Empire is celebrating The Matrix this issue, and rightly so. Yet sometimes that movie's influence on a whole host of lesser, lame-brained movies is lamentable - and never more so than here, an early contender for Worst Movie of 2003.
After all, the plot - some mystical bollocks about finding The One (and if you thought Keanu was a stretch in that department, try Seann William Scott for size) - is Matrix-lite. And don't get us started on the lo-grav fight scenes, scuppered by dreadful choreography, shocking bluescreen work and quite appalling editing, which suggest that first-timer Hunter just didn't get the coverage he needed.
His dialogue scenes are just as bad, hanging a decent cast out to dry. But the real tragedy here is the waste of Hong Kong legend Chow Yun-Fat, clearly struggling with sub-Yoda platitudes in an alien language.
It's painful to watch, especially when you consider that this was produced by his good chum, John Woo. With friends like that