The Matrix is a 1999 production by The Wachowski Brothers, Lilly and Lana. Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving, the movie won 4 Oscars at the 2000 Academy Awards. Besides, the movie has 73 Metascore and 8,7 stars on IMDb.
A Summary
The Matrix follows a software engineer named Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who leads a different life at night. Disguised as Neo, he is a hacker who believes that there is something about reality that is just not quite right. He is looking all night long at his computer screen, trying to find something called ‘The Matrix’.
Until one day, his computer screen suddenly changes into a text message telling him what do to find The Matrix. The messenger seems to know what is going to happen in the future and Neo follows the instructions. As a result, he gets into contact with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), who leads him to Morpheus (Laurence Fishburn). He knew that name because Morpheus is the leader of the group that believes there is something wrong with reality. Also, Morpheus already knew Neo, as he believes that he is ‘the one’.
Morpheus tells Neo that the world he lives in actually is a simulation, run by AI from the future. Humans made Artificial Intelligence, but it took over the world and now uses the simulation to gain power from the bodies of all the humans inside the simulation, called ‘The Matrix’. Neo gets out of the simulation into the real world with help from Morpheus and Trinity, after which he joins their rebellion.
The rebellion team goes back into The Matrix because Neo needs to talk the Oracle, an old woman who tells him that he is not ‘the one’. On their way out of The Matrix, they get betrayed by a teammate and their exit unusable. As a result, Morpheus sacrifices himself to save the rest of the team. Neo and Trinity are the only ones who came out of the simulation alive.
Neo wants to go back in, to save Morpheus from Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), the leader of the AI agents inside The Matrix. Trinity decides to join him and after an extensive and action-packed escape, Morpheus and Trinity get out of the simulation. But, Neo is stuck when Smith destroys his way out. After an insane battle, Neo finds out that he is ‘the one’ and destroys Agent Smith.
The Story
The main plot point of the story is, of course, The Matrix. Humans think they are living a normal life when instead they are just bodies inside a capsule connected to a computer system. I think this world is beautifully crafted with attention to little details, like the need for electricity for the AI when solar panels are no longer an option.
Of course, the whole ‘the one’-idea is not revolutionary, but the way it is executed in this movie is different most other screenplays. Neo himself doesn’t believe that he is the one and neither does the Oracle. This gives the viewer a different look on him, you’re not following the one, but you’re following someone who was thought to be the one, but maybe isn’t due to the events early on in the movie.
The Characters
Thomas Anderson (Neo)
I like Thomas, an interesting character who lives a normal life as Thomas Anderson. However, at night he turns into Neo, a hacker with suspicions about reality. Not you’re everyday human. The movie is mostly built around his character arc, as he turns out to be the chosen one after a long route to discover that himself.
On the other hand, I believe that Neo lacks some basic character building. We know almost nothing about him, his interest or character traits, besides the fact that he is a software programmer and hacker. After I watched the movie I couldn’t give Neo many unique traits. We find out that he lacks some self-confidence, but other than that we don’t know much about Thomas Anderson.
Morpheus
As the leader of the rebellion against the AI, he is automatically an important character in the story. He truly believes that Neo is the chosen one when his team is not so sure about it. He is quite bad-ass, with his sunglasses, fighting skills and knowledge. But he got the same problem as Neo. We don’t know anything about him. I would’ve loved to hear the story of him joining the rebellion and his previous endeavours with finding the one.
Trinity
She may be my favourite character in this movie. Trinity’s skills are shown right from the start of the movie, until the end. Besides, she told Neo about what the Oracle said to her, which already gives her more backstory than Morpheus. I do believe that she fell in love with Neo a bit too fast, but other than that I think that her character is one of the best-crafted.
The Production
It is a Sci-Fi screenplay from 1999, CGI was not even close to capabilities we have today, but still, I believe that the directors did a great job portraying this world hundreds of years into the future. The martial art fight scene combined with some heavy shooting and mind-bending reality gives the bests fights scenes I’ve ever seen. I do admit that the CGI was overused a bit from time to time. But it also gives the movie a bit of a weird vibe, which goes right along with the theme of the movie.
The gunshots flying through the air and Neo dodging them with his super-fast movements or just straight up letting them fall out the air are among the best scenes in the movie.