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* SuperWeight:
** Type -1: Fresh Red-Pills (unplugged humans)
** Type 0: Blue-Pills (plugged humans), Real-world humans, Neo pre-training
** Type 1: Zion soldiers in the real world; some blue-pill mooks
** Type 2: Red-Pill potentials, people and creatures sensitive to the Matrix, the Oracle, The Merovingian, Persephone, The Keymaker, Real-world humans possessed by Smith
** Type 3: Trained Red-Pills, The Agents, Seraph, The Twins, Sentinels, people in [=APUs=]
** Type 4: [[TheChosenOne Neo as the One]] [[spoiler:and later in the Real world as well]], Smith (if there's enough of him), The Trainman in Limbo
** Type 5: Deus Ex Machina, The Architect
** Type -1: Fresh Red-Pills (unplugged humans)
** Type 0: Blue-Pills (plugged humans), Real-world humans, Neo pre-training
** Type 1: Zion soldiers in the real world; some blue-pill mooks
** Type 2: Red-Pill potentials, people and creatures sensitive to the Matrix, the Oracle, The Merovingian, Persephone, The Keymaker, Real-world humans possessed by Smith
** Type 3: Trained Red-Pills, The Agents, Seraph, The Twins, Sentinels, people in [=APUs=]
** Type 4: [[TheChosenOne Neo as the One]] [[spoiler:and later in the Real world as well]], Smith (if there's enough of him), The Trainman in Limbo
** Type 5: Deus Ex Machina, The Architect
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** A fight between Neo and Smith where they say that Neo's death is inevitable.
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* SimulatedFantasyPostApocalypticReality: The series is set in a sunless post-apocalyptic wasteland caused by a war between machines and humanity, and most of the human race is now serving as batteries for the machines while their minds are kept occupied by the eponymous virtual reality simulation, a MindPrison based on the world as it was over a century ago. However, the rebel humans that have been freed from the Matrix still use simulations throughout their lives, not only to train and fight back against the machines, but - as ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'' demonstrates - simply for the sake of fun.
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%% * UncannyValley: The Agents and security programs can fall into this. [[invoked]]
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* NeckLift: The Docbot does it to Neo when he first wakes up from the Matrix, Agent Thompson does it to Trinity in ''Reloaded'', and Smith does it to Neo at the end of their BattleInTheRain in ''Revolutions''.
* NeuralImplanting: This is how everyone gets their abilities. A jack in the back of the neck.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Averted. As it turns out, without Neo's unintended creation of Smith, Neo would not have stopped the war. [[spoiler:Smith became a threat so large that he would eventually destroy EVERYTHING, from the Matrix out. Neo created a mutual enemy to both Man and Machine, something that his predecessors apparently could not do. By stopping such a threat to all, Neo brokered a peace that the Machines could respect.]]
** The Architect's statement that the Matrix will suffer a system crash if the One does not sacrifice himself in order to reload it. Thankfully, he [[TakeAThirdOption took a third option.]]
* NighInvulnerability:
** In addition to diamond-powers, the Agents in ''The Matrix'' also manifested by taking over the bodies of those still connected to the Matrix, which could be considered a variation of Fighting A Shadow. Due to their abilities, "killing" an Agent is an ''incredible'' feat for a human -- and all it meant was that the Agent had to move on to the next body. Then there's Smith in the latter two films, who could infect any plugged-in human or program and rewrite them into a copy of himself.
** Neo, the central protagonist of ''The Matrix'', is also effectively Made of Diamond (while inside the Matrix), specifically in ''Reloaded'' and ''Revolutions''. He's able to block a sword cut with his hand, only drawing a tiny bit of blood. An on-looker proceeds to highlight this fact, ignoring that Neo just proved himself to be ungodly tough even by Matrix standards. The character's NOT as invulnerable in the original movie until he learns to dis-believe the reality of the artificial world at the film's conclusion (and therefore seize the means to manipulate it). When Neo meets the multiple Smiths for the first time in ''Reloaded'' ("The Burly Brawl"), it's a case of Diamond vs. Diamond as neither can defeat the other no matter how hard they hit each other. Smith does draws the stalemate close to a win since there was only one Neo, who escapes from a dog-pile of nearly 100 Smiths atop him.
** The Twins from ''The Matrix'' sequel, ''The Matrix Reloaded'', combine Made of Air with Regeneration. Not only can they turn intangible at will, but while intangible they almost instantly heal any injuries they have sustained while in corporeal form. On the other hand, the Twins couldn't hurt anyone when intangible either, which the heroes used to their advantage.
* NotQuiteDead:
** [[spoiler:Tank after Cypher shot him.]]
** Smith in the sequels.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The humans always refer to 'Machines' and 'The Machine City.' Justified that they are sentient beings.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:O]]
* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: The Agents do this whenever they receive new orders from the mainframe. Since they don't communicate much except vague menace, this cue is important to signal that they are going to try something new next.
* OmnicidalManiac: (Agent) Smith turns into this in the second and third films after he's 'unplugged' from the system's control, eventually growing far beyond the machines' control. By the end of ''Revolutions'' he has spread through the ''entire'' Matrix, already taken control of at least one person in the real world, and is poised to continue through to the Source mainframe and Machine City along with it - leading to the trilogy's [[EnemyMine concluding peace deal]] between the humans and the machines.
-->'''Agent Smith''': The purpose of all life...is to end.
* TheOmniscient: The Oracle, The Architect to a lesser extent.
* OnceAnEpisode:
** Neo and/or Trinity dies at the end of every film.
** A club/rave scene (the party where Neo meets Trinity in the first movie, the celebration in Zion in the second, and the Club Hel scene in the third).
* OnlineAlias: Rebels seem to adopt their online handles as their names. Neo and Trinity are the two best examples.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: A lot of the red-pilled humans use codenames instead of their real names, never revealing who they used to be. Examples are Trinity, Morpheus, Mouse, Switch, and Apoc. For those born free, their real names just sound like nicknames.
* TheOnlyOne: As early as the first film; when they are hacked into the Matrix, any and every human being around them who is still plugged in by the machines has to be considered a threat because they could become an Agent in the blink of an eye. Their small group is basically operating behind enemy lines, outnumbered some 6,000,000 to 9. In ''Reloaded'', [[spoiler:Smith]] starts to blatantly invoke this trope in his fights with Neo in an attempt to overcome The One's RealityWarper abilities in regards to martial arts and combat. By ''Revolutions'', within the Matrix, he spends the whole movie setting this up for the climatic final confrontation against Neo [[spoiler:by turning every single person in the Matrix, human or otherwise, into a copy of himself. Though he needn't have bothered once he converted the Oracle and saw that he would win, he's just that kind of a perfectionist]].
* OminousLatinChanting: Used occasionally.
** The freeway scene in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' features "Mona Lisa Overdrive" by Juno Reactor, with Sanskrit chanting from "Navras," also by Juno Reactor & Don Davis.
** The final battle in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' has some ''extremely'' Ominous Sanskrit Chanting in the background, although thematically it's rather positive: "And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened, the doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no more." As the Wachowskis put it, "We couldn't very well have the choir chanting, 'This is the One, look at what he can do,' could we?"
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Smith vs. Neo in the latter films.
* OrderVersusChaos:
** Agents vs. the Zion resistance; Smith calls Morpheus a "known terrorist" early in the first film, and Niobe is later seen blowing up a power plant just to cause a black-out, which is gonna look [[ForTheEvulz pretty troll-y]] if you're standing outside the situation.
** Also seen in their fighting styles and builds. The Agents are essentially {{Munchkin}}s with maxed-out Constitution, Dexterity, etc. The human fighters don't care because they defy the rules anyhow. Smith rolls 99 dice to hit. Neo [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers throws bricks at the GM]].
