Matrix

At some point, the balance tipped and the cult of The Matrix became the culture of The Matrix. The Matrix Reloaded, the sequel to the Keanu Reeves sci-fi action flick that grossed $171.4 million in 1999, officially opens tomorrow in the United States and 15 other countries. But many eager philosophy buffs, cyber punks and martial-arts fans will jam selected theaters late this evening for the rollout of what is expected to be the summer's biggest blockbuster. Directed by brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, the Matrix series - a third film is scheduled for November release - is a pop culture phenomenon that has influenced movies, music, video games, fashion and advertising even as it confounds those who prefer narratives that don't require a study guide.

"The Matrix" is about a war between oppressed humans and a hidden enemy fought with perception-altering software on a battleground of psychic projections. Yet despite the availability of such astonishing technology, both sides agree: We'll settle this with kung fu and guns. It's an attitude that suits "The Matrix," a loud, expensive-looking movie with the mind of a ambitious sci-fi epic and the soul of a Hong Kong action flick. It almost could have been made by two people.

OK, maybe Aristotle didn't give a fig about the issue, but: What does Tastee Wheat really taste like? And what about those other puzzles in The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded. You know, "What's really real?" And "What's control, anyway?" They're almost as challenging as the $195 million question (as in prorated investment for the first two films): Are the two movies just big-budget Hollywood product, reeking wannabe philosophical pretension to suck in the dollars of pseudo-intellectual teen fry with the rest of the masses?

Trinity: It's the question, Neo. It's the question that drives us. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did. Neo: What is the Matrix? Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. Yeah, right, the answer is out there. But so are the questions. It's been four years since The Matrix, the Wachowski Brothers' super-great cyberdelic mind trip, presented us with the cosmic conundrum.

The under-21 dance club Matrix, the scene of repeated problems in recent months, was denied a renewal of its operating license last night. In a 6-0 vote, the Township Council voted to turn down the club's application for a public-amusement license, based on the opinion of Police Chief Brian Malloy. After the vote, Malloy said that he could not "in good conscience" recommend the approval of the license for Matrix. The latest disturbance to bring police to the Cuthbert Boulevard club occurred early Sunday morning, when several fights erupted inside Matrix and spilled out into the parking lot. Police from surrounding areas had to be called in to lend assistance.

The Matrix Organization Inc., a business-consulting firm in King of Prussia, expects "a fairly dramatic increase" in employment because of a French firm's investment, Matrix's chief operating officer said yesterday. CGI Systems Inc. of Pearl River, N.Y., the U.S. division of CGI, a software and consulting firm based in Paris, acquired controlling interest in Matrix on Aug. 29. Terms were not disclosed. CGI's most successful product is a software system called Pacbase, which simplifies the process of programming mainframe computers, said CGI Systems spokesman Walter Stradling.

Working to raise money for Our Place, a social center for people with HIV and AIDS, the group Matrix performs at St. Luke's Church in Willingboro. The fund-raising event Saturday was the center's first since it lost $2,700 to embezzlers. On stage were (from left) Richard Peterson, Andy Sinatra and Joe Nickel.

A group of residents has filed a petition with the Bucks County Board of Elections seeking a ballot referendum that would establish a commission to study the township's government. The 48-page referendum petition was filed last month by Better Government for 2002. The petition alleges that Lower Makefield's Board of Supervisors acted improperly when it approved the Matrix Development Group Inc.'s plan to build the $200 million Octagon Center, a 185-acre hotel-retail-office complex, in December 2000.

Efforts to build a national terrorism and crime database for police have slowed as more and more states raise privacy concerns about the federally funded project. But one of the earliest proponents of the plan - the Pennsylvania State Police - remains committed to it. A year ago, 13 states had signed on to the Matrix project, a $12 million program to create a mega-database of criminal and other publicly available records for local law enforcement. But only six states, including Pennsylvania, remain in the project, which began a test phase in November.

A cyberpunk Alice in Wonderland in which the rabbit hole is a coaxial cable plugged right into your cerebral cortex, The Matrix asks the big questions: "Am I awake or am I dreaming?" "Do I take the red pill or the blue pill?" "What is real?" "Will Hollywood ever match Hong Kong when it comes to making crazy-beautiful, gravity-defying, blow-'em-away martial-arts movies?" (The answers, for those keeping score: dunno; red; your guess is as good as mine; and yes, Andy and Larry Wachowski, writer-directors of The Matrix, have just done it.)

