The Matrix (1999)

The Matrix (1999)

Writers-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski's second feature film was this ambitious and inventive, kinetic, action-oriented virtual-reality flick. It was the first remarkable film in a series of three futuristic sci-fi action films. See also The Matrix Reloaded (2003) and The Matrix Revolutions (2003) . The blockbuster's wild popularity among audiences was due to its combination of comic-bookish plot, mysticism, philosophical complexity, computer-enhanced digital effects of its unbelievable action scenes, flying bullet-dodging ("bullet-time") and intriguing virtual worlds in which reality was redefined as a computer simulation.

The film helped to illustrate what would become of futuristic sci-fi action films with slick and smart plots, and jaw-dropping action. Tremendous visual effects were combined with Eastern world-denying philosophy, metaphysical Zen statements, Japanese anime, Greek mythology, cyberpunk chic, neo-Cartesian plot twists, film noir, and Biblical and Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) references.

The main plot told about the state of the world (of approximately the year 2199), where humans had been subdued by virtually indestructible Sentient Agents who had created a simulated reality of the world in the year 1999 known as the Matrix. The Matrix was a completely unreal facade since the actual Earth had been scorched as a result of a war between humanity and AIs. A race of sentient AI machines (represented by stern-faced, suit-and tie government Agents) had subdued and enslaved humans who were literally plugged into and harvested as power source batteries (they were providing biolectric energy power derived from their body heat and neural bio-electrical activity). The humans were in suspended animation, being entertained by a false reality transmitted into their brain by the "Matrix" so they would relax and keep providing power.

A group of rebels, led by a character known as Morpheus (a Greek name for the 'God of Dreams') (Laurence Fishburne), were "unplugging" enslaved humans and recruiting them to their cause for further resistance. Only a small number of freed, rebellious humans really lived in the real world - in a deep underground city and refuge known as Zion. Typically, the access point for the rebels to enter and exit the Matrix was via a phone. The film opened with efforts of the rebels to recruit slacker-hacker Thomas Anderson / dubbed Neo (Keanu Reeves), a neophyte who was called as a Messianic figure ("The One") to save the world. Their efforts were countered by those of the Agents who were hunting down and aiming to eliminate the predestined Savior.

• the film's impressive title screen opening provided a zoom-shot into dripping or cascading Japanese-like characters
• in the opening sequence two free resistance members-hackers Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) were conversing by phone; she was in the Matrix, in Room 303 of the dingy Heart O' the City Hotel in Mega City, while Cypher was back in rebel headquarters; they had been tracking the whereabouts of some unidentified person; they suddenly realized that their phone line had been traced and targeted
• two sinister agents (wearing dark suits and sunglasses) - led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), entered Trinity's hotel room to arrest her; after finishing off law enforcement police officers sent to apprehend her, Trinity then fought against the two Agents, and fled across a rooftop to the street where she raced to a phone booth at Wells and Lake and made a phone call to create a viable "exit" to transport her out of the Matrix to escape; Agent Smith attempted to drive a garbage truck into the telephone booth, but she had already left the Matrix by picking up the ringing phone; Smith surmised that their next search target, told to them by a traitorous rebel informant, would be named "Neo" (or "The One")
• in the next major sequence, obsessed computer software hacker Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) (with hacker alias "Neo") - who lived alone - was asleep in front of his bank of computer monitors, unaware of messages scrolling across about a search for Morpheus at the Heathrow Airport; he was awakened by more messages summoning him: "Wake up, Neo", "The Matrix has you", and "Follow the white rabbit"
• after leaving his place to attend a rave party, he was approached by Trinity who personally introduced herself; Neo was surprised that the well-known hacker who had been trying to contact him with cryptic messages on his computer was female; she warned him that he was in danger: "They're watching you, Neo"; she knew he was restlessly searching for "him" - and for answers to the cryptic question: "What is the Matrix?"; as she whispered into his ear, Trinity assured him that the answer was out there: ("It's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to")
• after arriving late for his programming job at corporate high-rise software company Metacortex the next morning and being reprimanded for not following the rules by his boss Mr. Rhineheart (David Aston), in his cubicle, Neo was warned via a FedEx package and a cellphone call from Morpheus that he was about to be apprehended, and Morpheus attempted to guide him safely out of the building; however, the Agents, again led by Agent Smith, pursued and soon after seized Neo, took him into custody, and drove him off in a vehicle
• they brought him to a small windowless white room (with only a table and two chairs) for questioning - viewed by multiple video camera monitors; Agent Smith entered with two other agents, to begin the grim and serious interrogation; while viewing a large file on Mr. Anderson's activities, it was revealed that he had been living "two lives" - as Anderson and as a computer "criminal" hacker nicknamed Neo: ("As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson. It seems that you've been living two lives. In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a social security number. You pay your taxes. And you help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers where you go by the hacker alias 'Neo' and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future. And one of them does not")