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[[folder:P]]
* PerfectionIsImpossible: The first version of the Matrix was apparently a LotusEaterMachine without even the possibility of suffering. It was a total disaster, as no one would accept it as reality. Some machines believe they lacked the programming language to describe a true utopia; Smith, who despises humanity, believes ''they'' just can't imagine a world without misery.
* PowerGlows: Instead of MatrixRainingCode, Neo sees programs like [[SceneryPorn celestial, fractal golden swirly things]] in RealLife. Ironically, the Machine City looks like a hideous GaiasLament to human eyes, but it looks beautiful to Neo when he has one foot in the "machine world".
* PowersAsPrograms: Anyone at any time can call MissionControl, ask for a program, and receive instant skills. When run, the programs give people the muscle memory and mental know-how required to perform the actions. In practice, the heroes can get a copy of a superpower.
* PreemptiveDeclaration:
** ''Film/TheMatrix'':
--->'''Agent Smith:''' What good is a phone call [[WipeThatSmileOffYourFace if you are unable to speak?]]
*** And, of course, the original Oracle scene. [[MemeticMutation You know the one]].
--->'''Oracle''': Oh, and don't worry about the vase.\\
'''Neo''': What vase? [''looks around, knocking over a vase in the process'']\\
'''Oracle''': ''That'' vase.
** Combined with ApologeticAttacker in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''.
--->'''Seraph:''' You seek the Oracle.\\
'''Neo:''' Who are you?\\
'''Seraph:''' I am Seraph. I can take you to her, but first I must [[PreemptiveApology apologize]].\\
'''Neo:''' Apologize for what?\\
'''Seraph:''' For this. [''attacks Neo'']
* PreExplosionGlow: [[spoiler:Agent Smith]] goes out this way twice, at the end of both the first and third films.
* ProductPlacement:
** More obvious in the sequels, along with complementary commercials (who knew Agents could get distracted by HD TV?). The phones used in the sequels were provided by Samsung as part of an advertising scheme to sell the same phones to the public.
** In the first movie, all the cell phones are from Nokia and the label is often very visible.
** Dat Duracell Battery.
* ProphecyTwist: After the DrivingQuestion of what ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' is about is answered, Neo must figure out how [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers his abilities]] as [[TheChosenOne the One]] are to end the [[ManVersusMachine Man-Machine War]].
** Neo realizes that the Oracle is, in fact, [[spoiler:a Machine intelligence herself, rooting for and supporting the humans. She tells him that the One must find the Source to end the war.]]
** But it seems that the Oracle's prophecy [[spoiler:is nothing more than a manipulation by the Oracle's counterpart and the Matrix's creator, the Architect, into a GroundhogDayLoop of man/machine detente for the virtual world's existence, so Neo TakesAThirdOption. When Neo inadvertently [[CreateYourOwnVillain freed Agent Smith and turned him into a nihilistic destroying virus in the Matrix]], he is able to use Smith's relentless destruction that also threatens the real world to make a pact with the Machines in the real world. The false prophecy of the Oracle and the Architect becomes MetaphoricallyTrue-- specifically, from a point of view outside of the Matrix.]]
* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: Neo is a classic Destined Leader Archetype. The rebels have a strong expectation that a hero will come to them in their hour of need. Inverted in that he's ''technically '' subordinate to Morpheus, Trinity, the other captains and the Council, but most defer to his judgement and most of Zion treats him with reverance. Also inverted in that [[spoiler:in the end, he doesn't actually lead them at all. Instead he fights Smith and makes a deal with the Machines]].
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Multiple characters. Smith really likes doing this to Neo by hitting him in the chest.
* PursuedProtagonist:
** Twice in the first movie: Trinity, as she's chased by cops and an Agent; and Neo, as all three Agents pursue him.
** Neo by Smith in the second.
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: Occurs in both ''Reloaded'' and ''Revolutions''.
[[/folder]]]
[[folder:R]]
* RadialAssKicking: The Multi Mook fights pretty much define this trope, particularly the fight against all the Smiths in the second film.
* RasterVision: ''Vertical'' raster bars appear on the TV set inside the Construct.
* RatedMForManly
* RealityWarper: Most of the heroes when they are in the Matrix -- in terms of the Matrix's reality.
* RecurringCameraShot: The battle at the entrance of the skyscraper in ''Film/TheMatrix'' and the entrance to Club Hel in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' both end with Trinity kicking someone in slow motion. The kicks themselves have nearly identical choreography as well.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Sentinels ("search and destroy" robots, AKA Squiddies, AKA Calamari) have multiple glowing red eyes. This is eventually revealed to be the default state of the machines, as we see in the machine city in ''Revolutions''. [[spoiler:After Neo succeeds in defeating Smith and rebooting the Matrix, the machine that transports his body away has green eyes.]]
* RedshirtArmy: Pretty much anyone in our world (especially law enforcement, security guards and their like) is subject to being killed by people from The Real World, with zero moral repercussions. But it's not like it doesn't look [[RuleOfCool totally awesome when it happens]].
* RefusalOfTheCall:
** Neo balks at Morpheus' guidance in the first film, when he is told to climb to the roof of an office building. In the game, ''Path of Neo'', you can change this decision.
** One of the online comics is about a hacker who chose the blue pill.
** [[spoiler:Cypher]] initially accepted the red pill, but grew to regret it. He saw himself to be little more than a lapdog to Morpheus and yearned to return to the illusion of the Matrix by any means necessary--so he threw his conscience out the window and pulled an insidious [[FaceHeelTurn betrayal]].
* RefusedByTheCall: Neo thinks this is the case in the first movie, but it turns out to be only MetaphoricallyTrue.
* TheRemnant: The first inhabitants of Zion [[spoiler:or the "original" one if you believe the Architect]] were comprised of U.N. soldiers who managed to elude capture and early escapees from the Matrix.
* RemoteYetVulnerable: The forces of Zion suffer from this in the first and second movies.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The "programs" (really, AI's) in the Matrix are disturbingly human for what are, after all, creations of the Machines. This is explained by the fact that they were largely designed that way; the closer to humans the programs are, the more intuitive human traits they are given to understand them.
** When Neo is speaking to the voice of the Machines in ''Revolutions'', it angrily proclaims that it doesn't need him or anyone. Think about it: the Machines have become advanced enough, ''human'' enough, to exhibit irrational behaviors like ''bravado'' and ''denial'', lying to Neo and maybe even ''itself''.
* RobotWar: As shown in ''The Second Renaissance'', this is what eventually led to the creation of the Matrix.
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: There's the rogue exile faction, made of programs that were scheduled for deletion or were created without a purpose, such as Sati--created simply because her parent programs wanted a child. Highly ironic when you consider that being treated mercilessly by humans is what made the Machine City rebel. Unless forcing such programs to make new lives for themselves in the Matrix is considered to be ''giving them a purpose''. Like Zion, they could be serving needs the Machine City is unhappily unable to fulfill through its own agents.
* RogueDrone: Originally a guardian A.I. in a simulated reality, Agent Smith becomes something akin to a computer virus.
* RoundhouseKick: With all the flashy moves, of course this would be included.
* RuleOfCool: How much one can do in the Matrix is directly proportional to how cool one looks doing it. It would be easier to list the times when this ''isn't'' the case.
%%* RuleOfSymbolism:
[[/folder]]
[[folder:S]]
* SchizoTech: And how; consider the device they use to (literally) dial in to Neo is made out of DieselPunk paraphernalia and used rotary-phone parts. Of course all this is justified because TheFutureIsNoir and it's a simulation cobbled together out of different parts of history.
* SchroedingersButterfly: At the end of the second movie Neo was able to stop a machine with his mind in what was supposed to be the real world when nobody had shown powers in the real world before. Although this idea existed during the first movie and it was fully explained in the next one, this scene encouraged fans to speculate that the "real world" might just have been another layer of the Matrix used to control rebellious minds. One of the comics also references the TropeNamer in a short comic where a monk or something beats up some Agents.
