The Matrix (1999)

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano, and Gloria Foster
Grade: Classic

The Matrix is not only one of the greatest science fiction films ever, but it’s also on the list of greatest films ever.

Summary

In some abandoned warehouse, Trinity (Moss) is cornered and on the verge of being arrested. Outside of the building, Agent Smith (Weaving) shows up and belittles the cop who didn’t follow his instructions, telling the cop that his other officers are already dead, despite the cop acting like his guys can handle this woman with ease. Clearly, this guy doesn’t know who Trinity is. Because of this, Smith and his other agents go inside. Immediately after, we see Trinity take out every cop in the room. After calling Morpheus (Fishburne), with both agreeing that the line was traced, he tells Trinity that the “agents” are after her. Fearing for her life, she runs and jumps from building to building showcasing her superhuman abilities, with the agents following her. Eventually, she gets out to the street and hears the phone in the phone booth ringing. She runs and answers it before a truck driven by Smith crashes directly into the booth. Smith and his agents take a look at the wreckage, and it appears as though Trinity vanished. They aren’t worried though. Smith has an informant that knows their every move. Apparently, Morpheus’s next target is a man named Neo.

Thomas Anderson (Reeves) is a computer programmer who works for one of the biggest software companies in the world. He’s also a hacker that spends all of his off time on the computer too. When he’s online, he uses the alias “Neo”. He’s woken up by his computer one morning, after a typed message appears on his screen telling him to wake up. As he sits there confused as his computer talks about the Matrix and to “follow the white rabbit”, it then says “knock, knock”. Right after, Anderson’s actual door is knocked on. It turns out to be a guy he knows along with a group he’s with. The guy is there to buy some illegal hard drive thing off of Anderson. They invite Anderson out to a rave and though he initially says no, he agrees to go after noticing that the guy’s girlfriend has a tattoo of a white rabbit. At the club, Anderson is approached by Trinity. She calls him Neo, and it freaks him out. Though once she introduces herself, Anderson is even more shocked because she’s also a known hacker that hacked into the IRS database some time ago. It turns out she was the one on Anderson’s computer. She insists Anderson is in danger and the answers of what the Matrix is will come, as long as he’s willing to follow. Following their conversation, he wakes up in bed, and he’s super late for work. He gets reamed by his boss for being late. Shortly after, he receives an unexpected package. It’s a phone, and it rings as soon as Anderson opens it.

The man on the other end is the mysterious Morpheus, who also refers to Anderson as Neo.

Over the phone, Morpheus guides Anderson out of his office because the agents have arrived and they’re looking for him. However, Anderson stops when Morpheus tells him to climb the scaffold on the side of the building to get to the roof. He tries, but he can’t do it, leading to him getting arrested by the agents and subsequently getting interrogated by Agent Smith. They have a lot of evidence against him because of his computer crimes as a hacker, but he tries to make a deal with Anderson. They know he’s spoken to Morpheus, and they want to bring him in because he’s considered to be the most dangerous man alive. If Anderson agrees to help, they’ll wipe his file clean. Anderson refuses but when he asks for his phone call, Smith makes a comment about how Anderson can’t if he won’t be able to speak. Then, inexplicably, Anderson’s mouth fuses together, completely closed. As he freaks out, the other agents forcefully lay him on the table, and Smith implants a robotic bug into his belly button. Immediately after, Anderson wakes up in his bed, thinking it was all a dream. Unfortunately, he gets another call from Morpheus, who says that Anderson is “the one”. He then agrees to meet on some bridge, and Anderson is picked up by Trinity and a couple of others. After some initial arguments about who to trust, with one woman holding a gun on him, he relents because of Trinity’s insistence. Right after, Trinity puts this big machine on Anderson’s stomach and uses it to de-bug him.

It was all real.

