History Film / TheMatrix

* IgnoranceIsBliss: Said verbatim by [[spoiler:Cypher]], who believes that after many years, the freedom he was promised was a lie and who [[spoiler:makes a deal with the machines the become part of their program again, under the condition that he's rich and popular and forgets everything about his life in Morpheus' crew.]]

* FaceNodAction: Neo and Trinita go through this motion before they start the HallwayFight at the lobby.

** Neo's first scene chatting with his friends (the ones that take him to the nigthclub where he meets Trinity) is rife with foreshadowing. One of his friends calls Neo "[[TheChosenOne my savior, my own personal Jesus Christ]]" and then, after hearing the strange story about his computer, quips "you need to unplug, man".

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Morpheus is going for this when he asks Neo "Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with my muscles in [[{{Cyberspace}} this place]]?" but what really drives it home is his follow-up question, "You think that's air you're breathing now?". Followed by Morpheus taking a pause to demonstrate that his digital avatar, in fact, does not ''need'' to breathe.
* ArtisticLicenceBiology: several, for greater drama effect, although most of it has been later rectified by fanon theories.

* TheCanKickedHim: Morpheus fights Agent Smith in a dilapidated bathroom. His bald dome is sent hurtling into a toilet bowl, shattering it.

* CatScare: The [[AGlitchInTheMatrix déjà vu scene]] does this with an actual cat.

* CreepyTwins: A subtle version in the Agent Training Program. If you watch it and you're certain that you saw the same extras walk by the camera twice, guess what, you're right: ''All the extras are twins.'' It suggests that Mouse wrote the program and after making half the crowd became lazy and copied them. The producers actually went around looking for basically every pair of twins they could find just for this one scene. Now were you looking for that, [[DistractedByTheSexy or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?]]

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Neo]] is shot multiple times by Agent Smith and killed, but gets revived by a TrueLovesKiss from Trinity.

* EyeAwaken: Close-up on Neo's face as he opens his eye after being brought back to life by Trinity's TrueLovesKiss.

* FanDisservice: While we do get to see Keanu Reeves' bare chest, nipples, and pubic hair in all of its glory during the interrogation scene after the agents rip open his shirt, it's during a creepy nightmare-fuel scene when the [[OrificeInvasion bug is activated and squirms into his body through his belly button]], after his [[AndIMustScream mouth has been erased]].

** Neo is told to "Follow the white rabbit" as a metaphor for waking from the Matrix. Immediately after that the doorbell rings and outside is a woman with a white rabbit tattoo. This is a reference to the trope but not an instance of it.
** On the DVD, you can choose to see the film in "White Rabbit Mode." In this version, a white rabbit symbol appears on the screen during certain scenes and if you click it, you can see brief behind-the-scenes footage of the making of that scene.

* HeroicSecondWind: In the climax, Neo is defeated and lies dead on the floor. However, after receiving a TrueLovesKiss by Trinity he comes BackFromTheDead to [[TookALevelInBadAss kick some serious Agent ass]].

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Exact words used by Morpheus when explaining to Neo why he had to pull him out of the Matrix.

* ProphecyTwist: The Oracle tells Neo that he is not the One, he must decide whether he or Morpheus will die, and he seems to be waiting for another life. While this discourages Neo at first, technically all of this comes true: when Neo makes a choice to go into the matrix to save Morpheus, he starts to bend rules of the Matrix [[spoiler:but is not yet the One. He is gunned down by Smith (i.e., he is killed instead of Morpheus) but resurrects himself (waiting for another life) thence to become the One (the prophecy for Morpheus that the One will return).]]

* StockPhrases: "Get out of there!" comes up twice. First Morpheus warns Neo over the phone to get out of his office when the agents arrive. Later [[MissionControl Tank]] tells Mouse to get out of the building after the Deja Vu incident in the Matrix.

-->Surprise, asshole! Bet you never saw this coming, did you? God, I wish I could be there when they break you. I wish I could walk in just when it happens, so right then, you'd know it was me.

* TelepathicSprinklers: Done shortly after the famous lobby scene. Neo's elevator firebomb somehow manages to set off every sprinkler in the building, drenching the Agents (several stories above the blast) at a dramatically opportune moment. Somehow the dinky sprinklers in the room also manage to fill the place up with what looks like about a foot of standing water, just to make the upcoming helicopter/machine gun scene look that much more awesome.

-->'''Morpheus:''' Stop ''trying'' to hit me and ''hit'' me!
* ThisIsThePartWhere
-->'''The Oracle:''' Now I'm supposed to say "Hmm, that's interesting, but…" and then you say…\\

-->'''Smith:''' Tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you're unable to ''speak''?

->''"I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible."''

* HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster: Lilly Watchowski [[https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-53692435 confirming the film is metaphor for the realization of being trans]] effectively means the rebel characters all fit this trope.