The original death-dealer is back. After taking a break from the third Underworld film, Kate Beckinsale zips into the full-body black leather sheath once again to play Selene, the trigger-happy supernatural sheriff who targets werewolves, humans, and even her own kind, vampires. You want a herd thinned, Selene's your girl. As this sequel begins, Selene has been cryogenically frozen for 12 years, as humans have been systematically purging the world of the spookier species who have lived among them for centuries.

The title "Tron: Legacy" makes you wonder what legacy Disney is talking about. "Tron" opened in 1982 to dismal reviews, and closed unloved by sci-fi audiences, who much preferred "E.T. " and "The Wrath of Khan. " "Tron" performed even more poorly that year than Disney's "The Dark Crystal," generally cited as the movie that marked the animation division's nadir and near-collapse. Lousy box-office isn't always destiny, of course. "Blade Runner" made less money in 1982 than "Tron," and is now regarded as a work of great vision, a sci-fi classic that produced a wave of imitations and homage.

Efforts to build a national terrorism and crime database for police have slowed as more and more states raise privacy concerns about the federally funded project. But one of the earliest proponents of the plan - the Pennsylvania State Police - remains committed to it. A year ago, 13 states had signed on to the Matrix project, a $12 million program to create a mega-database of criminal and other publicly available records for local law enforcement. But only six states, including Pennsylvania, remain in the project, which began a test phase in November.

Ever wash down a tub of popcorn with a bracing can of Red Bull? It was a popular combo at the King of Prussia Stadium 16 earlier this week as an eager crowd, some dressed as hobbits, gathered for Trilogy Tuesday, a marathon showing of all three Lord of the Rings films. Why the Red Bull? However thrilling the adventures of Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee may be, when you're parked in a chair for more than 12 hours, you're going to need an occasional pick-me-up. It cost $25 to see J.R.R.

"Captain, these lights are crawling with calamari!" Well, that's what it sounded like to me, as a Zion techie toggles monitors at the outset of The Matrix Revolutions, trying to locate Neo, the One, the Saviour, the Keanu, and maybe order some crispy squid ringlets while he's at it. Having deflated and disappointed Matrix fans everywhere - I was one, I swear! - with May's seriously lacking second installment, The Matrix Reloaded, filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski deliver the final depressing blow in Revolutions.

THE PERSON or the program? This "Matrix"-sounding question often arises during a conversation with Keanu Reeves. The actor plays the central figure, Neo, in Larry and Andy Wachowski's "Matrix" movies, the third and final installment of which, "The Matrix Revolutions," opens worldwide tomorrow. He's an average hacker who's evolved through the trilogy into the superheroic savior of a mankind delusionally enslaved by mechanical masters, via a computer program that makes most humans believe they're actually living in the utterly virtual title world.

To help you get ready for the "Revolution," which opens Wednesday, here's a recap of the first two "Matrix" films. In "The Matrix," a computer hacker named Neo (Keanu Reeves) discovers that life is an illusion created by machines that have taken over Earth and enslaved all of humanity, keeping them in pods where they produce electricity for the machines and live their lives inside their heads as part of the Matrix. This is not good. A dude in a black leather jacket named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne)

Christina Crews and her friends had plenty to talk about on their way home from seeing The Matrix Reloaded. They could have debated the worth of the movie's interminable freeway sequence and the Cadillac that wouldn't die. Or questioned why, in the name of Zion, Neo - who, since the original Matrix, has acquired the ability to fly - chose to fight rather than blast past the bad guys who multiply like roaches. Instead, Crews, an African American, marveled over something she had never seen in more than 20 years of moviegoing.

Long lines snaked out of the cineplexes this weekend as The Matrix Reloaded scored the biggest opening weekend take ever for any R-rated movie: $93.3 million. Pretty good for a film in which kung-fu-fighting characters talk in philosophical riddles such as: "Choice is an illusion" and "There is only one constant. . . causality. " One must wonder which draws the crowds: Is it the existential terror that reality might really be an illusion concocted by evil computers to enslave humanity?

Trinity: It's the question, Neo. It's the question that drives us. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did. Neo: What is the Matrix? Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. Yeah, right, the answer is out there. But so are the questions. It's been four years since The Matrix, the Wachowski Brothers' super-great cyberdelic mind trip, presented us with the cosmic conundrum.