If there is a list of "best slow motion scenes" without this film listed, I have not found it. It goes without saying the 1999's The Matrix, while not inventing the camera technique (its predecessors include 1988's Akira, and several of Michael Gondry's music videos), it pioneered the use of slow motion movement, fast motion camera, and state of the art visual effects to bring Bullet Time to the big leagues. If there is anything to be proven by the many fast moving Vampires that haunt TV and Film, it is that extreme speed always looks silly when portrayed outright. Thus, when the Wachowski siblings approached the first Matrix, they needed to show their main character dodging bullets, but still convey how difficult and unreal the movement is. This moment (and no doubt you know which moment I am referring to) is a key part of Neo's growing self-awareness of his role as "the One", and remains one of the crowning achievements in visual effects, shooting, and editing. All that said, let's be honest: this shot is most remembered just because it is such a cool shot. There are quite a few other stylish bullet time sequences in the climax, but none are quite as impressive as this first impression.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
