The Matrix (1999)

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The Matrix is a 1999 sci-fi film that spawned many sequels. In the film, Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias Neo ( Keanu Reeves), discovers what the Matrix is and finds that he is the one who will end the human war against the machines.

Plot Summary

Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a program writer for a respectable software company, he has a social security number, pays his taxes, and even helps his landlady take out the garbage. But he has never felt in tune with the world around him, as if things are slightly off. To fill this void he spends his time locked in his apartment hacking computer systems around the world under the alias of Neo. For months he has been searching for another hacker that goes by the name Morpheus.

Neo

One night someone hacks Neo's computer and tells him that the Matrix has him and that he should follow the white rabbit. Suddenly at the door there is a knock from a client. The clients girlfriend has a white rabbit tattoo and Neo joins them at the club. There Neo meets Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a famous hacker from some time ago. She tells him that Morpheus can answer all of Neo's questions including "What is the Matrix?" Trinity tells him that he is also in danger and being watched.

The next day Neo is late for work and after a scolding from his boss sits at his desk as a package with the phone arrives. On the phone is Morpheus warns him of the Agents that have come to take Neo into custody. Neo tries using Morpheus's help to escape but loses his nerve and turns himself in.

Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) interrogates Neo and asks for his cooperation in taking down Morpheus. After Neo refuses the offer Smith uses force, sealing Neo's mouth shut, Smith than puts a tracker robot into Neo's belly button. Neo wakes up as if from a nightmare when his phone rings. Morpheus tells him that the offer still stands if he is willing.

The decision

Neo meets with Trinity and Morpheus's team. They take out the tracker and join Morpheus at the Lafayette Hotel. There Morpheus tells Neo that the Matrix makes them slaves and in order to truly show Neo the Matrix he must choose between the blue pill and the red pill. The blue pill would end their relationship and Neo would wake up believing whatever he wanted to believe. But if Neo chooses the red pill Morpheus would show him everything.

Neo chooses the red pill which helped Morpheus's team track his body in the real world. After some intense moments with a mirror Neo awakens to the real world. A world controlled by sentient AI that uses humanity as a source of power. The Matrix is an artificial construct that allows the minds of humanity to be controlled but yet remain alive. Morpheus explains that their mission is to find the One. A prophesied being that could end the reign of machines and open the eyes of humanity to their enslavement. The One would be able to enter the Matrix and mold it as he saw fit, change whatever he wanted. Morpheus believed that Neo was the One.

He knows kung fu

After some recuperation time Neo begins to learn how jack into the Matrix and that anything he needs to learn in a combat situation can be downloading directly into his mind. Morpheus decides to test Neo and teach him the rules of the Matrix. In the Matrix standard rules do not apply and that you are only limited by your mind. Morpheus also teaches Neo about the Agents, guardian programs that can inhabit any body hardwired into their system. They are unbeatable since they control the system.

There is no spoon

Mopheus takes Neo to the Oracle, who explains to Neo that he should believe in himself even though he is not the One. She also tells Neo that Morpheus will sacrifice himself for him and that Neo will have to make a choice whether to give up his own life or let Morpheus die.

On their way back to the safe house the team is ambushed by Agents. Morpheus buys them time by taking on Agent Smith. A member of their team Cypher ( Joe Pantoliano ) jacks out of the Matrix first and reveals himself to be a traitor and set up the ambush that took Morpheus. Cypher unplugs the team killing them except for Neo and Trinity. At the last second Tank (Marcus Chong), in the real world, stops Cypher.

Neo decides that he has to save Morpheus in order to save humanity (Morpheus also holds the key to the last real human city Zion). While Neo and Trinity get their guns Morpheus is being interrogated by Agent Smith. For the first time Smith shows that he has emotions and demands that Morpheus stop fighting.

Dodge this

Entering the building Neo and Trinity take on the entire police force and make their way to the roof. There Neo encounters Agent Brown. Neo demonstrates his advance abilities and nearly dodges all the bullets shot at him. Off guard Agent Brown is taken down by Trinity. They use the helicopter and chain gun to help Morpheus out of the building. Finally making it to a phone Trinity and Morpheus make it out of the Matrix but Neo is stopped by Agent Smith. Neo decides to fight Agent Smith and ultimately defeats him.

However Agent Smith takes another body and Neo makes a run for it. All three agents are chasing him while in the real world robots are approaching their ship. In order to activate their EMP pulse to take down the robots Neo has to get out of the Matrix or he will die. Just as Neo enters the room with the ringing phone of his salvation Agent Smith steps in front of Neo and shoots him in the chest several times.

the Matrix through Neo's eyes

In the real world Trinity explains to Neo's dead body that he can't die because the Oracle told her that she would fall in love with the One and that she loved him. With a kiss Neo sparks back to life. The Agents in the Matrix try to shoot Neo but he stops their bullets in mid-air. Smith in rage tries to fight Neo but is brushed aside. Neo destroys Smith's program and rushes to the phone to exit the Matrix allowing Morpheus to hit the EMP pulse to save the day.

Some time later we see Neo back in the Matrix on a phone explaining to the machines tracing the call that he will expose the Matrix to all those enslaved in it. With a final look into the camera Neo looks up and flies into the sky.