#15 The Matrix

In Summary

Philosophy, paranoia, kung-fu and Keanu Reeves. It's The Matrix!

Reality as we know it is merely a simulation controlled by an AI that has enslaved the human race in in order to serve as its energy source. The Matrix is the story of how our protagonist, Neo, is woken up from the simulation by a clandestine movement in order to play his part in the resistance.

The depth of philosophical and religious ideas behind The Matrix is almost overwhelming. From the ancient Greek philosophers, to the more contemporary Simulation Theory, with Eastern and Buddhist thinking also thrown in there somewhere. What is so impressive about the concept behind The Matrix is how cohesive it all feels despite how disparate many of the strands are.

You can tell that the sibling director duo, The Wachowskis, spent a lot of time coming up with the concept of The Matrix. It isn't just the idea of life being a simulation, but the wider implications of it - such as upon fate, or whether we would truly want to awake from the simulation.

Furthermore, it is a triumph of storytelling that The Matrix is not bogged down by its underpinning concepts. The audience is drip-fed enough information at the right times in the film to understand what it all means, this is aided by having a protagonist in Neo who is essentially making the same journey through the film as the audience.

Of course, The Matrix isn't just memorable for its concept and philosophy, but for its highly-stylised fight sequences. The slow, fast, camera in constant motion technique has since become something of a trope that has been parroted in subsequent action films, but it was The Matrix that brought it into the mainstream Western cinema from the East.

There aren't many films that can be described as an action, sci-fi, martial arts, heist with elements of philosophy, religion and body horror, all packed into skin-tight leather. The Matrix is certainly a unique and ground-breaking spectacle.

A Memorable Quote

Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you weren't able to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference from the real world and the dream world?

Things You May Not Know

• The legendary Hong Kong stunt co-ordinator, Woo-Ping Yuen, tried to turn down the film by making an exorbitantly high demand for his fee, then requesting four months to train the actors. The directors, the Wachowskis, ceded to all of his demands in order to hire him.
• Scenes set in the Matrix are tinted green, scenes set in the real world are tinted blue.
• Will Smith was the original choice to play Neo, he turned it down in order to make Wild Wild West.

One of the Greatest of All Time?
It's hard to think of too many other films that have had as wide-ranging an influence on both pop culture and filmmaking as The Matrix. There are so many films you can find traces of The Matrix upon, whether that's the high concept Inception or Avatar to action films such as Kill Bill and Kick-Ass.

The legacy of The Matrix is untarnished by its two underwhelming sequels. It is a film that demonstrates that you can trust an audience's intelligence to grasp what may seem a complex concept while also delivering something incredibly crowd-pleasing and visually enthralling.