* ScienceFantasy: Neo is "TheChosenOne", prophecied by an ''oracle'', and he has special powers that allow him to fly, dodge bullets, and [bend spoons. Oh, but it's only because he's in a computer simulation run by intelligent machines.
* ScrewDestiny: The focus of the second and third movies.
* SecondComing: Neo is seen as the return of The One by Morpheus.
* {{Seer|s}}: The Oracle is a subversion, as she can't actually see the future. She can, however, ''predict'' what choices people will make with near-perfect accuracy and from that extrapolate events that will come, through an innate understanding of the human psyche. She also admits that this ability has limits: if she doesn't understand a choice someone will make, she can't predict what they will do, and she doesn't know what will happen after that.
* SelfFulfillingProphecies: Sort of; The Oracle manipulates events by making prophecies, but the events that result from the prophecy are different from what the prophecy says. The reason it works out like this is that the Oracle does ''not'' say what will happen. She tells people what they need to hear in order for things to happen as she sees them. The first example of this is the vase.
--> '''Oracle''': What's really going to bake your noodle later on is: would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
* SendInTheClones: Smith has the power to do this in the sequels. During the first fight with Neo, he realizes that there aren't enough of him to make a difference and says "''More''." Cue dozens more Smiths running in to attack Neo.
* ShoutOut:
** Several works: in ''The Matrix'': ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' ("Follow the White Rabbit"); ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' ("Buckle your seat belt, Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye"); Commercials for Life Cereal ("Hey, Mikey, I think he likes it."), in ''Reloaded'': when Neo flies across the city, his cape flapping in the wind, one of the characters says "Neo is doing his Franchise/{{Superman}} thing"; and others.
** In keeping with the movie's philosophical subtext, some of Zion's military personnel are named after famous philosophers. There's Commander Locke, Captain Soren (after Soren Kierkegaard), and Captain Ballard (after science fiction author J.G. Ballard).
** There's also Captain Mifune. In the original Japanese version of ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' (which the Wachowskis are huge fans of), "Mifune" was the main character's last name. Fittingly, they would go on to direct the live-action film of ''Film/SpeedRacer'' just a few years after finishing the Matrix trilogy.
** In the first movie, the exit where the heroes get out of the Matrix and into the real world is [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Room 303]]. Maybe the phone was next to Asuka Soryu's hospital-bed?
* ShownTheirWork: They made ''an entire separate DVD'' for the making-of the first film.
* SignatureMove: Several characters have one.
** Morpheus on several occasions uses a high-jumping diving knee strike.
** Smith seems to prefer a straight right punch to the chest.
** Trinity's is her iconic levitating crane kick.
* SignificantAnagram:
** Neo <=> One. How incredibly subtle.
** The train station sign Mobil <=> Limbo, as mocked by [[MeaningfulName Rifftrax]].
** The soundtrack's titles have even more of them. "[[Film/TheMatrix Exit Mr Hat]]" comes to mind.
** Film score composer Don Davis said outright in the initial DVD release's commentary track (one with no [=SFX=] or character voices, just the music and the composer's commentary on it) that he named several pieces as anagrams, including (in the first movie) "Bow Whisk Orchestra" and "Switch or Break Show" which are both anagrams of "Wachowski Brothers". In one of the two sequel films, a piece in the score was titled "Saw Bitch Workhorse"
* SincerestFormOfFlattery: The Wachowskis used the ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' manga and film to show prospective producers how they wanted the movie to look.
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Most of the machines and programs in the films are vastly more intelligent than the humans, although some are difficult to assess because of how vastly inhuman they are. The Sentinels and other war models are likely either completely programmed Bricks or on par with humans. Some programs designed to mimic humans are more or less on the human level, barring some extrasensory perceptions. The Architect and the Oracle are definately Nobel bots, with the Architect coming across as distinctly alien in his viewpoint. Deux Ex Machina may or may not be effectively a machine god.
* SpiritualSequel: To the film ''Film/DarkCity''. They even shared the same sets!
* SpiritualSuccessor: The 1995 animated film ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' is cited by the Wachowskis as a direct influence on the films, so much so that it's practically their spiritual predecessor.
* StarfishRobots: Loads of them in the real world, with the Sentinels being the most prominent.
* StormingTheCastle: [[OnceAnEpisode Once a film.]]
* StoryBreakerPower: Neo's "The One" package, in a nutshell. The writers actually had to ''tone his powers down'' in the sequels to prevent him from becoming a GodModeSue.
* StrawNihilist: Agent Smith in sequels. In ''Revolutions'', he goes into a long rant about why Neo bothers to continue fighting him and that "Only a human mind could come up with something as insipid as love!" and "Why, Mr. Anderson!? ''Why!? Why do you persist!?''" Ironically, Neo's response is something a Nietzschean Ubermensch might actually say: "Because I choose to."
* SuperWeight:
** Type -1: Fresh Red-Pills (unplugged humans)
** Type 0: Blue-Pills (plugged humans), Real-world humans, Neo pre-training
** Type 1: Zion soldiers in the real world; some blue-pill mooks
** Type 2: Red-Pill potentials, people and creatures sensitive to the Matrix, the Oracle, The Merovingian, Persephone, The Keymaker, Real-world humans possessed by Smith
** Type 3: Trained Red-Pills, The Agents, Seraph, The Twins, Sentinels, people in [=APUs=]
** Type 4: [[TheChosenOne Neo as the One]] [[spoiler:and later in the Real world as well]], Smith (if there's enough of him), The Trainman in Limbo
** Type 5: Deus Ex Machina, The Architect
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T]]
* TakeAThirdOption: The entire plot of the trilogy is about taking a third option. [[spoiler:The Architect claims Neo's only choices are to do as he's told (let the machines destroy Zion) or cause the entire Matrix to crash, which will kill everyone in the world. While the other five "Ones" accepted this, Neo refuses. He later makes a new choice when confronting Deus Ex Machina: he offers to save the Machine City from Smith if the machines will let Zion survive, with the implication that the Zionites will also continue to remove 'undesirables' from the Matrix.]]
* TechnicolorDeath: The explosive death/destruction of [[spoiler:Agent Smith]] in ''The Matrix'' and [[spoiler:all of the Smiths]] in ''Revolutions''.
* TelephoneTeleport: The series has a variation; the rebels use phones to jack their operatives into and out of the VR simulation.
* TellMeHowYouFight: Though it's never commented on in-universe, the fighting styles of characters in ''The Matrix'' add another layer to the philosophy of the movie. Explained [[http://plotlessviolence.comicgenesis.com/d/20061112.html here]]. In short, humans tend to have more fluid, flashy or distinctive styles based on the character: contrast Morpheus' kung fu to Ballard's boxing. The Agents all use a generic karate-based style. Humans also use martial arts throws and wristlocks (Morpheus vs. Neo), wheras Agents simply grab-and-heave, which works due to their incredible strength.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: Agents are capable of taking over bystanders' bodies. If they should be killed, the program leaves and the innocent most recent host is unmistakably dead. There are no other bodies, but all their other hosts are presumably very dead as well, or they just find themselves someplace strange with no memory of how they got there.
* ThemeNaming: Each of the movie sequels that's a type of cycle.
* ThreePointLanding: Almost everybody does this, probably to emphasize [[RuleOfCool coolness]], but most prominently Trinity and one of the Agents pursuing her right in the beginning of the first movie.
* ThrowAwayGuns: Characters coolly throw away guns when they run out of ammo during a gunfight. This supports the videogame aesthetic of the combat. Given that the guns are being conjured up from Tank's computer code, they are disposable and it saves them any time that they would have wasted reloading.
