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Keanu Reeves in The Matrix
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Photograph: PR
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Photograph: PR

The Matrix: No 13 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time

This article is more than 13 years old
The Wachowskis, 1999

The Matrix is a teenage boy's dream. There's action, fighting, cutting-edge special effects, murderous robots, evil authority figures, an overriding pseudo-conspiracy theory and, most wonderful of all, an ineloquent social outcast who eventually becomes a flying kung fu Jesus.

What's missing? Girls in skin-tight PVC catsuits? Nope – The Matrix has those, too. By cherry-picking as many key ingredients from action films as they could (the us-against-the-machines mentality from The Terminator, the wire work from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the star from Johnny Mnemonic), and shooting it through with a timely dose of pre-millennial unease, the directors single-handedly managed to reinvigorate an entire genre. The sight of Arnold Schwarzenegger lunkheadedly charging through armies of ineffectual goons started to look embarrassingly tired. The Matrix marks the point where fans demanded more – they wanted to see themselves on screen. And that's why the casting of Keanu Reeves was a masterstroke. He might be pretty, but he's no one-man army. Plus: Neo is totally an anagram of "One". Woah.

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