I guess I should start with the script. It was not completely unique (the movie itself refers to one of it's sources of inspiration, Alice In Wonderland), and it's central idea was quite similar to last year's The Truman Show. However, the movie did take things to a new level and explored many of the ramifications of such an idea. And the idea is basically this: our lives and our experiences, our senses of touch, taste, etc. are all interpretations of electrical signals by our brains. Thus, it could be that we are all just sitting somewhere with our brains and nervous system electrically connected to a huge computer software simulation of life. A secondary and complementary idea was that of AI (Artificial Intelligence). The idea being that the intelligence of computers, machines, and robots overcome that of humans and begin to take over control of the Earth. It's a stretch, but it is a stretch that is made completely believable by the realism of this movie.

That realism is brought about by some pretty good acting, but most importantly, seamless special effects. The effects in this movie are perhaps the best that I have yet seen. In every scene of the movie, no matter how imaginative, dreamlike, or spectacular, I felt like I was there and that it was really happening. Furthermore, there were scenes which just simply blew me away. They were so cool. For instance, a few fight scenes were slowed down to a halt as our view is rotated about 180 degrees around the focal point of the fight (see picture below). Just amazing! There were other cool scenes too which involved some pretty cool Kung Fu moves.

As a corollary to the special effects was the cinematography. This movie had a definite character and uniqueness to it. It was dreamlike, futuristic, artistic (see picture by title at top of page), and had a somewhat renegade feel to it (see picture below). I thank the directors and producers of this movie for such a glimpse into their imaginative minds.

I was also quite impressed with some of the underlying and somewhat subtle computer inferences in the movie. For instance, humans resisting the computer simulation of life were referred to as viruses and the "machines"' creation to get rid of the viruses were the agents. There were many other such inferences.

As a final note, I found it extremely interesting as to how this movie dealt with religion. At first glance, the movie seems almost evil, pessimistic, and atheistic. However, I would argue just the opposite. The movie has many (almost too many to count) Biblical parallels and inferences. It also makes no attacks on anyone's religion, which such a movie certainly has the potential of doing.

Thought-provoking, suspenseful, and visually stunning, this movie is a MUST SEE.