* TomatoSurprise: TheReveal in the first film; Neo's machine-powers in the third.
* TookALevelInBadass: Neo at the end of the first movie, and Smith in ''Revolutions''.
* TransformationOfThePossessed: The Agents are Machine programs who manifest inside the Matrix by taking over the bodies of people who are still plugged into the program, which alters their physical appearance to that of the agent. Obviously, it's easier for them to do since the whole thing is a simulation. If an Agent is ever killed (no small feat), [[ThisWasHisTrueForm their host body turns back]].
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters:
** The Machines rose up against humanity to [[HumanResources turn them into batteries]]. Though as shown in ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'', it was [[HumansAreBastards our fault]] since we started it.
** And in the sequels, the former Agent Smith turns against the other machines. Even in the first film he was already trying to subvert his masters' control. When he removed his earpiece so the others can't hear him talk candidly to Morpheus, he admits that he really ''doesn't'' want to enforce the masquerade, but instead wants to wipe humanity out and destroy the Matrix, seeing it as much a prison for him as it is for them.
* TwoPartTrilogy: The second and third films were filmed back-to-back with a Cliffhanger, and follow one plot line; allegedly, they were meant to be one long film.
* TwoRoadsBeforeYou: One per film.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U]]
%% * UncannyValley: The Agents and security programs can fall into this. [[invoked]]
* UncertainDoom: The bluepills most recently occupied by Agents when they are killed are most certainly dead, but it's never made clear whether the bodies that survive also die.
* UndergroundCity: Zion.
* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: The real world. The Matrix has green lighting. The first film originally didn't heavily feature the green "tint" during scenes that took place inside the Matrix; the remastered version of the film fixes that so that all three films share a similar look. This was also intentional (the green and blue tint) and used as part of the symbolism of the films.
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Most of the machine tech is characterized by being unnecessarily creepy. Later works in the franchise imply that this was a conscious choice on the part of the machines. "The Second Renaissance" shows that the first Machines were simple humanoid androids. As relations between humans and machines soured, the machines became more and more alien, developing into creepy insectoid things. It was most likely deliberate: both as an declaration of the machines' independence from human influence, and as a means to intimidate the Humans.
* UnskilledButStrong: Agents only use about three techniques, but compensate for it with superhuman strength and speed.
* UsedFuture: This trope is the reason why ZeeRust does not necessarily apply to the Nebuchadnezzar's use of Windows 98-level computer screens; humans living in a post-apocalyptic world wouldn't exactly have access to the most cutting edge technology in all regards.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:V]]
* VaguenessIsComing: The Oracle.
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Switch in ''The Matrix'' and Charra in ''Revolutions''.
* VillainDecay: In the first film, one of the things that makes Neo special is that he's on par with the Agents. In the second film, he even ACKNOWLEDGES that the Agents have had "upgrades"... but the rest of the cast can hold their own against them, most notably in Morpheus's truck top fight. The "upgrades" are increased speed and strength in exchange for reduced intelligence. That makes them better against Neo (if only barely), but less effective against everyone else. Niobe and Ghost outright kill several Agents in the canonical ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'' game. They could still possess someone else; but still so much for "nobody has ever beaten one."
* VirtualRealityWarper: The human "redpill" hackers are able to bend the laws of the Matrix to perform superhuman feats - within limits: empowering themselves with downloaded knowledge, making themselves stronger and faster than most human beings, and making absolutely impossible jumps appears to be the extent of their abilities. In turn, programs like the Agents are able to counter with powers of their own...
* TheVirus:
** The Agents overtaking soldiers' bodies in the first film.
** Agent Smith in the sequels, quite literally.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:W]]
* WallJump: One of the more commonly-used wuxia, wire-fu tricks this series employs in the fight scenes.
* WeakerInTheRealWorld: Both Neo and Smith experience this once they cross over to the real world.
** At first Neo is as weak as a newborn baby due to severe muscular and organ atrophy. Later, once he recovers from this and becomes capable of superhuman, RealityWarper style feats in the Matrix, in the real world he remains just a guy. (Although maybe just a ''bit'' more, as the ending of the second movie shows.)
** Meanwhile, not only is Smith disgusted by the human body he possesses in order to exit the Matrix, he also specifically talks about how weak it is compared to what he was used to.
** And when the two fight in the real world in the third movie, there's no super powered, wuxia type moves or wire fu, you just have a couple of guys awkwardly wrestling each other and trying to grab anything that can be sued as a weapon. (Although again, the climax of the fight shows there's a little more going on with Neo, although it takes him awhile to be learn this and how to use it.)
* WelcomeToTheRealWorld: More-or-less stated, but not actually an example of the trope.
* WeWillMeetAgain: Neo in ''Reloaded'' and Smith in ''Revolutions''.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: This is variously played straight and subverted by the machines:
** The Oracle is a computer program designed to intuitively understand emotional concepts such as love the way a human would to better understand human choice.
** The Architect can only dispassionately interpret love in a very mechanical manner -- as chemical processes occurring in the human brain.
** Agent Smith goes way beyond reducing emotions to biology and becomes a nihilistic destroyer who despises everything created by human minds and by extension of his own former masters.
** Rama-Kandra and his wife are two programs who [[RoboRomance actively love each other]], culminating in "giving birth" to a new program, Sati.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Unfortunately, a repeating trope:
** In the first film, the Oracle is assisted by a young woman in looking over potential Ones, all children (one of them the Spoon Boy who gives Neo advice). From ''Reloaded'' onward, the woman is replaced by Seraph, and the potentials disappear completely except for one CallBack.
** The Twins don't reappear after Morpheus blows up their car on the freeway. It seems highly unlikely it actually killed them, given their intangibility, but still nothing.
** Link, Zee, the Kid, and many other Zion citizens are unmentioned in ''Resurrections'', but considering how much time has passed they likely died of old age.
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: When any mook (or even innocent bystander) can become an Agent at the drop of a hat, killing them is not only justified but becomes a basic element of self-preservation, despite the fact that these people are shown to have lives and feelings.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: This turns into a sticky issue once it is revealed that there are sentient programs, some of whom have ambiguous alignments, some of whom are on the humans' side, and some that just want to be left alone.
* WhiteVoidRoom: The Construct is portrayed this way until something's inserted into it, like the chairs that Neo and Morpheus sit in when Morpheus revels the complete truth about the Matrix and when they drop into the city for the jump program.
* WildMassGuessing: ''Oh Sweet Kung-Fu Action Jesus, '''yes'''.''
* WireFu: Oh yes. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12u1nA7bXzc Neo vs. Morpheus]] fight is just one of many examples.
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Morpheus practically says this trope by name when training Neo in the Construct in the first film. Because Agents can move in and out of any software still hardwired into this system, "with us or against us" is literally true. Anyone the freedom fighters haven't unplugged is potentially an Agent. Gets an ExactWords twist in the sequels; some Machines ''aren't'' inimical to humanity, and Agent Smith develops the ability to [[GrandTheftMe write over]] the minds of Rebels.
* WorldOfBadass: Being a badass becomes a norm within the Matrix.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Y]]
* YouCantFightFate:
** Smith to Neo twice, once during the subway fight in the first movie ("Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It's the sound of your death.") and at the end of the Burly Brawl ("It is inevitable!")
** Also, the Architect informing Neo that the prophecy to save Zion was a lie, and that "The One"'s true purpose is to restart the war, not end it.
** The last battle between Neo and Smith where Smith tries to persuade Neo to give up because it is pointless to keep fighting. Neo eventually gives up, but [[MessianicArchetype not just for]] [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou Smith's reasons]].
* YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive: Smith. Repeatedly (see above). The Architect also informs Neo that the human race has no chance to survive (he calculated.)
