SILVER

The Wachowskis' mind-bending, bullet-dodging existentialist action movie posits that observable reality is really a virtual reality generated by a massive computer program keeping humans enslaved to AI overlords. Computer hacker Neo (Keanu Reeves) is recruited by a cadre of rebels, led by the mysterious Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), to help them liberate humankind. Could Neo in fact be "the One"? Wildly mixing and mashing up various references from myth, religion and philosophy with cyberpunk science fiction, Chinese martial arts cinema and Japanese anime, the film was a sensation upon release, a stylish and buzzy blockbuster that has become an enduring pop cultural reference point. Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano and Hugo Weaving co-star. DIR/SCR Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski; PROD Joel Silver. U.S., 1999, color, 136 min. RATED R