Do you really want to catch the ire of we who champion this film?
Honestly it’s a bit like Citizen Kane. No, really–you can watch it at a surface level and it has a plot you might find uninteresting. But it represents a sort of cinematic creativity rarely seen. The Wachowskis were inspired by the way anime tend to represent the world as a place that’s just more interesting than the real world. I think they used the term “hyper-real”–they show a blue sky in the movie, and it’s simply bluer than you’ve ever seen a real sky be. Large machinating corporations are larger, more machinating. Cars are fast? Now they’re faster. Races are interesting when cars play dirty? Now they’re actually armed with weapons. Racetracks are great when they have twists and turns? Let’s do that in three dimensions.
It captures the sort of imagination people seem to lose after a while. It’s a love letter to the bright and exciting world a child could believe to exist. It’s cinematic art without limit.
And if the final stretch of the grand prix didn’t make your pulse race, if you didn’t let out your held breadth as the Mach 6 slides across the finish line with its tires literally melting from the impossible feats it was put through, then I feel sorry for you. Because you missed out on one of the best movie experiences I’ve ever had.