THE MATRIX
CAST:
Neo.....................................Keanu Reeves
Morpheus.....................Laurence Fishburne
Trinity............................Carrie-Anne Moss
Agent Smith........................ Hugo Weaving
Cypher................................ Joe Pantoliano
Oracle................................... Gloria Foster
Plot Summary: (Many spoilers ahead)
The Matrix opens with Thomas Anderson, a.k.a. Neo, searching for Morpheus who knows what the matrix is. Along the way he meets Trinity who persuades him to meet with the infamous Morpheus but before they can meet Neo is apprehended by three agents led by Agent Smith. The Agents bug him with a locator but Trinity pulls it out. Finally, Neo arrives at the meeting place and Morpheus gives him a choice between the red pill and the blue pill. Neo chooses to "see how deep the rabbit hole goes" (a.k.a. red pill). Through a tracking program Neo is pulled out of the matrix where he realizes that the reality he knew was a dream world created to keep humans from rebelling against the reality of enslavement and deception. At first Neo has a hard time coming to terms with this new reality and refuses to admit that he is the One that is meant to free humankind from the matrix and the Machines. In order to reach that point, Neo goes to the Oracle and then has to decide between saving himself or Morpheus when Morpheus fights Agent Smith in order to save him. Later, Neo and Trinity go to the building where Morpheus is being held and save him. Trinity and Morpheus get out through the phone booth but Neo stays behind and fights Agent Smith. Realizing that the Agent is unstoppable Neo runs to the nearest exit to leave the matrix. At the last moment, he is shot by Agent Smith who got there first. Upon Trinity's profession of love and her kiss, Neo comes back to life, stops bullets in midair and destroys Agent Smith because he can now read code and believes that he is the One. Just as Neo gets out the Nebuchannezer is almost demolished by Sentinels, squidlike machines that find and destroy ships controlled by humans except when EMP is used to destroy them. The Matrix ends with Neo letting both the Machines and people know that he intends to use his power as the One to free the humans' minds from the matrix.
Setting:
Most of the action happens either in the matrix in the year 1999 or on the Nebuchadnezzar in actual time (2199); the ship is captained by Morpheus and picks up Neo when he's flushed from the pod where his body was being used as a battery.
Memorable Quotes:
“What is real. How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neural-interactive simulation that we call the Matrix. You've been living in a dream world, Neo. This is the world as it exists today.... Welcome to the Desert of the Real…What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this (shows a Duracell Battery).”~Morpheus, Construct
“I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you.” ~Neo, phone
Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
