeth said.

Admittedly, such cultural phenomena are difficult to measure. It's hard to calculate how many people inspired by movies choose careers as shadowy hackers rather than Microsoft programmers. But you can guarantee that the authors of the latest computer virus have "The Matrix" in their video libraries.

Paul Di Filippo, author of "Ribofunk" (Four Walls Eight Windows; $20) said recent protests against globalization smack of a Matrix-type attitude. "I'm wondering if the most lasting impact of 'The Matrix' may be this kind of 'fight the power' anti-authoritarian take on things," he said. "Nobody's saying necessarily that (President) Bush is an android or it's all an illusion or something, and yet there's this sense there's this structure that's bigger than us. It's come to overwhelm us and render the life of the individual rather insignificant. So somehow I think the 'Matrix' films may be simultaneously tapping into that and fostering it."

Di Filippo identifies numerous literary precedents, notably the work of Philip K. Dick, whose 1981 novel "Valis" features a central character who's awakened by a pink beam (much like the red pill taken by Neo, Keanu Reeves' character in 'The Matrix') to realize that his world is actually an illusion that obscures the real age, a Roman era known as the "Black Iron Prison."

While "The Matrix" series is ending, it also may signal a beginning. "It might very well be seen as an initial milestone on a certain path," Di Filippo said. "I really think it's the first of its kind. Just like we look at some earlier films and acknowledge that they might look primitive nowadays, we still can say they ... pointed the way for what came afterward."