• during harsh questioning, Agent Smith proposed a bargain - they would overlook Neo's cybercrimes and "wipe the slate clean" (and give him amnesty or "a fresh start") if Neo would cooperate in bringing a "known terrorist" named Morpheus - "the most dangerous man alive" - to justice; "Neo" appeared to cooperate and called it "a really good deal," but proposed an alternative: "How about I give you the finger and you give me my phone call?" He then went further: ("You can't scare me with this Gestapo crap. I know my rights"), but found his mouth had been fused shut (by programming in the Matrix) and he was unable to speak. Agent Smith counter-threatened: "You're going to help us, Mr. Anderson, whether you want to or not"; before the Agents left, they implanted a living, shrimp-like probe ("bug") in his stomach through his belly-button
• "Neo" awoke from what he thought was a bad dream, and was told during a phone call with Morpheus that he was extremely important: "You are the One, Neo"; Neo was given directions to meet up with Morpheus - the rebellion leader of a group of free humans; he was picked up in a vehicle holding Trinity and two other rebels (driver Apoc (Julian Arahanga) and blonde, punkish gun-wielding passenger Switch (Belinda McClory)); with a heavy spike-and-tube apparatus, Trinity removed and destroyed the bloody "bug" from Neo's abdomen before he was led to an upper floor of a dilapidated building (the Hotel Lafayette) where he met face to face with Morpheus
• in the next sequence, Morpheus gave the cyber-Messiah Neo an explanatory description of fate and free will by describing The Matrix (a massive AI system created by intelligent Sentient beings); he told how the entire human race was born into slavery and placed into a false reality known as the Matrix (a simulation of the world in the year 1999): "The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. (Neo asked: "What truth?") That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back"
• Morpheus offered Neo a choice - it was a contrast between what was real and not real by the choice of a pill in his open hands and reflected in his glasses: (a red one in his right hand, and a blue one in his left): ("You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more"); Neo chose the red pill to learn more and swallowed it; Morpheus instructed: "Follow me," and he was taken into another adjoining room; Morpheus asked him: ("Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?")
• Neo met up with additional members of Morpheus' crew, including Cypher (Joe Pantoliano), Tank (Marcus Chong) and Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker), who sat him down in an old dentist's chair and hooked him up to a stack of machines and monitors; reality began to become distorted as Neo reached out and touched a mirror, and it appeared to liquify into a mercury-like substance; the liquid began to threaten to ooze up to his neck during a take-over of his body
• Neo abruptly awakened and found himself hairless and naked, and within a liquid-filled pod or vat, next to a series of hundreds of other similar pods (each with another human inside); he noticed how he was connected to an electrical structure or tower with wires to suck out his life force energy; he was disconnected or "unplugged" from the Matrix when the main cable connected at the back of his neck was unscrewed by a flying robotic insect, and other connectors to the front and back of his body were popped off; suddenly, Neo was ejected and freed from his pod that was drained of its fluid; he was propelled down a chute and dropped into a deep pit of water, but then snatched up by a metal claw and brought onboard Morpheus' levitating hovercraft the Nebuchadnezzar, where he was greeted by Morpheus: "Welcome to the real world"

• after recovering in the ship's medical quarters (to strengthen his body after years of atrophy and disuse of his eyes), Neo was introduced to the crew, and then seated in a dentist's chair by Morpheus for another mentoring lesson; a metal spike was inserted into the plug in the back of Neo's head, and he suddenly found himself in an all-white environment known as the Construct (a computer "loading program")