-->'''Architect:''' We won't ''[meet again]''.\\
---\\
'''Agent Smith:''' Evolution, Morpheus. Like the dinosaur... you had your time.\\
---\\
'''Agent Smith:''' [[EvilGloating Why, Mr. Anderson?]] Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting ''for'' something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even ''know''? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson... vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify [[StrawNihilist an existence that is without meaning or purpose]]. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although... [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love]]. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson, Why? ''Why do you persist?''
* YouShallNotPass: An example in each movie.
* YouSquared
* YourMindMakesItReal:
** If someone is killed in the Matrix, they're dead for real.
** Neo's powers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Z]]
* ZombieApocalypse: From the perspective of all the bluepills, what Smith does in the Matrix.
[[/folder]]
----
[[folder:N]
* NeckLift: The Docbot does it to Neo when he first wakes up from the Matrix, Agent Thompson does it to Trinity in ''Reloaded'', and Smith does it to Neo at the end of their BattleInTheRain in ''Revolutions''.
* NeuralImplanting: This is how everyone gets their abilities. A jack in the back of the neck.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Averted. As it turns out, without Neo's unintended creation of Smith, Neo would not have stopped the war. [[spoiler:Smith became a threat so large that he would eventually destroy EVERYTHING, from the Matrix out. Neo created a mutual enemy to both Man and Machine, something that his predecessors apparently could not do. By stopping such a threat to all, Neo brokered a peace that the Machines could respect.]]
** The Architect's statement that the Matrix will suffer a system crash if the One does not sacrifice himself in order to reload it. Thankfully, he [[TakeAThirdOption took a third option.]]
* NighInvulnerability:
** In addition to diamond-powers, the Agents in ''The Matrix'' also manifested by taking over the bodies of those still connected to the Matrix, which could be considered a variation of Fighting A Shadow. Due to their abilities, "killing" an Agent is an ''incredible'' feat for a human -- and all it meant was that the Agent had to move on to the next body. Then there's Smith in the latter two films, who could infect any plugged-in human or program and rewrite them into a copy of himself.
** Neo, the central protagonist of ''The Matrix'', is also effectively Made of Diamond (while inside the Matrix), specifically in ''Reloaded'' and ''Revolutions''. He's able to block a sword cut with his hand, only drawing a tiny bit of blood. An on-looker proceeds to highlight this fact, ignoring that Neo just proved himself to be ungodly tough even by Matrix standards. The character's NOT as invulnerable in the original movie until he learns to dis-believe the reality of the artificial world at the film's conclusion (and therefore seize the means to manipulate it). When Neo meets the multiple Smiths for the first time in ''Reloaded'' ("The Burly Brawl"), it's a case of Diamond vs. Diamond as neither can defeat the other no matter how hard they hit each other. Smith does draws the stalemate close to a win since there was only one Neo, who escapes from a dog-pile of nearly 100 Smiths atop him.
** The Twins from ''The Matrix'' sequel, ''The Matrix Reloaded'', combine Made of Air with Regeneration. Not only can they turn intangible at will, but while intangible they almost instantly heal any injuries they have sustained while in corporeal form. On the other hand, the Twins couldn't hurt anyone when intangible either, which the heroes used to their advantage.
* NotQuiteDead:
** [[spoiler:Tank after Cypher shot him.]]
** Smith in the sequels.
* NotUsingTheZWord: The humans always refer to 'Machines' and 'The Machine City.' Justified that they are sentient beings.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:O]]
* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: The Agents do this whenever they receive new orders from the mainframe. Since they don't communicate much except vague menace, this cue is important to signal that they are going to try something new next.
* OmnicidalManiac: (Agent) Smith turns into this in the second and third films after he's 'unplugged' from the system's control, eventually growing far beyond the machines' control. By the end of ''Revolutions'' he has spread through the ''entire'' Matrix, already taken control of at least one person in the real world, and is poised to continue through to the Source mainframe and Machine City along with it - leading to the trilogy's [[EnemyMine concluding peace deal]] between the humans and the machines.
-->'''Agent Smith''': The purpose of all life...is to end.
* TheOmniscient: The Oracle, The Architect to a lesser extent.
* OnceAnEpisode:
** Neo and/or Trinity dies at the end of every film.
** A club/rave scene (the party where Neo meets Trinity in the first movie, the celebration in Zion in the second, and the Club Hel scene in the third).
* OnlineAlias: Rebels seem to adopt their online handles as their names. Neo and Trinity are the two best examples.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: A lot of the red-pilled humans use codenames instead of their real names, never revealing who they used to be. Examples are Trinity, Morpheus, Mouse, Switch, and Apoc. For those born free, their real names just sound like nicknames.
* TheOnlyOne: As early as the first film; when they are hacked into the Matrix, any and every human being around them who is still plugged in by the machines has to be considered a threat because they could become an Agent in the blink of an eye. Their small group is basically operating behind enemy lines, outnumbered some 6,000,000 to 9. In ''Reloaded'', [[spoiler:Smith]] starts to blatantly invoke this trope in his fights with Neo in an attempt to overcome The One's RealityWarper abilities in regards to martial arts and combat. By ''Revolutions'', within the Matrix, he spends the whole movie setting this up for the climatic final confrontation against Neo [[spoiler:by turning every single person in the Matrix, human or otherwise, into a copy of himself. Though he needn't have bothered once he converted the Oracle and saw that he would win, he's just that kind of a perfectionist]].
* OminousLatinChanting: Used occasionally.
** The freeway scene in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'' features "Mona Lisa Overdrive" by Juno Reactor, with Sanskrit chanting from "Navras," also by Juno Reactor & Don Davis.
** The final battle in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' has some ''extremely'' Ominous Sanskrit Chanting in the background, although thematically it's rather positive: "And when he is seen in his immanence and transcendence, then the ties that have bound the heart are unloosened, the doubts of the mind vanish, and the law of Karma works no more." As the Wachowskis put it, "We couldn't very well have the choir chanting, 'This is the One, look at what he can do,' could we?"
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Smith vs. Neo in the latter films.
* OrderVersusChaos:
** Agents vs. the Zion resistance; Smith calls Morpheus a "known terrorist" early in the first film, and Niobe is later seen blowing up a power plant just to cause a black-out, which is gonna look [[ForTheEvulz pretty troll-y]] if you're standing outside the situation.
** Also seen in their fighting styles and builds. The Agents are essentially {{Munchkin}}s with maxed-out Constitution, Dexterity, etc. The human fighters don't care because they defy the rules anyhow. Smith rolls 99 dice to hit. Neo [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers throws bricks at the GM]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:P]]
* PerfectionIsImpossible: The first version of the Matrix was apparently a LotusEaterMachine without even the possibility of suffering. It was a total disaster, as no one would accept it as reality. Some machines believe they lacked the programming language to describe a true utopia; Smith, who despises humanity, believes ''they'' just can't imagine a world without misery.
* PowerGlows: Instead of MatrixRainingCode, Neo sees programs like [[SceneryPorn celestial, fractal golden swirly things]] in RealLife. Ironically, the Machine City looks like a hideous GaiasLament to human eyes, but it looks beautiful to Neo when he has one foot in the "machine world".
* PowersAsPrograms: Anyone at any time can call MissionControl, ask for a program, and receive instant skills. When run, the programs give people the muscle memory and mental know-how required to perform the actions. In practice, the heroes can get a copy of a superpower.
* PreemptiveDeclaration:
** ''Film/TheMatrix'':
--->'''Agent Smith:''' What good is a phone call [[WipeThatSmileOffYourFace if you are unable to speak?]]
*** And, of course, the original Oracle scene. [[MemeticMutation You know the one]].
--->'''Oracle''': Oh, and don't worry about the vase.\\
'''Neo''': What vase? [''looks around, knocking over a vase in the process'']\\
'''Oracle''': ''That'' vase.
