FAQ

Similar to Morpheus, the Oracle is a trusted source of wisdom and guidance for Neo, aiding him in understanding his purpose. However, the true extent of her abilities remains ambiguous. Sometimes, she appears capable of influencing the future, yet other times she can only foresee it or present potential outcomes.

It was stated in the movie that you'd have to jack in and out of The Matrix through a "hard line". The reason for this was never stated in the movie, however it could be related to the fact that back in 1999 when "The Matrix" movie came out, internet access via cell phones wasn't very widespread, and largely unknown to a lot of people. Additionally, it was hinted in the movie that you can't just use any telephone... there seemed to be specific "access points/back doors" through which hackers could hack in and out of The Matrix. These access points seemed to include specific old payphones or old regular telephones.

The story is set at an indeterminate point in the future, estimated by one character to be the 22nd century, in which human bodies are used for heat and electrical energy while their minds are held in a computer-generated, virtual reality simulation called the Matrix. Humans are essentially slaves in this world. People in the Matrix are subject to the lifelong, full-sensory illusion that they inhabit modern times at the turn of the century. Computer programmer/hacker Thomas "Neo" Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who may be "the One", joins a Resistance led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and several other freed humans, including Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Apoc (Julian Arahanga), Tank (Marcus Chong) and his brother Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker), Switch (Belinda McClory), Cypher (Joe Pantoliano), and Mouse (Matt Doran). They endeavor to expose the truth, overthrow the Matrix, and defeat the vengeful and warlike Machines behind it.

The Matrix is based on a screenplay by Lilly and Lana Wachowski, who also directed the movie. The Matrix has led to three sequels, The Matrix Reloaded (2003),The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and The Matrix Resurrections (2021), the animated anthology feature The Animatrix (2003), comprised of 9 shorts, and a number of video games. So far, there have been no official novelizations, but a number of comics have been published, featuring the work of comic book luminaries like including Neil Gaiman and Dave Gibbons.

The One is the man prophesied to release the humans from their bondage to the Matrix through his unique ability to manipulate the Matrix. The One is supposedly the only individual in all of humanity capable of doing such a thing. It was prophesied by the Oracle that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix and bring freedom to the human race. Morpheus is convinced that Neo is that man, although others, Neo included, are not so sure. As explained by the Architect (of the Matrix) in the second movie, the One is a program anomaly that the Matrix could not account for; an anomaly that occurs because humans have to be given a choice (if the only an illusion of such) in order to accept the virtual world the machines have created for them. No matter what, the anomaly that is the One occurs, so a way for the Matrix to control the situation (i.e. to control choice) was devised. According to the Architect, the current One had five predecessors who served the function of the One. Once Neo encounters the Architect, he is told of the choice of the One: to choose a certain number of humans to repopulate a destroyed Zion and start all over again, or to choose to go leave the Architect's lair permanently, thereby letting Zion fall and causing the mutual destruction of both the machines and the humans. The One is basically a real world reset switch. There are those in the Matrix that will never fully accept the machines' reality, and they will find ways to leave the Matrix for the human city of Zion. Once the free human population of Zion grows too large, it poses a threat to the machines; therefore the One is reintroduced to the Matrix to restart the cycle. The first of the two options presented to the One, should he choose to accept it, satisfies this plan: saving humanity and bringing balance as prophesied. Each of the five predecessors to Neo chose to save humanity.

Morpheus is watching the green raining code screens on the Nebuchadnezzar. The code is the visual representation of the Matrix. He's able to decode what he sees on the screen, giving him a full view of Neo's office building, locations of Agents, the existence of the window washer platform, etc. Think of it like unlimited security camera footage.

At this point in the film, Neo is still connected to the Matrix, so the Agents still have control over his body and can make modifications. Agents are computer programs and Neo is still linked into the program. It's possible that some other program which is confederate with the Agents is what seals Neo's mouth. The next thing that happens is that Neo wakes up in his own bed, making it all seem like a dream, so the Agents also have the ability to temporarily shut down his program and reactivate it at will.

A metaphor. This was not referring to any specific physical place, but rather to the act of Neo getting out of the car and not getting the answers he sought. In the past, he probably used to run away from the truth; this is the "road" that he has been down before, and Morpheus' team knows that he does not want to go that way again.

Morpheus offers Neo the choice of either a blue pill, which will render him unconscious and give him the impression that all of the recent events were simply a dream, or a red pill. The red pill, as Morpheus states, is a gesture in the real world of Neo's mind's desire to be freed and is part of a tracing program that will help Morpheus and his crew locate Neo quickly after he awakes in the world beyond the Matrix.

"Copper-top" is the nickname used in US commercials for Duracell Batteries. In the film, it's a slur to describe people who unconsciously inhabit the Matrix, since (according to the freed humans' beliefs) the Machines use them like batteries-sources of power.

The Nebuchadnezzar is a hovercraft flying through the abandoned subway and sewer lines beneath the destroyed surface of the Earth. Somewhere in the sewers are tunnels leading to Zion, very far below the surface.

The spoon exists only in the Matrix, which really means it doesn't exist. It's a lesson for Neo, to help him realize that manipulating the Matrix isn't about focusing on an object and trying to change it. The object doesn't exist, so he can't change it, he has to change himself. Metaphorically, it's all in his head.