Next, he is taken to meet Morpheus, the mysterious captain of this underground faction. After a rousing speech from Morpheus that yields more questions than answers, he gives Anderson a choice. There are two pills that Morpheus presents to him. The blue pill will keep Anderson where he is in life, living the world he believes to be true. On the other hand, the red pill will show him the real world that the Matrix is covering up. Wanting to know the truth, Anderson takes the red pill. He’s brought into a room and sees the other members of Morpheus’s crew. As Trinity hooks Anderson up to some machine, Morpheus explains that the pill he took his part of a trace program, and it will disrupt his “input/output carrier signal”. This allows for them to pinpoint his location. As the machinery he’s attached to starts to go into effect, Anderson sees a broken mirror turn into a fixed version of itself. He touches it and part of it melts onto his hand. The glass encompasses his body. Then, he awakens in a small pod submerged in water in an entirely different world. He’s completely shaven and there are numerous wires attached to his body. As he pulls the one that is stuck up his nose and mouth, he looks around to see how the real world is run by machines/sentinels. He also sees numerous other pods on both sides of him containing humans for miles, submerged and asleep. Following this revelation, Anderson is caught by a flying robot and is strangled. Eventually, he’s let go, all of the wires from his body are pulled off, and he’s flushed out of the pod like he’s in a toilet. He lays there to die, but a crane comes down and pulls him up onto Morpheus’s hovercraft ship, the Nebuchadnezzar.

Now, “Neo” is in the real world.

Before he can be further debriefed, he has to go through a period of recovery, so his body adjusts to the actual world. Once Neo starts to become a little more active, Morpheus tells him some details. The year isn’t 1999. In fact, it’s closer to 2199, but they don’t actually know for sure. He shows Neo the deck where they hack into the Matrix. The crew is introduced: Apoc (Julian Arahanga), Switch (Belinda McClory), Cypher (Pantoliano), Tank (Marcus Chong), Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker), and Mouse (Matthew Doran). Then, Neo is set up with another machine, with a wire being inserted directly into the back of his head. This allows for Neo and Morpheus to both appear in “The Construct”, a loading program amongst a completely white backdrop where nothing is seen besides our two characters. Morpheus explains that they can load everything into this space, from clothes to weapons.

On a television, Morpheus shows Neo that the world as Neo knows it is a neural-interactive simulation known as “The Matrix”. It’s essentially a computer-generated dream world “built to keep us under control”. The real world is a dark and bleak one run by machines. Sometime in the early 21st century, humans created artificial intelligence. It spawned an entire race of machines. Though it’s not known who started the war, humans are the ones that “scorched” the sky. Since the machines were dependent on solar power, it was believed they would be unable to survive without an energy source as big as the sun. However, because the human body generates such a stupid amount of energy and heat, the machines realized that with some sort of fusion combined with it, they can just use the human race to power the machine world like living batteries. They enslaved humans by trapping them in these pods and have grown them in fields like crops in a garden. The dead are then liquefied and fed to the living children intravenously through tubes attached all over their bodies. Neo flips out at these wild truths being spoken to him and demands out of the Construct. They take him out and unplug him, but he flips on everyone because of the overload of information. He pukes and passes out, waking up to Morpheus in his room. Once he realizes he can’t go back, Morpheus tells him why he’s here.

When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had powers to change whatever he wanted within it to remake the CGI world the way he saw fit. He was the one that freed the first group of humans and showed them the truth. After he died, The Oracle (Gloria Foster) spoke of his eventual return, and it would lead to the destruction of the Matrix, ending the war between humans and machines. Morpheus believes Neo is that guy. He is “The Chosen One”. It’s just up to Neo to now fulfill that potential.

My Thoughts:

There’s not a lot of films that changed the game. However, The Matrix is one of them.

