The Matrix
Thomas Anderson aka “Neo” (Keanu Reeves) is a skilled computer programmer by day and secretly a hacker by night. He is deeply unhappy with the monotony of his day job, until he hears a cryptic reference to a mysterious conspiracy called the “Matrix.” As he becomes more interested in this conspiracy, he is contacted by a female hacker named Trinity (Carrie-Ann Moss) who confirms that the best person to answer his questions is a man named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Neo attempts to contact Morpheus, but three sinister agents, led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), arrest Neo and threaten him to prevent him from collaborating with Morpheus. Neo escapes from their clutches and meets with Morpheus in an attempt to discover the truth. Morpheus offers Neo a choice: take the blue pill and live a quiet life, or take the red pill, wake up and learn about reality. Neo chooses the red pill and wakes up aboard a levitating ship called the Nebuchadnezzar in, what Morpheus calls, the real world.
Morpheus tells Neo that the year is actually 2199, and humans having been struggling in a constant war against machines who have taken control of the planet in the early 21st century. The machines use human beings as an energy source, while keeping them docile within the Matrix. Morpheus explains that it is a simulated reality of what the world looked like in 1999. The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar belongs to a group of free humans who have been unplugged from the Matrix and now work to free other people. Morpheus wants to use Neo as the leader of a rebellion against the Machines by teaching him how to manipulate the physical laws of the Matrix, which will give him superhuman abilities. According to Morpheus, fatal injuries in the Matrix will also kill you in the real world and that the Agents are computer programs meant to destroy threats to the system. Morpheus believes that Neo is “the One,” a man prophesied to end the war.
The crew enters the Matrix to meet with the Oracle (Gloria Foster), who predicted the appearance of the One. She implies that Neo has to decide between his life and the life of Morpheus, because he may not actually be the One.
As they leave her house they are ambushed by Agents and police, which leaves one of their crew members dead. Morpheus sacrifices himself and allows himself to be captured. They then discover another crew member betrayed them by giving their position away to the Agents.
The Agents interrogate Morpheus to attempt to learn his access codes for the mainframe computer of Zion, the secret underground human city in the real world. Neo and Trinity return to the Matrix in a vain attempt to try and rescue Morpheus. During this rescue attempt, Neo becomes more confident in his abilities to control the rules of the Matrix, and starts beating the agents.
Trinity finds Morpheus and they escape back to the real world. Unfortunately, Neo is ambushed by Agent Smith and cannot escape. Instead, Neo turns to face the enemy and they start battling. While they are fighting, Neo gets shot. In the real world, Trinity tells Neo that he can’t die because the Oracle foretold that she would fall in love with the One. She kisses Neo and he is revived. He discovers a newfound ability to completely inhabit and control the Matrix mainframe. He destroys Agent Smith and returns to the Nebuchadnezzar just in time for the ship to destroy the attacking machines.
The movie ends with Neo in the Matrix, making a phone call and promising that he will deliver the rest of humanity to safety.
Written by the Marketing Department for Denver car accident lawyer, Robert Koenig
Staff Picks
Filed Under: Movie Reviews
