The Matrix (1999) on Netflix
Thomas Anderson, a programmer who hacks as Neo, cannot shake the feeling that reality is wrong. Trinity tells him that Morpheus can explain the Matrix, and that Agents are hunting him.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb8.7/102,278,449 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
By day Thomas Anderson writes code at Metacortex; by night he is the hacker Neo, and he questions the world he lives in. Trinity, whose name he recognizes, warns him that he is in danger and tells him Morpheus can answer his questions about the Matrix. Agents led by Agent Smith corner him at his office, press him to help capture Morpheus, and implant a probe in his abdomen. Trinity removes the device and takes him to Morpheus, who offers a choice: a blue pill and his old life, or a red pill that shows him the truth about the Matrix. Neo takes the red pill.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Matrix (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Will Smith turned down the role of Neo to make Wild Wild West, because of skepticism over the film's ambitious bullet time special effects; he later said he was "not mature enough as an actor" at that time and would have "messed it up".
- Leonardo DiCaprio initially accepted the role but turned it down because he did not want to do a visual-effects-heavy film directly after Titanic; the studio then pushed for Reeves, who won the role over Johnny Depp, the Wachowskis' first choice.
- Janet Jackson was initially approached for the role of Trinity, but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting; she said turning it down was difficult for her, so she later referenced The Matrix in the 'Intro' and 'Outro' interludes on her album Discipline.
- Prior to pre-production Reeves underwent spinal fusion surgery on his cervical spine to address disc problems that were causing him to lose his balance; he was unable to kick for two out of four months of training, and so did not kick much in the film.
- Filming the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling, Chad Stahelski, Reeves's stunt double, sustained broken ribs, knees and a dislocated shoulder, and another stuntman was injured by a hydraulic puller during a shot in which Neo was slammed into a booth.
- For bullet time the visual effect team fired the cameras fractions of a second after each other rather than simultaneously; when the frames were put together, the resulting slow-motion effects reached a frame frequency of 12,000 per second, against the normal 24 frames per second of film.
- After its DVD release it was the first DVD to sell more than one million copies in the US, alongside Titanic, and by 2000 the first to sell more than three million; it was then the top-selling DVD release of all time, until Gladiator surpassed it a few months later.
- In 2020 Lilly Wachowski said The Matrix was intended as an allegory for gender transition, but that "the corporate world wasn't ready"; it was "all about the desire for transformation but it was all coming from a closeted point of view".