Influenced by the wild action movies of Hong Kong Cinema, the Wachowskis put together one of the most interesting and thought-provoking science fiction films ever. Now, many are familiar with The Matrix films but if you haven’t watched any of them, the first one should be required viewing for fans of the sci-fi genre. Fully uncovering what the Matrix is after a fairly long wait, is very satisfying. It’s very easy to buy into too, so much so that there are college classes that regularly have lectures on the idea of the Matrix being real. It has influenced almost everyone that has watched it, from professors to fans of action movies. That’s how diverse this film is and how many areas it covers. It seems like each detail and decision made was part of some huge process to make sure every angle was covered and thought out. Sure, all films are storyboarded to figure out the look and feel of a movie, but The Matrix seems to do much more than that. Its signature greenish hue that covers the world of the Matrix, what we know as Earth, has become iconic, along with the code of the Matrix with its intelligible green characters floating down on computer screens. It’s this type of imagery that is unforgettable, earning the visual effects team their Academy Award.

You’ll also notice details like when Neo enters the “real” world Morpheus has been talking about and the screen being noticeably less harsh, with a dark blue encompassing the cold and icy look of the inside of the hovercraft and the sentinel-run world. This contrast of looks between the two worlds is vital to showing the audience the importance of the Matrix and what “real” is, as well as creating a signature look for a film that would be remembered forever. The cinematographers in charge did exactly that. It’s like they knew, “This movie is going to be huge”. They even double down on the real-world details when Morpheus explains that Neo’s muscles have atrophied, and his eyes hurt because he’s technically never used them before in the real world. The intricacies of this detailed screenplay covers all angles, and it hooks the audience like no other film before it.

For action movie fans, you’ll absolutely love it. At first, you might watch some of the choreographed fight scenes and think it looks absurd (and sort of laughable), especially when Trinity does her thing, but as you uncover the details of the Matrix and how you can bend the rules of it, it starts to make more and more sense the way they fight as the film progresses. We see this in the over-the-top kung fu fight scene between Neo and Morpheus during Neo’s training. I’ll admit I was taken aback on how unnatural some of the characters’ fighting styles looked, but after frequent rewatches of the film (because it’s so awesome), I realized that not only does it make sense because of the story, it’s also part of the endearing off-kilter style of the film as a whole. Presentation is key in movies that are off-the-wall. You can make it work if it’s handled right, and the Wachowskis did exactly that. As I said before, every small detail was thought of. The character of Morpheus is a perfect example. We’ve seen mentor characters in film all the time, but the way Morpheus carries himself is entirely different. He’s a leader, and clearly the leader of the resistance, but he’s not all-knowing. He still has his ideas and despite the Oracle being the all-knowing character everyone believes her to be and Morpheus trusting her word, he still disagrees with her on the most important question of the entire film: Who is “The One”?

Based off of Neo’s response when he leaves the Oracle’s apartment thing, you can tell he has bad news, but Morpheus just tells him to keep whatever was said to himself. He knows the Oracle doesn’t agree with Neo being him, but he has his own beliefs and holds them throughout not only this film, but the entire series. He does take a chance too. He says they usually never free a mind at this age because the person usually has trouble letting go of what they know. Now I’m not sure if it’s because Neo is too old or too young (because Keanu Reeves is fucking ageless), but it shows us that Morpheus was really going out on a limb, putting all his beliefs on the line, to prove Neo is the man they’ve been waiting for. There’s a chance he’s wrong and they’re all screwed, but he’s too strong and too confident in his belief he found “The One” that will change everything.

Yes, he’s a mentor to his own faction, but he’s more of a captain in need of a colonel to take over because he can’t do it himself. It’s such a cool character and with a name like Morpheus, you have to be cool. What helps is Laurence Fishburne’s slow and methodical delivery when speaking. He talks and speaks as if he’s a prophet and he has to be, considering the amount of people he’s convinced to join him. He never waivers in his beliefs and walks with an unmatched level of confidence. He’s also got that signature walk with his arms folded behind him that is so odd that it has to be mentioned here. What’s the significance of that? I don’t know, but it really fits the science fiction weirdness of it all. When you add those cool ass sunglasses that are just lenses bridged over his nose, with no temples to hold the glasses over his ears, you have a character that will live in infamy by default. Now, as good as Keanu Reeves is, I can see other people in the role of Neo. However, based off of who was considered for Morpheus, Laurence Fishburne was the only man for the job.

