Tropes P to Z / The Matrix Film

The Matrix Trope Examples
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Pass the Popcorn: The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar rush to the monitors to watch Morpheus training Neo in Matrix martial arts.
Mouse: Morpheus is fighting Neo!
Password Slot Machine: The movie both opens and closes with a scene of this, as the Agents lock in on the telephone number. Back in the pre-computer days, telephone routing systems really did use successive digits to determine routing (just as the first three digits still indicate the exchange, modulo number portability). However, this would have resulted in determining the digits from left to right, not randomly as shown in the movies.
Perfection Is Impossible: The machines first tried to create a perfect simulation to keep the humans in it pacified.
Smith: It was a disaster. No-one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world... but I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through misery and suffering.
Perfection Is Static: Agent Smith claims that the eponymous Mind Prison was originally designed to be a perfect place where nobody could suffer, but it ultimately failed because none of the human minds plugged into it would accept the program. Some Machines believe this is because Perfection Is Impossible for their programming language to capture, while Smith firmly believes it's because humans define their existence through suffering. However, in The Matrix Reloaded, the Architect reveals that his idea of a perfect world ultimately failed because he didn't give any of its prisoners any choice but to live in his perfect, static world, making it inherently undesirable. After the Matrix was made into its most recognizable format, a static late-90s "golden age", the Oracle was eventually able to devise a solution in which humans were allowed to rebel within limits, giving them the illusion of being able to change their static reality for the better... hence how the Ones were first created.
Perp Sweating: The movie has Agent Smith as a Smug Snake with a high stack of annotated papers and manila folders, the props used in the old "We Know Everything" bit, implying that the authorities have his permanent record, and that it really does contain everything you've ever done wrong. It was less than effective than they were used to when they applied it to Neo, however.
Perverted Sniffing: Cypher does this to Trinity.
Phone-Trace Race: Memorably happens at the beginning and end of the movie. In the opening, Trinity stays on the line too long and is chased by Agents for her troubles. At the end, the trace program freezes midway through its run as Neo exerts his powers over the Matrix.
Pink Mist: Happens when Trinity challenges an Agent to dodge a bullet at point blank range. The resulting headshot produces this.
Planetary Parasite: Agent Smith describes humanity as this:
"Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed, and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague, and we are the cure."
Planet Looters: Agent Smith claims humanity is somewhere between this and a Horde of Alien Locusts, using up whatever organic and inorganic resources are available in a region, or planet, then moving on to the next target.
Platonic Cave: The Matrix; so in this case, the "cave" is a giant computer program. Later, Cypher subverts this by claiming that "reality" is merely a subjective-relative state post-empirical evidence, which drops down on one's perspective and ideals. Thus, the Matrix can very much be the real world.
Plummet Perspective: Neo's cellphone when he drops it while trying to walk the ledge of his office building.
Point of No Return:
- The trope namer for the Red Pill, Blue Pill choice is this either way: either lose your ignorance to the Awful Truth, or lose the ability to ever confirm it.
  Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
- When Neo spots the trope-naming glitch in the Matrix, the movie's status quo changes permanently, as it marks the moment when the Matrix begins hunting them down by sending Agents at him and the remaining characters inside the system and, in the real world, sentinels are given the order to find and destroy the Nebuchadnezzar.
Poverty Food: The crew is served "economical" grey mush, which is not very satisfying. It's one reason why Cypher commits a Face–Heel Turn, so he could once again get to taste delicious food such as steak, if only as an illusion inside the Matrix, but once again without knowing it's an illusion.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Nearly all of humanity is trapped in a virtual reality world while their real bodies are locked in pods and their muscle contractions are used to generate power.
The Power of Love: Neo's transformation into The One is sparked by Trinity telling his mostly-dead body that she loves him. The sensation of her kiss on his lips convinces him he may not be as dead as he thinks he is. Then again, it could be the Prime Program activating and fully awakening Neo's powers.
Powers as Programs: Skills are literally computer code, and any of the rebels at any time can call Mission Control, ask to be hacked, and receive instant upgrades.
Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Agent Smith to Neo before charging him in the subway: "I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mr. Anderson."
The Precarious Ledge: Subverted when Morpheus instructs Neo to crawl along a tiny ledge between windows to escape The Men in Black. He chokes and gets captured instead.
Precision F-Strike: The one security guard who says "Holy shit!" in reaction to Neo revealing the arsenal he's carrying under his coat.
Pre-emptive Declaration:
- After Neo refuses to share his information about Morpheus and demands a phone call for a lawyer, Smith proceeds to mute him (by having Matrix literally erase his mouth), but not before delivering this line:
  Agent Smith: What use is a phone call if you are unable to speak?
- And, of course, the original Oracle scene.
  Oracle: Oh, and don't worry about the vase.
  Neo: What vase? [looks around, knocking over a vase in the process]
  Oracle: That vase.
  Neo: I'm sorry, I—-
  Oracle: I said, don't worry about it.
  Neo: You knew I would do that?