A hugely influential Main/{{Cyberpunk}} action film by Creator/TheWachowskis about a virtual world inside a massive computer system, released on March 31, 1999. Even if you haven't seen it yet, you've still likely seen/felt its influence.

* ThePresentDay: The reality of the Matrix (which was aligned to 1999 at the time of Neo's revelation, as per the year of its release). The real world takes place in in a post-apocalyptic VillainWorld, estimated to be in the vicinity of 2199 but humanity no longer knows for certain.

** Averted with Dozer and Tank. They never had a choice because they were born in the free world, however they act as if they had taken the red pill.

* VerbThis: Trinity's famous PreMortemOneLiner, "Dodge this," to an Agent right before [[BoomHeadshot blowing his brains out at point-blank range]]. [[BodySurf He does dodge the bullet, just not in a natural way]], and the body he was using as a host was not so lucky.

* AliceAllusion

* TheCanKickedHim: Morpheus fights Agent Smith in a dilapidated bathroom. His bald dome is sent hurtling onto a toilet bowl, shattering it.

* DrivingQuestion: "What is the Matrix?" It's answered shortly thereafter, but then it's replaced by "What is real? How do you define real?"

* YourMindMakesItReal: {{Trope Namer|s}}.[[invoked]] When Neo discovers that he has a nosebleed after a fight simulation, Morpheus reveals that someone will die in the real world when they die in the Matrix, stating that "the body cannot live without the mind." [[spoiler:We see this firsthand when Mouse is violently gunned down in the Matrix and we see him spitting blood and then flatlining in the real world.]]

->''"I'm going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible."''

* BrutalBrawl: unlike the film's flashier, more elaborate martial arts duels, Agent Smith vs. Morpheus is a nasty fistfight in a cramped bathroom, with blows that have real weight behind them (especially Smith hitting Morpheus with rapid-fire headbutts). Eventually becomes a CurbstompBattle in Smith's favor.

->''"I’m going to show them a world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries, a world where anything is possible."''

* BaldHeadOfToughness: Most people of both sexes in the [[RecursiveReality in-story real world]] are either bald or very close-shaven. This is in part [[JustifiedTrope justified]] because it would appear that the machines' PeopleJars prevent hair growth for those inside and hair could cover the port to hook up into The Matrix, but most of the characters would presumably have been out for long enough to grow some more hair (like Neo eventually does), so that's probably not why ''everyone's'' hair is like that. This helps create a contrast between the harsh, limited living conditions of reality and the cushy, comfortable, but ultimately controlled, lifestyle within The Matrix.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Morpheus.

* AChildShallLeadThem: All the other potential Ones waiting for the Oracle to test them when Neo goes to see her are children. [[spoiler:Subverted as [[ItWasHisSled Neo, an adult, is the One]].]][[invoked]]

* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:If you think the dystopian virtual world controlled by machines is a raw deal, just wait until you see the ''real world'' ruled by machines. A GreyGoo scenario is averted but nanomachines have nevertheless blackened the skies. There's nothing left. This is the primary reason why Cypher turns on his comrades and the Zion human rebellion, wishing he had never chosen the red pill from Morpheus.]]

* LadyInRed: The woman in the red dress during the Agent Training Program.

* AfterTheEnd: The real world is a devestated, ravaged wasteland in the wake of the robot uprising with no human civilization outside of the city of Zion. Anyone not living in Zion is contained in pods that help fuel the Machines.

* AwfulTruth: Society as we know it is all a facade generated by robots who defeated humanity ages before and now source them for energy, creating a simulation of what life was like in 1999 to keep humanity locked in an unknowing stasis.

Thomas A. Anderson (Creator/KeanuReeves) is a young and dissatisfied computer programmer who lives a double life online as "Neo", a skilled hacker for hire. Feeling that there is something off about the world, and after meeting a mysterious woman only known as Trinity (Creator/CarrieAnneMoss), Thomas pursues an enigmatic darknet phrase referring to "the Matrix" and finds himself stumbling down a rabbit hole to a terrifying truth: the PresentDay world he knows is [[PlatonicCave an illusion]], [[{{Cyberspace}} a computer simulation of Earth]] designed to keep humanity passive and captive under the control of sentient machines. It turns out that humans and machines fought a war with each other over dominance ages ago, and the machines won.

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** Another example is the infamous interrogation scene where [[AndIMustScream Neo’s mouth is erased]], his shirt is ripped open, and the tracking bug [[OrificeInvasion forcefully digs into his navel]], which is often interpreted as a rape metaphor.

* FanDisservice: While we do get to see Keanu Reeves’ bare chest, nipples, and pubic hair in all of its glory during the interrogation scene after the agents rip open his shirt, it's during a creepy nightmare-fuel scene when the [[OrificeInvasion bug is activated and squirms into his body through his belly button]], after his [[AndIMustScream mouth has been erased]].