Before you lose your mind, Keanu Reeves is still, and forever will be, Neo. I like that our main character is also a computer hacker with the most mundane name ever in Thomas Anderson too. This scenario is basically what every PC player under the age of 20 dreams of. Though it’s not present in the sequels, there’s a little more edge to Keanu’s enigmatic protagonist in this film. There’s a certain level of defiance to the role that is forgotten about later on. He’s a hacker that apparently, is “guilty of every computer crime we have a law for”. He’s been doing some shady stuff to get to this point. We see a glimpse of that attitude he carries when he’s first interrogated by Agent Smith and the other agents. This man is cornered and has been called out on everything he’s done over the years, and he just flips Smith off and demands a phone call. He doesn’t waiver for a second. So, though he was too afraid to follow Morpheus’s directions to climb a scaffold to escape these assholes, he shows his rebelliousness when confronted by them face-to-face. Clearly, this Thomas Anderson was the right choice to join the fight against the machines. This attitude he has is what carries him and builds up the hero within himself, despite evidence to it not being there. This edge to Anderson shows Morpheus he might be worth the risk.

Early on, he tells Morpheus he doesn’t believe in fate because he doesn’t like the idea that he’s not in control of his own life. This is very understandable. When he’s faced with the Oracle, who’s statements are taken as gospel and therefore could be considered fate for our characters, telling him he’s not “The One”, he believes it. However, he refuses to sit back and accept that Morpheus has been captured. He could’ve because he’s not untouchable like he thought he was, but he refused to sit back and accept defeat. Even though he has lingering thoughts about how he’s not “The One”, he’s willing to go against this “fate” to save his friend. If not, he’s willing to die trying and in doing so, he proves the Oracle wrong. This my friends, is a real hero. It’s part of what makes Neo one of the greatest movie heroes of all time. He’s flat-out told he’s not that guy but goes out of his way to pull off one of the most daring missions ever and proves to everyone he is. His legend only grows as the sequels come.

On top of that, the action is nuts. Though there are technically more action sequences in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, the sequences in this film are just crazy because of their innovation. You’ve never seen shit like this before, at least at the time. In a homage to Hong Kong action cinema, there’s a lot of “gun fu” moments (martial arts sequences mixed with gunplay essentially) that are remarkable. The crazy visual effects added to it just make it even better. Plus, it works within the idea that you can do anything in the Matrix. We see this big time in the last fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith. It’s fucking wild. It’s easily up there with one of the best fight scenes of all time. Of course, on top of that, you have the amazing “shoot ’em up” action sequence with Neo and Trinity storming the building to save Morpheus, leading to one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history (the dodging of the bullets). There are so many scenes that give you chills, making you feel like you’re watching a cinematic event rather than just a regular old movie. As you know, that’s one of them. Other contenders in this film are the cubicle scene towards the beginning, the finale when Morpheus watches Neo’s confidence grow in the final fight and he exclaims “He’s beginning to believe”, and when Neo sees the agents visually in the Matrix codes.

If you’re watching it for the first time, this whole movie is absolutely breathtaking.

What about the Construct? Seeing Neo and Morpheus in this all-white location and it being described as a loading computer program is just nuts to think about. It’s like that scene where Daffy Duck loses it in the “Duck Amuck” short. Visually, it’s very simply put together, but it’s remarkable. I loved how they can just download something into the human body, and they officially have that skill, like when Neo learns every fighting style during his training. This opens up a world of possibilities. I just can’t believe half the shit they thought of to make this screenplay. Granted, I know nothing about computers, software, or basically anything about hacker culture, so to the novice viewer, it’s astonishing. Machines taking over isn’t really an original concept, but The Matrix‘s take on it is. The backstory explained is haunting and seeing it is even crazier, especially as Morpheus explains that human beings aren’t born anymore, they are “grown”. We even see a baby with a bunch of tubes attached to it to show us. Does that make you uncomfortable? It should, and it will when you see it. When he tells us that “As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free”, we believe him.