  Oracle: What's really gonna bake your noodle later on is: would you still have broken it if I hadn't said anything?
Pre-Explosion Buildup: The glass of a building warps visibly and audibly when a helicopter crashes into it. There is also a short silence before the EMP goes off. Justified to some extent as a side-effect of the Matrix's processors being unable to keep up with the unanticipated actions of the heroes.
Pre-Explosion Glow: After Neo dives into him, this happens to Agent Smith just before he's blown apart.
Prefers the Illusion: Cypher sides with the Machines because he prefers the Matrix to the After the End reality of Earth.
Cypher: [Cuts a slice of a steak and holds it up on his fork] You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? [Puts the slice of steak in his mouth; then sighs in satisfaction as he chews it] Ignorance is bliss.
Premature Empowerment: Morpheus feeds Neo a line about how nobody can 'explain' the Matrix — but doesn't try very hard before giving Neo the choice of which pill to take. Later, Cypher complains about Morpheus having done this when recruiting him, citing it as one of the reasons for his Face–Heel Turn.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Besides the famous "Dodge this" example, there's also another one: before frying Cypher, Tank says: "Believe it or not, you piece of shit, you're still gonna burn!"
The Present Day: 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 a post-apocalyptic Villain World; it's estimated to be in the vicinity of 2199, but humanity no longer knows for certain.
Pretentious Latin Motto: Above the Oracle's doorway says "Temet Nosce" (roughly "Know thyself"). It's better known in Greek ("Gnothi Seauton").
Pretty Little Headshots: The Agent who got the "Dodge this!" treatment by Trinity on the rooftop, is subsequently seen to sport nothing more than a little red entry wound on his forehead.
Product Placement: A small example; after explaining to Neo how humanity has been enslaved and assimilated by the Machines, Morpheus summarizes by saying that the Matrix is built to "keep us under control in order to change a human being... into this," holding up a Duracell battery.
Prophecy Twist: 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 the rules of the Matrix 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).
Prophetic Fallacy: The movie takes this to rather insane extremes as Neo and his friends deal with apparently contradicting prophecies from the Oracle that work themselves out in the end. The trick, though, is that the Oracle isn't really telling Neo or the other Zionites what her prophecies actually are. She tells them, "exactly what they need to hear" in order for her prophecies to come true. She said Neo wasn't The One — didn't say he couldn't become The One. In fact, she said the opposite; she compared being The One to being in love and said it seemed like Neo was "waiting for something", which suggest that Oneness isn't something you just get automatically.
Proscenium Reveal: The entire Agent Training Program scene is written this way. We see Neo and Morpheus apparently walking down a street inside the Matrix. After Morpheus asks Neo whether he was listening or looking at the woman in the red dress, he tells Neo to look again. The woman has instantly turned into Agent Smith, who draws his pistol on Neo. When Neo ducks, Morpheus says "Freeze it," and everything on the screen freezes where it is (except for Neo and Morpheus), revealing that we are inside a training simulator.
Protagonist-Centered Morality: Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and other resistance fighters frequently kill and injure law enforcement agents and security guards who are simply doing their jobs and not even aware that they are part of the Matrix. Morpheus gives their stone-cold justification for this early on: everyone they are trying to save is plugged into the system,^note which until the moment they are actually unplugged "makes them our enemy."
Pull the I.V.: Neo has a similar setup, but fed directly into a port in his arm (and facing the wrong way). Removing it does seem to cause pain though.
Punch Catch:
- In the subway fight, Agent Smith stops Neo's punch by grabbing his wrist, but Neo immediately extends his fingers to jab him in the throat.
- At the end, Neo performs an arm catch when Agent Smith is trying to beat him down, then twists his arm and kicks him away. Originally this was planned as a recurring motif in the film - Morpheus would do it to Neo, Agent Smith would do it to Morpheus, and so on. This was replaced with the Bring It hand gesture.
Punched Across the Room: Any fights done in the Matrix fought by, with, or against people who know the Matrix for what it is. In particular Neo, although after being The One, he's explicitly allowed to break the rules.
The Pursuing Nightmare: Throughout the computer-generated dreamworld of the Matrix, sentient programs known as Agents hunt down any humans rebelling against the system. Because they're essentially unstoppable killing machines, Red Pills are taught to Run or Die when dealing with Agents, and even legendary resistance fighters like Trinity are afraid of them. As such, most encounters with Agents quickly degenerate into a chase scene right out of a nightmare, with the Agents jumping across buildings to catch up, punching their way through walls to get at characters in hiding, or just possessing any human mind close enough to continue their attack.

Questionable Consent: As Cypher specifically complains, the whole "red pill versus blue pill" choice was dishonest. Only the Matrix was explained in full, not the "real world," and many, like him, would reject it had they known. As Morpheus says, though, "No one can be told what the Matrix is; you have to see it for yourself," implying that fully informed consent prior to being red-pilled was impossible anyway.
