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The Matrix
Release Date	March 31, 1999
Genre	Post-Apocalypse, Sci Fi
Director	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski
Screenwriter	Andy Wachowski Larry Wachowski
Stars	Keanu Reeves Laurence Fishburne Carrie-Anne Moss Hugo Weaving Gloria Foster Joe Pantoliano Marcus Chong
Studio	Warner Bros. Pictures Village Roadshow Pictures

The Matrix is a 1999 scifi action film from the creative minds of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. The reclusive Wachowski brothers wrote and directed the movie which became a blockbuster hit and pop culture phenomenon that spawned two sequels. The movie was released in the U.S. on March 31, 1999. It alluded to philosophical concepts and incorporated revolutionary special effects that were imitated in later films.

Plot

The film stars Keanu Reeves as Thomas A. Anderson, a computer hacker who goes by the alias Neo when not working for a respectable software company. Neo is contacted by a woman known as Trinity and soon discovers that what he has known all his life as reality is truly a complex computer program known as the Matrix. It's not really 1999 but several hundred years in the future. After a war between man and the intelligent machines they created, humanity became slaves, the power source for a planet ruled by artificial life forms. The real world is a dark landscape where humans are farmed; grown to serve the machines. Their minds are plugged into the Matrix where they live out their lives believing it to be the true reality.

Morpheus, once a slave like Neo, liberates him and introduces him to the real world; a cold, dark place, where the last remaining humans live near the Earth's core in a city known as Zion. Morpheus believes Neo is the prophesied savior who will overthrow the Matrix and defend Zion. Trinity, Morpheus, Neo, and several others are able to return to the Matrix and interact with those in it just as they did before they were freed. Their knowledge of the Matrix and its rules, allows them to bend the rules of known reality that governs those within the Matrix which gives them near superhuman abilities. Should they die within the Matrix, however, their bodies die with them as the one cannot live without the other.

While traversing the Matrix, they must watch out for Agents. Agents are programs within the Matrix that monitor intrusions into and eliminate those who may be realizing the truth. The Agents are faster, and stronger and capable of taking over the bodies of anyone still attached to the Matrix. Outside the Matrix, Morpheus' ship, which broadcasts a signal that allows them to hack into the Matrix can fall prey to Sentinels, machines that roam the tunnels of the former cities.

Morpheus brings Neo into the Matrix to see The Oracle who informs him he is not the one that Morpheus believes he is. When one of their own betrays them to the Agents, Morpheus is taken prisoner and interrogated by Agent Smith. In the movie's climax, Neo determines he must rescue Morpheus. With the help of Trinity, he attacks the building where Morpheus is being held and manages to free him, taking on the agents and ultimately proving to Morpheus and Trinity that he is the one. Neo is able to think beyond the rules of the Matrix and operate on an almost equal level as the Agents.

Trinity and Morpheus manage to get out of the Matrix but Neo is left behind to face Agent Smith. Neo becomes the first human to face down an Agent and the two fight it out in a dramatic martial arts sequence. Ultimately, Neo is chased by Agent Smith and two other agents and he's shot and killed. He miraculously returns to life with a complete understanding of the Matrix. He is able to bend the system to his will and stop the agents completely.

Cast

• Keanu Reeves as Neo
• Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus
• Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity
• Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith
• Gloria Foster as Oracle
• Joe Pantoliano as Cypher
• Marcus Chong as Tank
• Julian Arahanga as Apoc
• Matt Doran as Mouse
• Belinda McClory as Switch
• Anthony Ray Parker as Dozer
• Paul Goddard as Agent Brown
• Robert Taylor as Agent Jones
• David Aston as Rhineheart
• Marc Gray as Choi

Awards

• 1999 BMI Film Music Award for Don Davis
• 1999 Bogey Award in Gold (Box office award for movie viewed by 3 million people in the first 30 days of release)
• 1999 Golden Screen Award
• 1999 Golden Trailer Award in the categories: Best Action, Best Art and Commerce, Best Edit, and Best of Show
• 2000 Academy Award in the category: Best Editing for Zach Staenberg
• 2000 Academy Award in the category: Best Effects, Sound and Editing for Dane A. Davis
• 2000 Academy Award in the category: Best Effects, Visual for John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley and Jon Thum
• 2000 Academy Award in the category: Best Sound for John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and David Lee
• 2000 Saturn Award in the category: Best Director for Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
• 2000 Saturn Award in the category: Best Science Fiction Film
• 2000 American Cinema Editors in the category: Best Edited Feature Film - Dramatic for Zach Staenberg
• 2000 BAFTA Film Award in the category: Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects for John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley and Jon Thum
• 2000 BAFTA Film Award in the category: Best Sound for John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and David Lee
• 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award in the category: Favorite Actor - Action/Science Fiction for Keanu Reeves
• 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award in the category: Favorite Supporting Actor - Action/Science Fiction for Laurence Fishburne
• 2000 C.A.S. Award in the category: Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature film for John T. Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David E. Campbell, and David Lee
• 2000 Golden Slate Award in the category: Best Actor in a Leading Role for Keanu Reeves
• 2000 Golden Slate Award in the category: Best Actress in a Leading Role for Carrie-Anne Moss
• 2000 Golden Slate Award in the category: Best Visual Effects
• 2000 Empire Award in the category: Best Debut for Carrie-Anne Moss
• 2000 Key Art Award in the category: Best of Show - Audovisual for the trailer
• 2000 Sierra Award in the category: Best Visual Effects for John Gaeta
• 2000 MTV Movie Award in the category: Best Fight for Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne
• 2000 MTV Movie Award in the category: Best Male Performance for Keanu Reeves
• 2000 MTV Movie Award in the category: Best Movie
• 2003 Artistic Achievement Award from DVD Exclusive Awards
• 2000 Reader's Choice Award from Mainichi Film Concours in the category: Best Foreign Language Film for Andy and Larry Wachowski
• 2000 Golden Reel Award in category: Best Sound Editing - Effects and Foley

Also See

Related Movies

• The Matrix Reloaded
• The Matrix Revolutions
• The Animatrix

Documentaries

• The Matrix Revisited
• Making the Matrix
• Return to Source: Philosophy & The Matrix
• The Matrix Recalibrated
• The Matrix Defense
• Making Enter the Matrix
• Crash Course
• The Matrix: The Movie Special

Video Games

• Enter the Matrix (2003)
• The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005)
• The Matrix Online (2005)

Books

• The Matrix Trilogy: Cyberpunk Reloaded by Stacy Gillis
• Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation Edited by Matthew Kapell and William G. Doty

Popular Culture

• Ranked #1 in Entertainment Weekly's Sci-Fi 25 (the best movies and TV from the past 25 years) in the May 11, 2005 issue (1)

External Links

Official Site

IMDB - The Matrix

The Matrix Online

Film Scripts

Dictionary of The Matrix

Synchonicity and Linguistics in The Matrix

BFI synopsis

Philosophy

Matrix Philosophy

The Philosophy of The Matrix

Idealism The Philosophy of The Matrix and the True Nature of Matter

The Matrix by Dr. Sam Vaknin