I get what you're saying but the thing with The Matrix, while yeah technically correct, you forget the setting of the movie. It's inside a computer which the characters are intentionally manipulating. So as part of the story (and I grant you to look cool) a slo-mo chest kick that only launches the target backwards could be seen not as a mistake on the part of the filmmakers, but more a representation of how the characters are manipulating the system.

Of course that's just my opinion.