• Neo was further taught by Morpheus about how the Matrix functioned as "a neural interactive simulation"; he explained how Neo and all other humans lived in the simulated "dream world" of the Matrix since birth; AI (artificial intelligence) was developed, but it went out of control, and desperate humans thought that by darkening the Earth and blocking the sun, they could defeat the robots; Neo was given a view of the darkened, desolute, ravaged and depressing real world (devoid of sunlight)
• AI ("a singular consciousness") adapted, and spawned an entire race of machines that took over the world in the early 21st century (around the year 1999 although it was closer to 2199); AI machines created the Matrix ("a computer-generated dreamworld"), a virtual existence in order to regain control and enslave humans, who were sedated and harvested for their electrical power; Neo freaked out with the flood of thoughts that freed his mind ("I don't believe it"), exited the Construct, threw up, and lost consciousness
• when Neo awakened, Morpheus explained how it was believed that Neo had been prophesied by the Oracle to be the reincarnated "One" who could end the war between humans and the machines, with the ability to end the Matrix and to free other human minds; Morpheus concluded: "As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free"
• in the next scene, Tank introduced himself to Neo as a "100% pure, old-fashioned, homegrown human. Born free right here in the real world. Genuine child of Zion" - Zion was the sole remaining city with free humans that was located underground near the Earth's core
• Neo was trained in various combat skills and martial arts via Tank's simulation downloads via micro-discs of virtual combat (Jujitsu, Kempo, Tae Kwon Do, Drunken Boxing, etc.), to learn fighting skills, and how to hack back into the simulated reality and manipulate the physical laws within the Matrix, thus attaining superhuman powers; Neo ("I know kung fu") had to personally face Morpheus in a kung fu competition in a virtual computer world where he was taught to bend and break the physical laws of gravity within the world; however, Neo was warned that fatal injuries within the Matrix would also destroy one's physical body
• during a tour within the Matrix, as Morpheus and Neo strolled down a busy street in the downtown area, Neo was cautioned that most people who thought they were in the real-world were not ready to be "unplugged" and had become dependent upon the system
• in a test of Neo's ability to distinguish between the real world and the dream world, Neo became distracted by a sexy woman in red (Fiona Johnson) passing by on the busy street. [Note: She was another training 'program' uploaded by one of the digitally-adept rebels named Mouse (Matt Doran).]; she suddenly changed into the image of Agent Smith with a gun pointed at him. Neo was then warned that they were surrounded everywhere in the Matrix by potential enemies - Agents ("If you are not one of us, you are one of them")

• Morpheus summarized the main problem: "We have survived by hiding from them, by running from them, but they are the gatekeepers. They are guarding all the doors. They are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them"; Neo questioned Morpheus' hopes that he would lead the effort and defeat the Agents - and presented a question foreshadowing his own future: ("What are you trying to tell me? That I can dodge bullets?")
• suddenly, the Nebuchadnezzar's electrical field was detected by a destructive robotic Sentinel (known as "squiddies") - a "killing machine" that resembled a metal octopus, forcing the ship to escape detection by hiding in an abandoned dark sewer and switching itself offline; then, Tank readied an EMP (high-voltage electromagnetic pulse) toward the destructive Sentinel, but it wasn't needed when the danger passed
• one of the crew members named Cypher (whose name revealed he would be hiding secrets) explained to Neo that it was essential to understand that the Matrix appeared not just as images but as downward columns of greenish, constantly-flowing encoded data; in a side-plot, Cypher had become doubtful and disillusioned by the real world ("Why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill?"), and was possibly jealous of Neo being the Chosen One to "save the world"
• shortly later, the traitorous Cypher met with Agent Smith during a virtual juicy steak dinner in the Matrix, to betray the freedom cause by providing the agent with a means to capture Morpheus in exchange for a reinserted, blissful and comfortable life in the Matrix; Agent Smith knew that Morpheus - as the Captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, could then provide them with the access codes to the mainframe of Zion (the last human city, situated underground); thus, Agent Smith could become the ultimate "gatekeeper" and attain absolute control over the rebel hackers who were entering or exiting the Matrix and freeing the minds of others
• after his training was mostly complete, Neo (and six others) hacked back into the Matrix to visit the Oracle - who had prophesied the return of a Messiah-like figure (the "One"); as they entered the Matrix, Cypher stealthily dropped a cell phone in a trash can to allow the Agents to trace them
• in a tenement building's apartment, in the outer waiting room before seeing the Oracle, Neo encountered gifted, telekinetic, orphaned young children known as Potentials, who were showing their gifted powers of levitating wooden alphabet blocks, bending spoons, etc.; one monk-like Spoon Boy (Rowan Witt) showed him how to bend a spoon, and then imparted wisdom: ("Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...There is no spoon...Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends. It is only yourself")