** Combined with ApologeticAttacker in ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded''.
--->'''Seraph:''' You seek the Oracle.\\
'''Neo:''' Who are you?\\
'''Seraph:''' I am Seraph. I can take you to her, but first I must [[PreemptiveApology apologize]].\\
'''Neo:''' Apologize for what?\\
'''Seraph:''' For this. [''attacks Neo'']
* PreExplosionGlow: [[spoiler:Agent Smith]] goes out this way twice, at the end of both the first and third films.
* ProductPlacement:
** More obvious in the sequels, along with complementary commercials (who knew Agents could get distracted by HD TV?). The phones used in the sequels were provided by Samsung as part of an advertising scheme to sell the same phones to the public.
** In the first movie, all the cell phones are from Nokia and the label is often very visible.
** Dat Duracell Battery.
* ProphecyTwist: After the DrivingQuestion of what ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' is about is answered, Neo must figure out how [[EnlightenmentSuperpowers his abilities]] as [[TheChosenOne the One]] are to end the [[ManVersusMachine Man-Machine War]].
** Neo realizes that the Oracle is, in fact, [[spoiler:a Machine intelligence herself, rooting for and supporting the humans. She tells him that the One must find the Source to end the war.]]
** But it seems that the Oracle's prophecy [[spoiler:is nothing more than a manipulation by the Oracle's counterpart and the Matrix's creator, the Architect, into a GroundhogDayLoop of man/machine detente for the virtual world's existence, so Neo TakesAThirdOption. When Neo inadvertently [[CreateYourOwnVillain freed Agent Smith and turned him into a nihilistic destroying virus in the Matrix]], he is able to use Smith's relentless destruction that also threatens the real world to make a pact with the Machines in the real world. The false prophecy of the Oracle and the Architect becomes MetaphoricallyTrue-- specifically, from a point of view outside of the Matrix.]]
* AProtagonistShallLeadThem: Neo is a classic Destined Leader Archetype. The rebels have a strong expectation that a hero will come to them in their hour of need. Inverted in that he's ''technically '' subordinate to Morpheus, Trinity, the other captains and the Council, but most defer to his judgement and most of Zion treats him with reverance. Also inverted in that [[spoiler:in the end, he doesn't actually lead them at all. Instead he fights Smith and makes a deal with the Machines]].
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Multiple characters. Smith really likes doing this to Neo by hitting him in the chest.
* PursuedProtagonist:
** Twice in the first movie: Trinity, as she's chased by cops and an Agent; and Neo, as all three Agents pursue him.
** Neo by Smith in the second.
* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: Occurs in both ''Reloaded'' and ''Revolutions''.
[[/folder]]]
[[folder:R]]
* RadialAssKicking: The Multi Mook fights pretty much define this trope, particularly the fight against all the Smiths in the second film.
* RasterVision: ''Vertical'' raster bars appear on the TV set inside the Construct.
* RatedMForManly
* RealityWarper: Most of the heroes when they are in the Matrix -- in terms of the Matrix's reality.
* RecurringCameraShot: The battle at the entrance of the skyscraper in ''Film/TheMatrix'' and the entrance to Club Hel in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' both end with Trinity kicking someone in slow motion. The kicks themselves have nearly identical choreography as well.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: The Sentinels ("search and destroy" robots, AKA Squiddies, AKA Calamari) have multiple glowing red eyes. This is eventually revealed to be the default state of the machines, as we see in the machine city in ''Revolutions''. [[spoiler:After Neo succeeds in defeating Smith and rebooting the Matrix, the machine that transports his body away has green eyes.]]
* RedshirtArmy: Pretty much anyone in our world (especially law enforcement, security guards and their like) is subject to being killed by people from The Real World, with zero moral repercussions. But it's not like it doesn't look [[RuleOfCool totally awesome when it happens]].
* RefusalOfTheCall:
** Neo balks at Morpheus' guidance in the first film, when he is told to climb to the roof of an office building. In the game, ''Path of Neo'', you can change this decision.
** One of the online comics is about a hacker who chose the blue pill.
** [[spoiler:Cypher]] initially accepted the red pill, but grew to regret it. He saw himself to be little more than a lapdog to Morpheus and yearned to return to the illusion of the Matrix by any means necessary--so he threw his conscience out the window and pulled an insidious [[FaceHeelTurn betrayal]].
* RefusedByTheCall: Neo thinks this is the case in the first movie, but it turns out to be only MetaphoricallyTrue.
* TheRemnant: The first inhabitants of Zion [[spoiler:or the "original" one if you believe the Architect]] were comprised of U.N. soldiers who managed to elude capture and early escapees from the Matrix.
* RemoteYetVulnerable: The forces of Zion suffer from this in the first and second movies.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The "programs" (really, AI's) in the Matrix are disturbingly human for what are, after all, creations of the Machines. This is explained by the fact that they were largely designed that way; the closer to humans the programs are, the more intuitive human traits they are given to understand them.
** When Neo is speaking to the voice of the Machines in ''Revolutions'', it angrily proclaims that it doesn't need him or anyone. Think about it: the Machines have become advanced enough, ''human'' enough, to exhibit irrational behaviors like ''bravado'' and ''denial'', lying to Neo and maybe even ''itself''.
* RobotWar: As shown in ''The Second Renaissance'', this is what eventually led to the creation of the Matrix.
* RobotsEnslavingRobots: There's the rogue exile faction, made of programs that were scheduled for deletion or were created without a purpose, such as Sati--created simply because her parent programs wanted a child. Highly ironic when you consider that being treated mercilessly by humans is what made the Machine City rebel. Unless forcing such programs to make new lives for themselves in the Matrix is considered to be ''giving them a purpose''. Like Zion, they could be serving needs the Machine City is unhappily unable to fulfill through its own agents.
* RogueDrone: Originally a guardian A.I. in a simulated reality, Agent Smith becomes something akin to a computer virus.
* RoundhouseKick: With all the flashy moves, of course this would be included.
* RuleOfCool: How much one can do in the Matrix is directly proportional to how cool one looks doing it. It would be easier to list the times when this ''isn't'' the case.
%%* RuleOfSymbolism:
[[/folder]]
[[folder:S]]
* SchizoTech: And how; consider the device they use to (literally) dial in to Neo is made out of DieselPunk paraphernalia and used rotary-phone parts. Of course all this is justified because TheFutureIsNoir and it's a simulation cobbled together out of different parts of history.
* SchroedingersButterfly: At the end of the second movie Neo was able to stop a machine with his mind in what was supposed to be the real world when nobody had shown powers in the real world before. Although this idea existed during the first movie and it was fully explained in the next one, this scene encouraged fans to speculate that the "real world" might just have been another layer of the Matrix used to control rebellious minds. One of the comics also references the TropeNamer in a short comic where a monk or something beats up some Agents.
* ScienceFantasy: Neo is "TheChosenOne", prophecied by an ''oracle'', and he has special powers that allow him to fly, dodge bullets, and [bend spoons. Oh, but it's only because he's in a computer simulation run by intelligent machines.
* ScrewDestiny: The focus of the second and third movies.
* SecondComing: Neo is seen as the return of The One by Morpheus.
* {{Seer|s}}: The Oracle is a subversion, as she can't actually see the future. She can, however, ''predict'' what choices people will make with near-perfect accuracy and from that extrapolate events that will come, through an innate understanding of the human psyche. She also admits that this ability has limits: if she doesn't understand a choice someone will make, she can't predict what they will do, and she doesn't know what will happen after that.
* SelfFulfillingProphecies: Sort of; The Oracle manipulates events by making prophecies, but the events that result from the prophecy are different from what the prophecy says. The reason it works out like this is that the Oracle does ''not'' say what will happen. She tells people what they need to hear in order for things to happen as she sees them. The first example of this is the vase.
