The Matrix

Guide Note:

The Matrix is the Academy Award-winning 1999 science fiction film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, which starred Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. It is the first entry in The Matrix series of films, comics, video games and animation.

Fast Facts:

1. Release date: March 31, 1999
2. Budget: $63,000,000
3. Gross revenue: $460,379,930
4. First DVD to sell more than three million copies in the U.S.
5. 1999: Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction

Plot:

A mild mannered computer programmer named Thomas Anderson leads a double life as a computer hacker named "Neo". As he becomes entrenched in the computer underground he becomes familiar with a well known hacker who bears the handle "Morpheus". He searches to find Morpheus but it isn't until Morpheus himself contacts Neo and offers to answer the question of "What is the Matrix?" that the two meet. Neo then discovers his life was part of a computer simulation, the year is actually sometime around 2199 and not 1999 like he believed. He is trained to fight the machines that threaten the lives of the few remaining (free) humans. The movie climaxes as Neo attempts to escape from software gatekeepers (known as Agents) and is shot several times. With some encouraging whispers from Trinity (his love interest in the film) Neo comes back to life more powerful than before. He is easy able to defeat the Agents and return to the real world.