How much of an influence can a film have? This documentary looks at the influence of The Matrix, a film that millions of people worldwide have seen. The film looks at several cases of murder or attempted murder where the accused appears to have been influenced by the film to kill or has believed that they are part of the matrix and must try to battle through it like Neo himself.
Shortly after Revolutions came out, this film was screened on channel 4 in the UK, even with the best will in the world this points to the fact that it is a bit of a cash in at best. There have been plenty of `do violent films contribute to real life violence' films and this is simply one of the worst I have seen. The film looks at several cases of murder, it almost revels in the gory details of each, all the time the narrator speaking as if reading the word of God so serious is he!
All through the film he asks things like `but was the murder influenced by the film?' etc. Usually within seconds of him asking it, the film cuts to a talking head expert answering the question in a variety of ways - but always saying `no'! In fact the whole film concludes that the murders looked at were not influenced by the film. At best (?) the film has a few people who are clearly disturbed and, were it not The Matrix that they claimed responsibility, then it would have been something else.
The film itself even highlights how thin the link is between the case and some of the films. Many of the accused people had histories of mental illness and claim that they believed they were part of some conspiracy which had slight parallels to the movie. If this is the case, then to link the film directly to this one film in particular is just shameless cashing in.
Overall this film is a documentary, but I personally hate to use that word to describe such a trashy, exploitative look at murders which got made by linking it to a major film series that was getting a lot of hype at the time. It has no value and is pretty dull. It doesn't mange to comment on the `art influencing life' debate at all, preferring just to go into detail on each gory case while the narrator continues with a serious voice, which is practically drooling with desire each time he asks the trashy questions which are almost immediately dismissed.