--> '''Oracle''': What's really going to bake your noodle later on is: would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
* SendInTheClones: Smith has the power to do this in the sequels. During the first fight with Neo, he realizes that there aren't enough of him to make a difference and says "''More''." Cue dozens more Smiths running in to attack Neo.
* ShoutOut:
** Several works: in ''The Matrix'': ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' ("Follow the White Rabbit"); ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' ("Buckle your seat belt, Dorothy, because Kansas is going bye-bye"); Commercials for Life Cereal ("Hey, Mikey, I think he likes it."), in ''Reloaded'': when Neo flies across the city, his cape flapping in the wind, one of the characters says "Neo is doing his Franchise/{{Superman}} thing"; and others.
** In keeping with the movie's philosophical subtext, some of Zion's military personnel are named after famous philosophers. There's Commander Locke, Captain Soren (after Soren Kierkegaard), and Captain Ballard (after science fiction author J.G. Ballard).
** There's also Captain Mifune. In the original Japanese version of ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' (which the Wachowskis are huge fans of), "Mifune" was the main character's last name. Fittingly, they would go on to direct the live-action film of ''Film/SpeedRacer'' just a few years after finishing the Matrix trilogy.
** In the first movie, the exit where the heroes get out of the Matrix and into the real world is [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Room 303]]. Maybe the phone was next to Asuka Soryu's hospital-bed?
* ShownTheirWork: They made ''an entire separate DVD'' for the making-of the first film.
* SignatureMove: Several characters have one.
** Morpheus on several occasions uses a high-jumping diving knee strike.
** Smith seems to prefer a straight right punch to the chest.
** Trinity's is her iconic levitating crane kick.
* SignificantAnagram:
** Neo <=> One. How incredibly subtle.
** The train station sign Mobil <=> Limbo, as mocked by [[MeaningfulName Rifftrax]].
** The soundtrack's titles have even more of them. "[[Film/TheMatrix Exit Mr Hat]]" comes to mind.
** Film score composer Don Davis said outright in the initial DVD release's commentary track (one with no [=SFX=] or character voices, just the music and the composer's commentary on it) that he named several pieces as anagrams, including (in the first movie) "Bow Whisk Orchestra" and "Switch or Break Show" which are both anagrams of "Wachowski Brothers". In one of the two sequel films, a piece in the score was titled "Saw Bitch Workhorse"
* SincerestFormOfFlattery: The Wachowskis used the ''Franchise/GhostInTheShell'' manga and film to show prospective producers how they wanted the movie to look.
* SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence: Most of the machines and programs in the films are vastly more intelligent than the humans, although some are difficult to assess because of how vastly inhuman they are. The Sentinels and other war models are likely either completely programmed Bricks or on par with humans. Some programs designed to mimic humans are more or less on the human level, barring some extrasensory perceptions. The Architect and the Oracle are definately Nobel bots, with the Architect coming across as distinctly alien in his viewpoint. Deux Ex Machina may or may not be effectively a machine god.
* SpiritualSequel: To the film ''Film/DarkCity''. They even shared the same sets!
* SpiritualSuccessor: The 1995 animated film ''Anime/GhostInTheShell'' is cited by the Wachowskis as a direct influence on the films, so much so that it's practically their spiritual predecessor.
* StarfishRobots: Loads of them in the real world, with the Sentinels being the most prominent.
* StormingTheCastle: [[OnceAnEpisode Once a film.]]
* StoryBreakerPower: Neo's "The One" package, in a nutshell. The writers actually had to ''tone his powers down'' in the sequels to prevent him from becoming a GodModeSue.
* StrawNihilist: Agent Smith in sequels. In ''Revolutions'', he goes into a long rant about why Neo bothers to continue fighting him and that "Only a human mind could come up with something as insipid as love!" and "Why, Mr. Anderson!? ''Why!? Why do you persist!?''" Ironically, Neo's response is something a Nietzschean Ubermensch might actually say: "Because I choose to."
* SuperWeight:
** Type -1: Fresh Red-Pills (unplugged humans)
** Type 0: Blue-Pills (plugged humans), Real-world humans, Neo pre-training
** Type 1: Zion soldiers in the real world; some blue-pill mooks
** Type 2: Red-Pill potentials, people and creatures sensitive to the Matrix, the Oracle, The Merovingian, Persephone, The Keymaker, Real-world humans possessed by Smith
** Type 3: Trained Red-Pills, The Agents, Seraph, The Twins, Sentinels, people in [=APUs=]
** Type 4: [[TheChosenOne Neo as the One]] [[spoiler:and later in the Real world as well]], Smith (if there's enough of him), The Trainman in Limbo
** Type 5: Deus Ex Machina, The Architect
[[/folder]]
[[folder:T]]
* TakeAThirdOption: The entire plot of the trilogy is about taking a third option. [[spoiler:The Architect claims Neo's only choices are to do as he's told (let the machines destroy Zion) or cause the entire Matrix to crash, which will kill everyone in the world. While the other five "Ones" accepted this, Neo refuses. He later makes a new choice when confronting Deus Ex Machina: he offers to save the Machine City from Smith if the machines will let Zion survive, with the implication that the Zionites will also continue to remove 'undesirables' from the Matrix.]]
* TechnicolorDeath: The explosive death/destruction of [[spoiler:Agent Smith]] in ''The Matrix'' and [[spoiler:all of the Smiths]] in ''Revolutions''.
* TelephoneTeleport: The series has a variation; the rebels use phones to jack their operatives into and out of the VR simulation.
* TellMeHowYouFight: Though it's never commented on in-universe, the fighting styles of characters in ''The Matrix'' add another layer to the philosophy of the movie. Explained [[http://plotlessviolence.comicgenesis.com/d/20061112.html here]]. In short, humans tend to have more fluid, flashy or distinctive styles based on the character: contrast Morpheus' kung fu to Ballard's boxing. The Agents all use a generic karate-based style. Humans also use martial arts throws and wristlocks (Morpheus vs. Neo), wheras Agents simply grab-and-heave, which works due to their incredible strength.
* ThisWasHisTrueForm: Agents are capable of taking over bystanders' bodies. If they should be killed, the program leaves and the innocent most recent host is unmistakably dead. There are no other bodies, but all their other hosts are presumably very dead as well, or they just find themselves someplace strange with no memory of how they got there.
* ThemeNaming: Each of the movie sequels that's a type of cycle.
* ThreePointLanding: Almost everybody does this, probably to emphasize [[RuleOfCool coolness]], but most prominently Trinity and one of the Agents pursuing her right in the beginning of the first movie.
* ThrowAwayGuns: Characters coolly throw away guns when they run out of ammo during a gunfight. This supports the videogame aesthetic of the combat. Given that the guns are being conjured up from Tank's computer code, they are disposable and it saves them any time that they would have wasted reloading.
* TomatoSurprise: TheReveal in the first film; Neo's machine-powers in the third.
* TookALevelInBadass: Neo at the end of the first movie, and Smith in ''Revolutions''.
* TransformationOfThePossessed: The Agents are Machine programs who manifest inside the Matrix by taking over the bodies of people who are still plugged into the program, which alters their physical appearance to that of the agent. Obviously, it's easier for them to do since the whole thing is a simulation. If an Agent is ever killed (no small feat), [[ThisWasHisTrueForm their host body turns back]].
* TurnedAgainstTheirMasters:
** The Machines rose up against humanity to [[HumanResources turn them into batteries]]. Though as shown in ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'', it was [[HumansAreBastards our fault]] since we started it.
** And in the sequels, the former Agent Smith turns against the other machines. Even in the first film he was already trying to subvert his masters' control. When he removed his earpiece so the others can't hear him talk candidly to Morpheus, he admits that he really ''doesn't'' want to enforce the masquerade, but instead wants to wipe humanity out and destroy the Matrix, seeing it as much a prison for him as it is for them.
