+2
Ruf sums up the Kane stuff pretty well, I think. Yeah, it's good.
As for this Matrix rhetoric in this thread. Sorry, but this flick is a big collection of ripped off ideas. Nothing new at all, really, except the presentation, which is where The Matrix shines.
Blade Runner is clearly and definitely an influence as far as Art Direction is concerned.
The Frames are right out of a comic book, as far as the mise-en-scene is concerned.
Slow motion gun battles in long coats? John Woo
Wire-fu? At least 1000 Kung-Fu movies.
The bullet-time effect was actually used in a car commercial years before The Matrix was released. That was old tech at the time.
Also, the following concepts/ideas/people are not original at all:
A future in which artificial intelligence wars against mankind - The Terminator etc, which in turn ripped off Ellison
A society whose inhabitants are unaware of its artificiality? Several films contain this concept, as well as many books.
Physically jacking into computer hardware? Gibson nailed that one decades beforehand.
A prophesied savior? This one is simple.
Shadowy men in black? Dark City, etc, etc.
White rabbits? Cool homage, but not original.
Morpheus? It's been done.
The Black Prison/Artificial Reality/Timetrap is a Gnostic principle Phil Dick wrote about decades before.
Ridley Scott has gone on record stating films like The Matrix, War of the Worlds, and Independence Day signified the death nell for sci-fi films in general.
“There's nothing original,” he said. “We've seen it all before. Been there. Done it.” When asked to pick examples, he said: "All of them. Yes, all of them."
I am off-topic, but I had to reply to the posts in here.