* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The rave scene from ''Reloaded''. Rumor has it that, originally, it and ''Revolutions'' were planned out as just one long movie, hence the needless filler.
* ContestedSequel: Probably the second greatest example after the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequels.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: "He is the One."
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The ending credits song "Navras", an extended version of "Neodammerung" (the song that plays as Neo fights the final form of Agent Smith in ''Revolutions'').
* DesignatedHero: For their willingness to kill civilians, the heroes often are accused of being this.
* EsotericHappyEnding: [[http://bigdamnpictures.blogspot.com/2011/02/not-so-happy-happy-endings-part-2.html From a certain point of view...]] See the JustBugsMe page for more of this. (and [[http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/10-minutes-after-end-the-matrix-trilogy/?wa_user1=1&wa_user2=Movies+%26+TV&wa_user3=quickfix&wa_user4=feature_module this]], which also offers plenty of AlternateCharacterInterpretation given the ProtagonistCenteredMorality)
* EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: "We do not know who was the first fan to decode the symbolism in the first movie..."
* FetishRetardant: The rave/sex scene.
* FirstInstallmentWins: The first film is a classic of its kind. The sequels (especially the third film) tend to land in FanonDiscontinuity, though they're certainly not without their fans.
* FreudWasRight: Seriously, watch this movie with an eye toward sexual imagery and you'll find it [[RuleOfSymbolism everywhere]], and in the [[BodyHorror most]] [[NaughtyTentacles awful]] [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong ways]]. The most graphic stuff is found in the first film, but it's still very much there in the last two. Makes you wonder just what was on the Wachowskis' minds the whole time they were writing this.
* GodModeSue:
** Neo in the sequels. Most of the drama comes from him [[BreakTheGameBreaker not being around to save the day]]. The Watchowskis did try to avert this ("Only human" is basically [[PhraseCatcher Neo's enemies' catchphrase]]), but he's still very, very powerful.
** Eventually becomes BlessedWithSuck when he realizes what the real purpose of the "One" was. His destiny is to perpetuate the thing he wants to destroy. That may be the definition of meta-suckage.
* HarsherInHindsight: Amusingly, GinaTorres is married to LaurenceFishburne in RealLife, but [[Film/{{Serenity}} this is not the only time her character loses a husband.]]
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Jada Pinkett Smith playing a key role in the sequels after [[WillSmith her husband]] turned down the role of Neo.
** The Wachowskis adding a character named "Mifune" to the series just a few years before going on to direct ''Film/SpeedRacer''.
** The fate of the ''Vigilant'' crew in ''Reloaded'' is straight out of ''Film/FinalDestination.''
* HypeBacklash: The first one was so beloved that everyone got pumped up for the sequels, everything was hyped to hell and back... and when ''Reloaded'' came up, it made loads of cash but left many disappointed. (so much that ''Revolutions'' couldn't even match the first film's box office!)
* IAmNotShazam: Viewers tend to refer to Smith as "Agent Smith" throughout all three movies; he's not an Agent in the sequels, he's just "Smith."
* MagnificentBastard:
** Agent Smith.
** Subverted with the Merovingian, who would like to be this trope very, very much but finds himself outmatched in the end.
* MisaimedFandom:
** [[http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/21/ctv.matrix.insanity/ In July 2002]], a woman by the name of Tonda Lynn Ansley shot her landlady in the face. She proceeded to go for the Insanity Plea by claiming that she believed she was in a computer simulation, saying: "They commit a lot of crimes in ''Film/TheMatrix''." The really weird part? This ''actually worked''. A year later, a San Fransisco man named Vadim Mieseges used the same defense, for the same crime, even. This has led to "The Matrix Defense" being adopted as a real legal strategy.
** This previously came up during the Columbine shooting, when some journalists speculated that Harris and Klebold might have been inspired by a certain amount of misaimed Matrix fandom.