"Noodle", in this context, is a slang term for brain, so named because of the one's loose resemblance to the other. So, "bake your noodle" means "make your brain work hard". It can also mean to confuse someone.

Zion is where free humans live. Far below the destroyed surface of the earth, the citizens of Zion are both former inhabitants of the Matrix who've been freed, and also 100% home-grown humans that have never been slaves to the Matrix.

At first it looks just like a screen wall that you would expect in a police station's guard room, to monitor several areas at the same time, but that does not explain why Neo is displayed on every screen. The sequel The Matrix Reloaded later revealed this wall to be located in the Source, which is actually the origin of the signal that constitutes the entire Matrix. In the Source, the Architect (of the Matrix) resides. The Architect is the Machine program that created the Matrix. The Architect apparently keeps a close watch on Neo, and the reason for this is that Neo is a complex and intricate part in the Machines' ploy to keep the humans subdued.

Morpheus explains to Neo that babies are not born—they are grown. This suggests that the usual human birth cycle (in utero fertilization and growth followed by birth at term) is not being followed. What is shown is that human fetuses form/grow in artificial wombs located away from the "power plant" (where Matrix inhabitants' out-simulation bodies are connected to the Matrix's hardware) until they reach their would-be birthing ages; after which time, if they are viable, they are relocated to the "power plant", inserted into adult pods and hardwired to the system. It can be inferred from this that new humans are conceived altogether outside of the Matrix. The most likely method is by cloning or by harvesting oocytes (unfertilized egg cells) and fertilizing them with harvested sperm, then placing the zygotes (fertilized egg cells) in artificial gestation as embryos, some of which may be allowed to develop and others of which (as Morpheus also explains) are liquefied as food. As for how do people procreate while connected to the Matrix, it's possible they don't, since we never see any pregnant women inside the Matrix; meaning that upon joining the virtual reality, babies in the Matrix possibly materialize out of thin air (or are assigned to baby avatars that were grown from zygote avatars therein) and are delivered by stork or (more likely) postmen. Yet all sorts of tubes are attached the out-simulation bodies of Matrix inhabitants. So it's impossible to say for sure. Just as there are tubes for feeding the bodies intravenously, there may be tubes for extracting reproductive fluids (containing gametes) for, as aforementioned, harvesting the gametes (oocytes and sperms). Along the latter lines or alternately, there is the possibility is that when the Machines grow a new human infant, they pre-program a couple inside the Matrix to conceive a child. Overall, although never born in reality, presumably Matrix inhabitants are born in the virtual reality after having been conceived outside of it, grown for nine months and then connected to its hardware.

The actors that were hired had some kind of physical background: Carrie Anne-Moss was a dancer and Keanu Reeves used to play ice hockey. The actors underwent a hard training regimen for several months prior to filming.

It isn't made clear what the rules are for the Agents to take over a person's body, but as shown in the movie, they wanted to use Neo in order to locate Morpheus and kill him and the rest of his group. Originally the agents tried to get Neo to simply agree to help them in order to have his criminal record expunged. When this fails they grab hold of Neo and put a tracking device into his stomach (also possible, given that it had some sort of bio-mechanical function that it could have taken over Neo's body causing him to fall under the control of the Agents). To explain why the agents wouldn't take over Neo while Neo was with Morpheus is likely because they likely need to be within a certain radius from Neo. As the tracking device was removed from Neo, the agents didn't know where Neo was and could not take over his body. Also, after the Agents release Neo, Morpheus calls him and says, "They have seriously underestimated how important you are. If they knew what I know; you'd probably be dead." So simple naivety or arrogance on part of the Agents is likely why they didn't kill him.

Japanese katakana letters and mirror image digits.

ー ア ウ エ オ カ キ ク ケ コ サ シ ス セ ソ タ チ ツ テ ト ナ ニ ヌ ネ ノ ハ ヒ フ ヘ ホ マ ミ ム メ モ ヤ ユ ヨ ラ リ ル レ ロ ワ ン ０ ２ ３ ４ ５ ６ ７ ８ ９

Usually, science fiction films rarely even get nominated for the "majors" (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture), and none have ever won. However, The Matrix did win four Academy Awards in the "technical categories" - Sound Effects, Visual Effects, Sound and Editing. Keep in mind as well that 1999 was an unusually strong year for film. Those twelve months saw the release of Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Payback (1999), All About My Mother (1999), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), American Beauty (1999) (the Best Picture winner that year), Man on the Moon (1999), Being John Malkovich (1999), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Boys Don't Cry (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Straight Story (1999), Election (1999), Toy Story 2 (1999), The Insider (1999), Run Lola Run (1998), Three Kings (1999), The Sixth Sense (1999), and Fight Club (1999). All of those titles either upon release or over the years were celebrated as outstanding films by audiences and critics alike. An argument could be made for any of them to have deserved "major" Academy Awards. In addition, This film beat out Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) for the Visual Effects Academy Award, the first time a film of the Star Wars to be beaten in such a category.

Three scenes were censored in the UK version rated 15, due to the usage of headbutts.