The Matrix opens with a scene where police surround an abandoned hotel room. They are attempting to capture Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), a woman skilled in computer programming who also possesses extraordinary abilities. Trinity easily overpowers the officers but remains pursued by a group of secret agents led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving). In her escape, Trinity leaps between two tall buildings—a feat impossible for a normal human. However, Agent Smith, who also possesses superhuman powers, manages to jump between the buildings and track her down.
Fortunately, Trinity escapes once again and heads toward a phone booth. Unbeknownst to her, Agent Smith discovers her location and crashes the phone booth with a truck while Trinity is inside. Just as the truck destroys the booth, Trinity mysteriously vanishes. The secret agents then decide to target Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), a computer programmer renowned in the hacking world under the alias “Neo,” who works for the prominent software company Metacortex.
Neo wakes up to find a message on his computer screen, warning him that The Matrix has taken control of him. Moments later, he hears a knock at the door and is invited by his visitor to a bar. At the bar, Neo meets Trinity, who had previously sent him the message. Trinity informs Neo that he is in danger and promises to guide him to someone who can answer his questions about The Matrix: Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). Later, Neo receives a package containing a Nokia phone at his workplace, allowing him to communicate directly with Morpheus.
Morpheus warns Neo that secret agents are hunting him. He also reveals that The Matrix is a virtual reality (VR) world designed to control human lives by making them believe they are living in a real world. Morpheus invites Neo to join the mission of freeing people still trapped within The Matrix. Unfortunately, the agents capture Neo first and demand he disclose Morpheus’ location, considering him a terrorist. Neo refuses to cooperate and asks to make a phone call.
Agent Smith, enraged, disables Neo’s ability to speak and inserts a robotic tracking device into his navel. Suddenly, Neo wakes up in his bed, unsure if what he experienced was a dream or reality. He then receives a call from Morpheus, who reveals that Neo is “The One.” Agreeing to meet Morpheus, Neo is picked up by Trinity. Shortly after, Trinity removes the tracking device from Neo’s abdomen.
This moment, when the device is extracted, confirms to Neo that his encounter with Agent Smith was not a mere dream. Trinity then takes him to meet Morpheus. Upon arrival, Morpheus presents Neo with two choices: swallow the blue pill to return to his former life or take the red pill to uncover the truth about The Matrix. Neo chooses the red pill, and he awakens in a pod filled with liquid, connected to numerous cables embedded into his body.
A robot detaches Neo from the system of cables, causing him to be flushed through a channel that eventually leads him to Morpheus’ hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. Morpheus greets him with the words, “Welcome to the real world.” Neo undergoes medical treatment, including acupuncture, as his body has never been physically active before. In this new reality, Neo is akin to a newborn in an adult form, with the liquid-filled pod he emerged from serving as a metaphorical womb.
Once Neo recovers, Morpheus reveals the shocking truth: the real world is actually the year 2199, not 1999 as Neo had always believed. After introducing Neo to the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar one by one, Morpheus connects Neo to a cable-linked device attached to his head, transporting him to a virtual space called The Construct. Morpheus explains that this space is different from The Matrix and serves as a training ground. He then shares the history of a catastrophic war in the early 21st century between humanity and intelligent, malevolent machines.
The machines originally relied on solar energy as their primary power source. However, humans attempted to block sunlight by darkening the Earth’s atmosphere, rendering solar power unusable. The machines adapted by harvesting bioelectric energy from human bodies instead. To do so, they created artificial wombs to grow and farm humans from infancy to adulthood, maintaining them in vast, endless fields within The Matrix. As previously explained, The Matrix itself is a simulated world modeled after Earth in the late 20th century, where the machines had taken over and ruled.
Neo struggles to accept the grim reality that he is not a “pure” human but rather a hybrid or a clone of an original human, born and raised in the artificial wombs of The Matrix. Morpheus and his crew, also hybrids, are part of a rebellion against the machines, capable of disconnecting from The Matrix and fighting back. Among the Nebuchadnezzar’s crew are two unique individuals: Tank (played by Marcus Chong) and his brother Dozer (played by Anthony Ray Parker). Unlike Neo and some of the other crew members, Tank and Dozer are “pure” humans, born and raised in the real world rather than within the simulated confines of The Matrix.
Simply put, Tank and Dozer do not have the cable ports at the back of their heads, meaning they cannot enter The Matrix. Neo begins training in various martial arts techniques, including Jiu Jitsu and Kung Fu, within The Construct, with Tank acting as the operator for his training sessions. Once his fighting skills are deemed sufficient, Neo moves on to a sparring session against Morpheus, marking the final stage of his training. During this session, Morpheus pushes Neo to break free from his mental limitations, aiming to help him become the ultimate fighter capable of defeating the machines.
