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Avg. Critic Score: 73 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
14 Iffy for 14+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 90
    Los Angeles Times | Kenneth 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

  • 80
    Washington Post | Stephen 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
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    One big, fat, honking comic book of a sci-fi-martial-arts adventure flick. Read full review

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    A visually dazzling cyberadventure, full of kinetic excitement, but it retreats to formula just when it's getting interesting. Read full review

  • 70
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    An eye-popping but incoherent extravaganza of morphing and superhuman martial arts. Read full review

  • 70
    The New York Times |

    The martial arts stunts that are its single strongest selling point. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Mike 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

  • 58
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa 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
    Boston Globe | Jay Carr

    Snazzy visuals, of which she (Moss) is one, carry The Matrix past its klutzy script. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle | Bob 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

View more reviews for The Matrix on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 14+ Intense, but many teens will be able to handle it.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that although this movie is rated R for violence (some pretty gross, including an icky bug that enters the hero's body through his belly button) and language, most teens 14 and up who are begging to see it should be able to handle it without a problem.
  • Families can talk about the relationship between humans and machines, and why Smith says that the first Matrix program, creating the perception of a utopia-like society, was unacceptable to the humans. Their attempt to keep the humans compliant through happiness did not work, so they had to try again with the past "reality" of a stress-filled world. There are also issues of destiny versus free will and loyalty versus self-interest. Parents should think about raising the issue of violence in movies, and the impact it has on viewers, especially impressionable or disaffected ones, as well.
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Not an issue
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Extreme -- numerous fight sequences involving knives, guns, kicks, punches. Deaths during battle scenes. An icky bug enters the hero's body through his belly button.
  • sex false3 Sex: Brief scene with scantily clad characters, cleavage, passionate kissing.
  • language false3 Language: Moderate ("s--t," "goddamn").
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: The Oracle smokes, one character has a drink.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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