** Believing that reality is somehow unreal is a common delusion, the Matrix just happens to fit a feeling that some people have always had. Like a paranoid believing that the government is bugging their house.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** "I'm not ''so'' bad once you get to know me..."
** "Cookies need love like everything does" was even more pants-shittingly evil.
-->'''Oracle:''' You are a bastard.
-->'''Smith:''' You would know, mom.
* {{Narm}}:
** "What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dreamworld, built to keep us under control. In order to change a human being into ''this.''" Cue a close-up of Morpheus' face, after which he holds up a [[ProductPlacement Duracell battery]]."
** "TRINITY! HELP!"
** The ridiculous way that the Sentinels spin around rapidly to throw bombs doesn't ''quite'' invoke the same reaction as their other methods of attack.
** When Tank kills Cypher, he "spits" at him, but "spitting" consists of him simply angrily saying the phrase "ptoo!"
** The Architect's often mocked HannibalLecture due to his hilariously forced SesquipedalianLoquaciousness.
** The stilted manner in which Trinity says "God damn you, Cypher!".
* OlderThanTheyThink: Revolutionary as the series (or perhaps only the first film) was, these movies owe a lot to classic cyberpunk, anime, fantasy and biblical lore.
* OneSceneWonder: Gloria Foster as The Oracle in the original film. It's actually hard to believe she was only on screen about 5 minutes. It helps that the whole film hinges around it, but her scene itself is completely gripping.
* ParanoiaFuel:
** Maybe you're in the Matrix right now! How would you know?
*** [[TheBigBangTheory For one thing, the food would be better]].
** There are actually serious theories on how [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulated_reality there's a better chance our reality ''is'' simulated then isn't.]]
* RetroactiveRecognition:
** Leigh Wannell, who wrote and co-starred in ''{{Saw}}'' the following year, as one of the operators of the ''Vigilant'' in ''Reloaded'' [[spoiler: who dies in the bridge accident before they can alert the ship of the impending Sentinel bomb attack.]]
** Also Link, who went on to play Michael on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. Guess he has a thing for [[OntologicalMystery ontological mysteries]].
* RewatchBonus: Several, but most notably the Oracle's dialogue during her first meeting with Neo.
* TheScrappy: Take your pick: Mouse, [[PluckyComicRelief Link]], [[FrenchJerk the Merovingian]], [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness the Architect]]...
* 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]], such that we don't realise (or remember) that it actually was cool for the time. 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.
** 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.
* SpecialEffectFailure: In ''Reloaded'' during the freeway chase, a car flips over in slow-motion and the interior [[http://i.imgur.com/KlABd.jpg stunt-rigging and roll cage are clearly visible]] through the door as it flies open.
** The first Burly Brawl eventually turns completely CG, in a very obvious way.
* StrangledByTheRedString: Many critics point out that Neo and Trinity provide no chemistry or even hint at being attracted to one another before she professes her love for him.
** Well, he's shell-shocked and she's deliberately trying to hide how she feels, so.
* TakeThatScrappy: After the Merovingian gets done with some lengthy FauxlosophicNarration and Persephone says, "I'm so sick of his bullshit. On and on...", it's hard to imagine that at least some of the audience wasn't thinking, "You can say that again, honey."
* UnfortunateImplications:
** As Morpheus explains, as long as humans are plugged into the Matrix, they are potential enemies who can be taken over at any moment by an Agent. Nevertheless, the sheer casual indifference with which every hero slaughters their way through what are, at best, {{Punch Clock Villain}}s... and often enough simple bystanders who got too close to a given battle... can still raise some eyebrows.
** As a result of the previously mentioned Matrix/Columbine association, kids who wear black trenchcoats sometimes are suspected of planning to blow up their school, even if they have zero intention to do so.
* VillainSue: Agent Smith in the sequels. He becomes ridiculously overpowered and unstoppable.
* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: The ''Animatrix'' short "Matriculated." It should tell you something that it was directed by ''AeonFlux'''s Peter Chung.

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