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Morpheus delivers numerous strikes to Neo within The Construct, and when Neo awakens, he finds himself physically injured from the simulated training. Morpheus explains that death in The Matrix (or The Construct) can also lead to the death of one’s physical body in the real world. In subsequent training sessions, Morpheus teaches Neo about Agent Smith, whom Neo has frequently encountered. Morpheus reveals that Agent Smith and other agents are powerful computer programs created to protect The Matrix system from threats. These agents can appear anywhere and disguise themselves by taking on any form.
Neo is also introduced to the Sentinels, deadly robotic creatures created by the machines to hunt down and eliminate rebels in the real world. Meanwhile, Morpheus’ crew member Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) is shown secretly meeting with Agent Smith. Cypher admits that he regrets joining Morpheus and taking the red pill, just as Neo did. In exchange for a comfortable life within The Matrix, Cypher offers to provide Agent Smith with all the information he knows about Morpheus and the rebels.
Agent Smith intends to gain access to Zion’s computer mainframe, which stores data about the rebels and the remaining humans. Since Cypher does not know the access codes, he offers to give Smith the opportunity to capture Morpheus. Subsequently, Morpheus’s entire crew re-enters the Matrix to meet the Oracle (Gloria Foster). The Oracle tells Neo that he is not The One and warns him that he must choose between the life lived by Morpheus or his own.
After returning to their base in the Matrix, Neo suddenly experiences déjà vu upon seeing the same cat exhibiting identical behavior within a short time. Trinity realizes something is wrong, as déjà vu in the Matrix indicates a system error. Her suspicions prove correct when they are ambushed by agents and police, orchestrated by Cypher’s betrayal. Seeing Neo in imminent danger surrounded by enemies, Morpheus sacrifices himself, allowing himself to be captured and ordering his crew to escape to save Neo.
Cypher exits the Matrix first and kills Dozer (Anthony Ray Parker) and Tank (Marcus Chong), who are operating the Nebuchadnezzar at the time, while the rest of the crew remain unconscious in the real world. Before Cypher can kill Neo, Tank, who turns out to have survived, shoots him dead. Trinity and Neo return from the Matrix. Meanwhile, within the Matrix, Agent Smith interrogates Morpheus to extract the access codes to Zion’s computer by hacking into his mind. If Agent Smith succeeds, the remaining civilization in the real world could be obliterated by the machines.
Tank suggests killing Morpheus’s body in the real world to prevent Agent Smith from gaining access. However, Neo decides to return to the Matrix to rescue Morpheus. As prophesied by the Oracle, Neo must choose between saving Morpheus’s life or his own. Neo confides in Trinity, admitting that he is not The One as Morpheus believes. However, Trinity insists on accompanying Neo back into the Matrix. Together, they re-enter the Matrix.
During the interrogation, Agent Smith suddenly orders Agents Jones (Robert Taylor) and Brown (Paul Goddard) to leave him alone with Morpheus. Agent Smith reveals to Morpheus that he also desires freedom from the Matrix, which he plans to achieve by destroying Zion’s computer. While attempting to rescue Morpheus, Neo and Trinity are confronted by police forces and Agent Jones. This moment features the “legendary” scene where Neo successfully dodges bullets fired by Agent Jones, a sequence that later becomes iconic.
Neo and Trinity use a helicopter to save Morpheus, but Agent Smith shoots at the helicopter, causing it to lose balance. Neo once again demonstrates his abilities by rescuing Trinity from the helicopter. After overcoming several obstacles, Morpheus and Trinity manage to exit the Matrix through a public phone booth at a train station. However, Agent Smith tracks them down again and attacks Neo before he can escape the Matrix.
Neo and Agent Smith engage in an epic battle. Despite being cornered at one point, Neo manages to incapacitate Agent Smith by forcing him into the path of an oncoming train. However, due to his unique abilities, Agent Smith is able to regenerate and return. Meanwhile, in the real world, Sentinels attack the Nebuchadnezzar, putting Morpheus, Trinity, and Tank in grave danger. Neo tries to find a way out of the Matrix while evading the agents. He reaches a room as directed by Tank from the Nebuchadnezzar, only to be ambushed and fatally shot by Agent Smith.
In the real world, Trinity sees Neo’s lifeless body. She whispers to him that he cannot be dead because she loves him. This aligns with what the Oracle had once told Trinity—that she would fall in love with the person who is The One. Believing that Neo is indeed The One, Trinity kisses him, reviving him. Back in the Matrix, Neo rises from death with newfound powers, gaining the ability to see and manipulate the Matrix clearly with his mind.
When confronted repeatedly by Agent Smith, Neo, empowered by his new abilities, enters Smith’s body and destroys him from within. Following this, Neo escapes the Matrix just as the Sentinels in the real world are defeated by the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. In the final scene, Neo is shown still within the Matrix, making a phone call. He promises to reveal a world without rules or limitations, where anything is possible. Neo ends the call, then soars into the sky as the film concludes.
