History YMMV / TheMatrix

* CriticalDissonance: You'd be forgiven for thinking everyone who saw both ''Matrix'' sequels loathed them, even though they both turned profits during their respective theatrical runs. But while ''[[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions Revolutions]]''' significantly lower gross lines up with its critical 36% rating on Website/RottenTomatoes and 47 on Metacritic,[[note]]Users of those sites give it 60% and 4.7/10 respectively, plus a 6.7/10 on Website/IMDb.[[/note]] ''[[Film/TheMatrixReloaded Reloaded]]'' actually got ''mixed to positive'' reviews (73% on Rotten Tomatoes, 62 on Metacritic[[note]]And fans gave it 72% and 6.9/10 respectively, plus a 7.2/10 on [=IMDb=].[[/note]]), making ''Reloaded'' moreso an example of CondemnedByHistory than actual critical dissonance at the time (though defenses of the sequels have since emerged as well).

** Quotes like "There is no spoon." and [[DullSurprise "Whoa."]] made up some early Internet memes, being pretty prominent among image macros, gifs and parodies in the early to mid-2000's.

** The fact the film was released on the Transgender Day of Visibility becomes this after the Wachowskis came out as trans women.

** The idea of The Matrix as well, being a modern ScienceFiction update of Descartes's Demon, [[PlatonicCave The Allegory of The Cave]], Vedic notions of Maya, etc. Which had been a staple of sci-fi for decades, including the movie ''Film/DarkCity'', which came out just before ''Film/TheMatrix.'' (''{{Literature/Neuromancer}}'' and ''{{TabletopGame/Shadowrun}}'' got it especially bad for a while, since they had both been using the term "The Matrix" for their cyberspaces a good decade or more before movie even existed.)

* FandomRivalry: While the rivalry has largely died due to both films becoming widely recognized and appreciated, as well as many of their similarities simply being a case of TropesAreTools. There was a time when it was common to pit ''The Matrix'' against ''Film/DarkCity'' due to their shared themes and unique sci-fi aesthetic. The fact that one found mainstream success while the other was largely regulated to cult film status and obscurity also fed into the rivalry. Some more resentful ''Dark City'' fans even accused ''The Matrix'' of being a "rip-off" or "dumb-downed" version of ''Dark City''. Although, again, the rivalry is mostly a relic of the past these days as the fandoms have largely come to embrace both films.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** Heavily influenced by anime, religion and the western, the first film caused such a major shift in culture — and SpecialEffects, with the proliferation of WireFu and BulletTime in action sequences — that it was imitated constantly. The "bullet dodge" scene, in which Neo bends over backwards to avoid being hit by the Agent's shots, [[DeadHorseTrope has been parodied to death]] when not being outright copied, to the point that modern viewers often don't realise (or remember) that it actually ''was'' an incredibly cool effect when the movie released. Interestingly enough, it also suffered from OlderThanTheyThink when it premiered to a young audience who were not aware of the multitude of Eastern and literary influences in the movie (or ''Film/{{Blade}}'' doing essentially BulletTime a year before). One major area the sequels suffered in was that they continued playing all this stuff like it was just as revolutionary, after the first film had inspired so many imitations and parodies in just a few years.
** Watching Morpheus claim that the Matrix cannot be explained in words [[https://xkcd.com/566/ comes off a little weird]] nowadays, now that the concept of InsideAComputerSystem is so well-known. Of course, half the reason the concept is so well-known is ''this movie''.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The film created a whole new style of visual effects so spectacular that it was the first film to ''ever'' beat a ''Franchise/StarWars'' film at the Best Visual Effects [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward
Oscar]].

* {{Woolseyism}}: The original Polish translation of the "I'll give you the finger and you'll give me my phone call" was far more blunt and direct, in essence "I'll tell you to fuck off and call my lawyer;" later, [[BindIdiotTranslation more literal]] translations, showed why this was an excellent idea.