There is no way you can live in Australia and not have heard of this film. Because of that enormous chip on our shoulder that we have named cultural cringe, we as a nation are taking almost sole credit for the making of The Matrix. It's filmed in Sydney, lots of Sydney companies contributed to the special effects and film editing and even though there are other people in the movie, it stars our very own Hugo Weaving. The important point here is can we separate out this hype from the film and determine if it's worth seeing? My answer would be that I probably can't.

Much as I find nationalism pathetic and irrational (on an intellectual level), I find myself cheering for the Aussies whenever we participate in anything. As such, I feel an unreasonable sense of pride that seven Australians were nominated for Academy Awards, or when we win gold medals at the Olympics, or that The Matrix was largely produced in Australia. Hence I realise that a large part of my approval of this film stems from parochialism.

The story itself isn't all that exciting although there are some interesting ideas in it. The mythology of being the chosen one is overstated to the point of being a bit annoying and mildly groan-worthy. The hokiest part, however, is reserved for the explanation of what the matrix is: talk about belabouring the point. If Neo (Keanu Reeves) is the chosen one, one would assume that he would have been at least a bit intelligent and would have got the point a bit earlier. When Morpheus (Laurence Fishburn) holds up the battery, you can feel the whole audience wincing.

That's said, The Matrix is quite entertaining. The special effects are very special indeed, and fit in with the story. The backdrop of Sydney enhances the movie for two reasons. First, it's fun trying to spot landmarks. Second, the plot of questioning what is reality seems more relevant when Sydney is the scene of one of the realities, admittedly it's Sydney without the Opera House but it's still Sydney.

It's very fast paced, and all the performances are well and truly up to the task required of them. Hugo Weaving's accent takes a bit of getting used to but since this is a high-tech future, I guess that too can be explained away.

My only other criticism of the movie would be the excessive violence in a couple of scenes. Some of the fight scenes are wonderfully staged and choreographed but there are a couple that are just simply gruesome, with very little being contributed to the film by their presence. I'm willing to admit that I'm a wimp but there were definitely a couple of scenes that I had to watch through my fingers.

Overall, The Matrix is fun. It's the special effects that you should be going to see, but there's enough of a story-line to hold it all together, and even one or two interesting issues raised: specifically the question of whether it's better to die on your feet or live on your knees. When it all comes down to it, I'm not sure I didn't identify more with the Judas of the film, than with our heroes.

Rating: CR