• in a charming scene, Neo spoke to the grandmotherly, African-American Oracle (Gloria Foster) who was baking cookies in the kitchen; she asked him the film's central question: "Do you think you are the One?", and then mentioned that he might not be the One, but urged him to "know thyself"; however, she instructed that Neo still faced a momentous choice ("You're going to have to make a choice") - between Morpheus' life and his own life: ("One of you is going to die. Which one will be up to you...You're in control of your own life. Remember")
• while the group was in the Matrix and on their return into the hotel, Neo noticed a black cat - appearing to move forward and then rewind backwards; the experience of deja vu was an indication that there was "a glitch in the Matrix - it happens when they change something" - a trap and ambush was set for everyone by Cypher, who cut the phone's hardline that was to be used by the rebels to safely exit from the virtual world; Agents and a police SWAT team approached the building; after young fighter Mouse discovered that the group's 8th floor exit was bricked over, he died while firing two submachine guns at the SWAT team; back in the real world on the Nebuchadnezzar, Mouse's body shook and blood dripped from his mouth
• the group attempted to hide in the hotel's 8th floor tiled bathroom walls and climb downward on the pipes, but they were discovered (Cypher sneezed and coughed due to dust) and after a fierce struggle, an unarmed Morpheus sacrificed himself to be taken by Agent Smith and a squad of Police in order to let the others escape from the Matrix; during their frantic return, the group realized that Cypher had separated from them to reach the Matrix exit point first before them; he returned to the Nebuchadnezzar in order to betray them, and close off their exit, where he murdered Dozer and seriously wounded Tank at the monitors; then in a creepy scene, he came up close to the plugged- in Trinity and, while also on the phone with her, told her of his unrequited love, and his desire to live in the Matrix after becoming tired of everything, including Morpheus' leadership
• Trinity realized that Cypher was sabotaging the mission; to show his anger, Cypher then unplugged Apoc and Switch before the turncoat was vengefully killed by Dozer's brother Tank who miraculously revived and safely brought back Trinity and Neo
• after Agent Smith had captured Morpheus in the Matrix, his prisoner was brought to a downtown high-rise skyscraper for intense questioning and torture combining intense physical beatings with electrodes and drug serums; Agent Smith's goal was to forcefully compel Morpheus to reveal the access codes to the mainframe of Zion; Agent Smith delivered a memorable speech about how the first version of the Matrix created a perfect world, but it failed, and he blamed the failure on humanity itself that wallowed in misery and suffering; Agent Smith explained how Agents were powerful sentient beings who patrolled the currently redesigned and flawed Matrix to eliminate threats, and that humans were the real problem, spreading distress and unhappiness
• before the freedom fighters were forced to pull the plug on Morpheus to keep him from divulging the access codes (Dozer: "We don't have any other choice"), Neo announced that he had resolved to have faith in himself (the Oracle's advice to him), and made the suicidal choice to reenter back into the Matrix and save Morpheus - and Trinity decided to join him for reinforcement
• in his continuing discussion with Morpheus, Agent Smith discussed revelations he had about the human species that was harmfully spreading across the area: ("Human beings are a disease. A cancer of this planet. You are a plague. And we are the cure... I hate this place, this zoo, this prison, this reality, whatever you want to call it. I can't stand it any longer. It's the smell. If there is such a thing. I feel saturated by it. I can taste your stink. And every time I do, I fear that I have somehow been infected by it. (He wiped sweat from Morpheus' forehead onto the tips of his fingers, and had Morpheus smell it.) It's repulsive. Isn't it? (He tightly held Morpheus' head between his hands). I must get out of here. I must get free. And in this mind is the key. My key. Once Zion is destroyed, there is no need for me to be here. Do you understand? I need the codes. I have to get inside Zion and you have to tell me how. You're going to tell me or you're going to die"; Agent Smith gouged his fingers into Morpheus' flesh but Morpheus remained silent and refused to talk
• inside the simulated reality of the Matrix, in a spectacular action sequence that was set in the downstairs lobby of the high-rise military building - a massive gunfight broke out between the Chosen One (Neo) and Trinity (both wearing long trenchcoats, sunglasses, and black boots) and a group of soldiers-guards; afterwards, the two were able to propel themselves to the rooftop of the high-rise within the elevator shaft, where a gripping showdown commenced; Neo defied gravity ("bullet time") with mid-air, limbo-style freeze-frames of the dodging of CGI bullet shots and super-heroic gunfight against shape-shifting Agent Jones

