The Matrix
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: March 31, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 36 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
5
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter Bradshaw
The metaphorical properties of The Matrix are part of what makes it so seductive, along with the no-filler-all-killer action. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The Wachowskis do it so playfully well, keeping The Matrix's potentially confusing plot intelligible, intelligent, and suspenseful, that it doesn't matter. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
Bill Pope's swooping, noir-inflected cinematography is wonderfully complemented by Owen Paterson's inventive production design, a great soundtrack and the best fight choreography this side of Hong Kong. And even if this isn't "Blade Runner," it is very cool shit. Read full review
90
TNT RoughCutChristopher Brandon
The Wachowski Brothers have created some of the most unrivaled and imaginative sci-fi in years. Read full review
90
Mr. ShowbizCody Clark
This wildly imaginative thriller is a futuristic head trip you most definitely want to take. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A wildly cinematic futuristic thriller that is determined to overpower the imagination, The Matrix combines traditional science-fiction premises with spanking new visual technology in a way that almost defies description. Read full review
90
Film ThreatRon Wells
I'll just say to anyone lamenting the state of American cinema since the 1970s, if you're curious where the next generation of auteurs is coming from, look in the art houses and look in The Matrix. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Kinetic, atmospheric, visually stunning, and mind-bending. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
With its mix of Lewis Carroll and William Gibson; Japanese anime and Chinese chopsocky; mythological allusions, and machine-made illusion, offers a couple of hours of escapist fun. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
There's a kind of liberating, almost transforming energy in this film; it lights you up and sends you out all giddy with silliness. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
One of the more lyrical sci-fi action thrillers ever made, in which space and time become love slaves to the directors' witty visual fancies. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
This full-tilt visual and aural bombardment is simply a lot of fun. It never lets up. Nor does it ever want to. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
One big, fat, honking comic book of a sci-fi-martial-arts adventure flick. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Doesn't just raise the bar on sci-fi and action films, it rips that sucker off and sends it spiraling into the sun. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The plot switches gears every time it threatens to run out of energy, which keeps the show as lively as it is preposterous. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Where most effects-laden extravanganzas aspire to be nothing more than a live-action comic book, The Matrix sees things with the venturesome clarity of a graphic novel. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The writing remains more intelligent than most thrillers, and the action is executed with such panache that even if you don't buy the reality of The Matrix, it's a helluva place to visit. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A dazzlingly original visual adventure. Read full review
75
New York PostRod Dreher
It's like animation come to three-dimensional life, and f/x addicts as well as sci-fi fans will not want to miss a split-second. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
For those who have been waiting for movies to catch up with the graphic possibilities of comic books, wait no longer: The Matrix is among us. Read full review
70
Film.comSean Means
Aerves up so much visual wizardry and thought-provoking ideas that even the inevitable Silver touch -- a finale with more bullets than the opening of "Saving Private Ryan" -- can't destroy the magic.
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It may bore you to death or blow your mind -- and it's long and convoluted enough to do both -- but it holds nothing back. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
An eye-popping but incoherent extravaganza of morphing and superhuman martial arts. Read full review
70
TimeRichard Schickel
Given a budget that encourages their kinesthetic skills, the filmmakers tend to go on a bit, but it's mostly a kind of quick, glancing hipness that's being indulged here. Read full review
70
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The martial arts stunts that are its single strongest selling point. Read full review
70
NewsweekDavid Ansen
With an arsenal of cool f/x at their disposal, the Wachowskis have come up with a dizzyingly enjoyable junk movie that has just enough on its mind to keep the pleasure from being a guilty one. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
Even if a lot of adults have problems following this picture 100%, look for computer-savvy teen-agers to guarantee this sometimes original but too often derivative time-killer a shelf life. Read full review
60
Village VoiceDennis Lim
The cumulative effect is perversely deflationary: long before it's over, the film has flushed the paranoia from its system. Read full review
60
Film.comGemma Files
An exercise in outrageous style over substance.
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The real soullessness here is built into the production, a polished adaptation of Hong Kong-style filmmaking that, with its cast of depressive characters, allows for little Hong Kong-style joy. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
Snazzy visuals, of which she (Moss) is one, carry The Matrix past its klutzy script. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleBob Graham
It's astonishing that so much money, talent, technical expertise and visual imagination can be put in the service of something so stupid. Read full review
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