Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, Gloria Fisher. Director: The Wachowski Brothers Grade: A­ What is the Matrix? Don't read Time magazine if you want it to be a surprise. It gave it away in the first sentence. From there I threw the magazine down and decided to read no further until I saw the movie. Keanu Reeves is Neo, a reclusive hacker who suddenly finds himself pursued by men who wear sunglasses no mattrer how dark it is. A mysterious friend named Morpheus (Fishburne) finds him and tries to help him escape, help him figure out why they're chasing him, and why he must find out what the Matrix is. I don't want to give away too much because that's half the joy of the movie - not knowing what's coming next. The plot is actually pretty clever as Neo must learn how to adapt and survive when reality has been stripped away. My only real complaints is that the script could've been even more inventive than it was. Many lines are clunkers, but because Fishburne is delivering them they seem okay. And toward the end, there were a couple parts where I was like "Okay, why doesn't he just do this? It would save so much time." Overall it was a high-action, fast-paced killer movie that will please many people. An usher cleaning our auditorium when it was over said to us, "Wasn't that the best movie you've ever seen?!" I hope it does well, because it is probably the best science-fiction movie I've seen in a long time. Rated R for shooting violence, but in my book it could've passed as a PG-13. No language or nudity to speak of. Back to Masters of Role Playing #7 Table of Contents Back to Masters of Role Playing List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chalice Publications. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com