The presentation of the Oracle was also very interesting. I liked how she was some old grandmother baking cookies in a kitchen, while she’s taking care of a bunch of orphans. This was a wildly creative choice for a role as important as it was, and Gloria Foster brings a lot of warmth to a role that gives us as much disappointing news as possible. Carrie-Anne Moss was a diamond in the rough as Trinity too. They could’ve gone star-hunting (and they did), but I think Moss fit really well with the way she did it. Her and Keanu also look like a very good match for each other. She plays the role of the strait-laced badass, and former hacker, very well. She’s a welcomed member to Morpheus’s team and there is never a thought that she couldn’t handle herself in an action scene. Seeing her slowly fall for Neo, the inevitable, is also nice to see because she plays it off very well. She tries to be unemotional from the start but when it’s needed, her breaking is worth the payoff.

I’ve always loved the idea of “The One”. This is an idea not only present in action films but in life in general. The “Chosen One” to save everyone is looked at in many different forms. Some look for the next president to be the person “chosen” to save the country. Companies look to find that one worker that can save them and bring them riches they never thought would be possible. This idea of a savior can be traced all the way back to Christ. It’s crazy to think about, but many have written about the comparisons between how Neo is presented in The Matrix to the life and importance of Christ, as well as philosophies from other religions. I wouldn’t go as far as agreeing with it, but I can’t deny that there are some serious details you do respond with a double take to, once it’s thrown in your face in the manner it is here. However, the idea of one person being the sole chance you have at survival is an idea that can really show the importance of a plotline in a movie. Everything rests on the protagonist’s shoulders and sometimes, they don’t even realize it. Morpheus’s legend beforehand is unknown, but he’s famous enough for Thomas Anderson to know of him before they ever meet. He’s just interested because he’s a hacker though. He doesn’t realize the two meeting is fate in and of itself. As Morpheus explains, “You see, you may have spent the last few years looking for me, but I have spent my entire life looking for you”. This is how you display the importance of one being a savior. If done wrong, it can be super hokey, but as I stated earlier, everything in this film was calculated to perfection, so it’s taken seriously.

What’s really cool is that Morpheus gives Neo the chance to back out to see if he’s really “about it”. The first shot, he fails (the scaffold escape). Fortunately, he’s given the option to follow two more times. He agrees to meet on the bridge to begin his journey, and when offered the red pill to uncover the truth, Neo decides to take it. It was all up to him. He could’ve said no, but he’s interested. This curiosity helps him realize the potential Morpheus always saw in him and that no one else believed. Of course, this is the unequivocal fact that Neo is indeed the “Chosen One”.

The Matrix has gotten a lot of praise over the years, but it’s not for nothing. On top of the revolutionary special effects, the awesome action sequences, and characters that will be remembered forever, it also possesses a style that can’t be replicated. It’s just so different. Say what you want about the sequels, but the first Matrix is a film that can’t be touched.

Fun Fact: Famously, Will Smith was originally offered the role of Neo when Val Kilmer was going to be Morpheus, but Smith turned it down in favor of Wild Wild West. Nicolas Cage, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Johnny Depp were all considered for the role of Neo as well. There was also talk of making the role female and having Sandra Bullock star. For Morpheus, Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were also considered. Janet Jackson was approached for the role of Trinity but had to turn it down because of scheduling conflicts. Sandra Bullock was also offered Trinity, but she turned it down. Jada Pinkett Smith, Salma Hayek, and Rosie Perez auditioned too. Jean Reno was offered the role of Agent Smith, but he turned it down because he didn’t want to live temporarily in Australia for the production.