• during an exciting rescue sequence, a helicopter piloted by Trinity was able to navigate to the side of the building and hover next to the room where Morpheus was held; Neo blasted out the window as Morpheus, with all his strength, snapped his handcuffs and lept toward the helicopter; he was caught mid-air by Neo, and both dangled from a cable attached to the helicopter, the two were safely deposited on another rooftop, and afterwards, Neo was forced to daringly rescue Trinity from the crashing and burning chopper

• after Morpheus and Trinity were safely exited from the Matrix at a pay phone booth in a grimy subway station, Neo was ambushed by Agent Smith before he had been able to exit; they faced off against each other in a climactic encounter - the two engaged in a long kick-boxing and gun-battle struggle (involving some gravity-defying mid-air conflict and "bullet-time" acrobatics); just before Agent Smith was plowed into by a subway, Neo fully assumed his new identity as he threatened the Agent: "My name is Neo!"

• the subway crash was ineffective against Agent Smith and he reemerged; a long chase took place through a market, on the streets and into a tenement building (and an old lady's apartment), as Neo was attempting to find an exit from the Matrix at Wabash and Lake
• meanwhile during a red alert, five mechanical Sentinels approached to attack the Nebuchadnezzar and breach its hull; an EMP charge was too dangerous to use until Neo had completely exited the Matrix; as Neo ran into Room 303 of the Heart O' the City Hotel, he was confronted by Agent Smith and shot point-blank in the abdomen; the cartridge shell fell to the floor; Neo looked down at his bloody fingers after touching the hole in his chest. A second shot propelled him backwards into the hallway and against the wall. Smith then emptied his revolver into Neo's body and he slumped to the floor

• onboard the hovercraft in the real world, Neo's body shook as he was hit, and an EKG monitor flatlined - reporting that he was dead; in the Matrix, after Neo's heartbeat was checked, Agent Brown pronounced: "He's gone." Agent Smith spoke: "Goodbye, Mr. Anderson," as the agents departed

• Neo's love-interest Trinity refused to believe it - she whispered to Neo that he couldn't be dead because she loved him and that the Oracle had told her that she would fall in love with the One: ("I'm not afraid anymore. The Oracle told me that I would fall in love, and that that man, the man that I loved, would be the One. So you see, you can't be dead. You can't be, because I love you. You hear me? I love you"); she kissed Neo and he revived with the power to perceive and control the Matrix

• in the Matrix, Neo revived and stood up, raised his arm, and the palm of his hand resisted all three of the agents' bullets in mid-air, as they fell harmlessly to the floor; as the One, Neo finally understood that the bullets fired against him were powerless and not real - he saw the Matrix as it really was -- solely lines of downward-streaming computer code (or 'digital rain'): Neo then singlehandedly and effortlessly conquered Agent Smith's counter-attack and destroyed him with an explosive, blinding glow of light emanating from his insides; pieces of the shattered Agent Smith struck the other two agents, who fled
• Neo was brought back into the Nebuchadnezzar just in time so that the other crew members could deploy the EMP (emergency self-destruct system) that produced a blast of white light to kill off the attacking Sentinels; Neo and Trinity kissed each other again
• in the film's short epilogue, Neo provided a concluding voice-over, shown as a cursor moving on a black screen, as he made a telephone call from a phone booth in a busy part of the downtown area, within the Matrix. Although the call was being traced, Neo was now in control. In his call to the machine masters who were imprisoning humans, his words were visible as racing columns of descending green code. During the call, the screen froze with a warning: "SYSTEM FAILURE."
• he threatened to expose the truth about them, while promising to save the people imprisoned in the Matrix: (Neo's voice-over: "I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you").

• at the end of the call, the camera pulled back from a close-up of the holes in the mouthpiece of the phone. Neo hung up the phone, stepped out of the booth, observed the pedestrians moving about on the street, donned his sunglasses, looked up, and unbound by the rules of reality, flew off straight up into the sky, like Superman - with his trenchcoat trailing behind him