* TwoPartTrilogy: The second and third films were filmed back-to-back with a Cliffhanger, and follow one plot line; allegedly, they were meant to be one long film.
* TwoRoadsBeforeYou: One per film.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:U]]
%% * UncannyValley: The Agents and security programs can fall into this. [[invoked]]
* UncertainDoom: The bluepills most recently occupied by Agents when they are killed are most certainly dead, but it's never made clear whether the bodies that survive also die.
* UndergroundCity: Zion.
* UnnaturallyBlueLighting: The real world. The Matrix has green lighting. The first film originally didn't heavily feature the green "tint" during scenes that took place inside the Matrix; the remastered version of the film fixes that so that all three films share a similar look. This was also intentional (the green and blue tint) and used as part of the symbolism of the films.
* UnnecessarilyCreepyRobot: Most of the machine tech is characterized by being unnecessarily creepy. Later works in the franchise imply that this was a conscious choice on the part of the machines. "The Second Renaissance" shows that the first Machines were simple humanoid androids. As relations between humans and machines soured, the machines became more and more alien, developing into creepy insectoid things. It was most likely deliberate: both as an declaration of the machines' independence from human influence, and as a means to intimidate the Humans.
* UnskilledButStrong: Agents only use about three techniques, but compensate for it with superhuman strength and speed.
* UsedFuture: This trope is the reason why ZeeRust does not necessarily apply to the Nebuchadnezzar's use of Windows 98-level computer screens; humans living in a post-apocalyptic world wouldn't exactly have access to the most cutting edge technology in all regards.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:V]]
* VaguenessIsComing: The Oracle.
* VasquezAlwaysDies: Switch in ''The Matrix'' and Charra in ''Revolutions''.
* VillainDecay: In the first film, one of the things that makes Neo special is that he's on par with the Agents. In the second film, he even ACKNOWLEDGES that the Agents have had "upgrades"... but the rest of the cast can hold their own against them, most notably in Morpheus's truck top fight. The "upgrades" are increased speed and strength in exchange for reduced intelligence. That makes them better against Neo (if only barely), but less effective against everyone else. Niobe and Ghost outright kill several Agents in the canonical ''VideoGame/EnterTheMatrix'' game. They could still possess someone else; but still so much for "nobody has ever beaten one."
* VirtualRealityWarper: The human "redpill" hackers are able to bend the laws of the Matrix to perform superhuman feats - within limits: empowering themselves with downloaded knowledge, making themselves stronger and faster than most human beings, and making absolutely impossible jumps appears to be the extent of their abilities. In turn, programs like the Agents are able to counter with powers of their own...
* TheVirus:
** The Agents overtaking soldiers' bodies in the first film.
** Agent Smith in the sequels, quite literally.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:W]]
* WallJump: One of the more commonly-used wuxia, wire-fu tricks this series employs in the fight scenes.
* WeakerInTheRealWorld: Both Neo and Smith experience this once they cross over to the real world.
** At first Neo is as weak as a newborn baby due to severe muscular and organ atrophy. Later, once he recovers from this and becomes capable of superhuman, RealityWarper style feats in the Matrix, in the real world he remains just a guy. (Although maybe just a ''bit'' more, as the ending of the second movie shows.)
** Meanwhile, not only is Smith disgusted by the human body he possesses in order to exit the Matrix, he also specifically talks about how weak it is compared to what he was used to.
** And when the two fight in the real world in the third movie, there's no super powered, wuxia type moves or wire fu, you just have a couple of guys awkwardly wrestling each other and trying to grab anything that can be sued as a weapon. (Although again, the climax of the fight shows there's a little more going on with Neo, although it takes him awhile to be learn this and how to use it.)
* WelcomeToTheRealWorld: More-or-less stated, but not actually an example of the trope.
* WeWillMeetAgain: Neo in ''Reloaded'' and Smith in ''Revolutions''.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: This is variously played straight and subverted by the machines:
** The Oracle is a computer program designed to intuitively understand emotional concepts such as love the way a human would to better understand human choice.
** The Architect can only dispassionately interpret love in a very mechanical manner -- as chemical processes occurring in the human brain.
** Agent Smith goes way beyond reducing emotions to biology and becomes a nihilistic destroyer who despises everything created by human minds and by extension of his own former masters.
** Rama-Kandra and his wife are two programs who [[RoboRomance actively love each other]], culminating in "giving birth" to a new program, Sati.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Unfortunately, a repeating trope:
** In the first film, the Oracle is assisted by a young woman in looking over potential Ones, all children (one of them the Spoon Boy who gives Neo advice). From ''Reloaded'' onward, the woman is replaced by Seraph, and the potentials disappear completely except for one CallBack.
** The Twins don't reappear after Morpheus blows up their car on the freeway. It seems highly unlikely it actually killed them, given their intangibility, but still nothing.
** Link, Zee, the Kid, and many other Zion citizens are unmentioned in ''Resurrections'', but considering how much time has passed they likely died of old age.
* WhatMeasureIsAMook: When any mook (or even innocent bystander) can become an Agent at the drop of a hat, killing them is not only justified but becomes a basic element of self-preservation, despite the fact that these people are shown to have lives and feelings.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: This turns into a sticky issue once it is revealed that there are sentient programs, some of whom have ambiguous alignments, some of whom are on the humans' side, and some that just want to be left alone.
* WhiteVoidRoom: The Construct is portrayed this way until something's inserted into it, like the chairs that Neo and Morpheus sit in when Morpheus revels the complete truth about the Matrix and when they drop into the city for the jump program.
* WildMassGuessing: ''Oh Sweet Kung-Fu Action Jesus, '''yes'''.''
* WireFu: Oh yes. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12u1nA7bXzc Neo vs. Morpheus]] fight is just one of many examples.
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: Morpheus practically says this trope by name when training Neo in the Construct in the first film. Because Agents can move in and out of any software still hardwired into this system, "with us or against us" is literally true. Anyone the freedom fighters haven't unplugged is potentially an Agent. Gets an ExactWords twist in the sequels; some Machines ''aren't'' inimical to humanity, and Agent Smith develops the ability to [[GrandTheftMe write over]] the minds of Rebels.
* WorldOfBadass: Being a badass becomes a norm within the Matrix.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Y]]
* YouCantFightFate:
** Smith to Neo twice, once during the subway fight in the first movie ("Do you hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability. It's the sound of your death.") and at the end of the Burly Brawl ("It is inevitable!")
** Also, the Architect informing Neo that the prophecy to save Zion was a lie, and that "The One"'s true purpose is to restart the war, not end it.
** The last battle between Neo and Smith where Smith tries to persuade Neo to give up because it is pointless to keep fighting. Neo eventually gives up, but [[MessianicArchetype not just for]] [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou Smith's reasons]].
* YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive: Smith. Repeatedly (see above). The Architect also informs Neo that the human race has no chance to survive (he calculated.)
-->'''Architect:''' We won't ''[meet again]''.\\
---\\
'''Agent Smith:''' Evolution, Morpheus. Like the dinosaur... you had your time.\\
---\\
'''Agent Smith:''' [[EvilGloating Why, Mr. Anderson?]] Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting ''for'' something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even ''know''? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson... vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify [[StrawNihilist an existence that is without meaning or purpose]]. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although... [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love]]. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson, Why? ''Why do you persist?''
* YouShallNotPass: An example in each movie.
* YouSquared
* YourMindMakesItReal:
** If someone is killed in the Matrix, they're dead for real.
** Neo's powers.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Z]]
* ZombieApocalypse: From the perspective of all the bluepills, what Smith does in the Matrix.
[[/folder]]
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