Quotes Fit for a Trailer: Morpheus' line "Nobody can be told what the Matrix is; you have to see it for yourself" was often included in trailers for the film. Besides the in-film context of him saying this to Neo while explaining the Matrix, it could also double as him advising the audience to see the film to find the answer for the Driving Question pushed in its advertising ("What is the Matrix?").

Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Smith deliveres punches at high speed to Morpheus first in the bathroom scene that occurs shortly after A Glitch in the Matrix is detected. Later in the movie, the fight between Neo and Agent Smith in features the latter slamming Neo against the wall and spam attacking him with blurred-arm, rib-cracking body blows. Neo returns the favor by using this technique to block Smith's attacks.
Raster Vision: Vertical raster bars appear on the TV set inside the Construct.
Real Fake Door: Played for Drama when an alteration to the Matrix results in a brick wall hidden behind a curtain, where a window should be, trapping the protagonists inside that building.
Red Pill, Blue Pill: The Matrix is the Trope Namerinvoked and uses the trope literally:
- Neo is given the choice by Morpheus himself, who warns him that all he can offer is the truth and he might not like it. Neo still goes with the red pill.
- Implied with the rest of the Nebuchadnezzar crew that are not born in the free world. Trinity confirms to Neo that she went through the process herself, the same goes with Cypher.
- 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.
Redshirt Army: Most of the Nebuchadnezzar's crew besides Neo and a few others. As individuals, they are Mauve Shirts. Their leader, Morpheus, evinces no signs of noticing they died and no one thinks to tell him.
Reflective Teleportation: When Neo chooses the red pill, a mirror is brought before him. Touching the mirror causes it to warp and distort like mercury. Some of this material affixes to Neo's finger and begins to spread over his body. Meanwhile, the hackers are using a machine that will do... something (as of this point of the movie, for an unknown purpose). When the machine is activated, the mirror-like substance completely spreads over his body, and reality breaks down into a green wireframe and digital noise. Neo then is ejected from the Matrix and awakens in true reality, naked and inside of a pod with a pink mucus-like substance, but still attached to a large complex machine by a port on the back of his head.
Refusal of the Call: When Neo is standing out on the ledge of his workplace, he has been told he must walk across to the ledge to a scaffold. Dropping a cell phone (and his call with The Call), he decides he can't make it and goes back in, accepting arrest by the police.
Refused by the Call: Subverted. After Neo takes the red pill and joins Morpheus, the Oracle tells Neo that he isn't The One, but he might be in his next life. It turns out she was telling the truth, just not the whole truth; he wasn't The One yet because he had to accept it and believe it first, and when he gets seemingly killed by Agent Smith he resurrects (thus gains his "next life") as The One.
Remote, Yet Vulnerable: When Cypher pulls his Face–Heel Turn, he starts killing off other members of the crew by disconnecting them forcefully one by one.
Removing the Earpiece: Agent Smith does this while interrogating Morpheus so he can reveal that, unlike other Agents, he actively hates humans and is desperate to escape the world he's trapped in.
Reset Button: At the end, Neo fully becomes "the One" and achieves Reality Warper powers within the Matrix. He's able to "see the code," transcending the artificiality of the virtual world and breaking all the rules. This is exemplified by killing Smith by ripping his code apart, stopping bullets and flying.
Residual Self-Image: invokedThe Trope Namer. A person's avatar within the Matrix is generated by a combination of will and programming parameters established by the Matrix. This appearance can be markedly different from the 'outer' self.^note
Morpheus: [Speaking to Neo in the Construct] […] Your clothes are different; the plugs in your arms and head are gone. Your hair has changed. Your appearance now is what we call "residual self-image." It is the mental projection of your digital self.
The Reveal: One of the creepiest and best remembered reveals in film is when Morpheus explains the true nature of the Matrix.
Revival Loophole: The Oracle declares that Neo has the potential to be The One, but he's waiting for something. "Perhaps [his] next life." At the end of the movie, he dies, but Trinity revives him, which awakens his powers as The One.
Rewriting Reality: Individual lives and reality in general are literal hackable computer programs. Any of the rebels at any time can call Mission Control, ask for a rewrite of their code, and receive instant upgrades.
Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Neo and Trinity's use of guns—lots of guns (and one bomb, and one helicopter...)—mowing down mook after mook (including a few Agents, temporarily), to save their leader, Morpheus.
Robot War: What destroyed human society when robots rose up against their human creators and overthrew them, turning them into a source of energy after humans blacked out the sun in a vain attempt to end the war. While technically still going on, humanity has been reduced to La Résistance in the face of the overwhelming might of the Machines, existing only in the sole remaining civilization that is the city of Zion.
Roofhopping:
- There's a Chase Scene that involves Trinity leaping between buildings to escape the Agents, and their pursuit. Partway through, the whole thing is lampshaded when a cop, seeing an Agent jump an unbelievable distance following Trinity, says, "That's impossible!" This is also our first hint that the action is not, in fact, taking place in the real world.
- There's also the infamous "Whoa" scene, where Morpheus shows Neo how to do it. As Cypher points out, nobody makes it their first try... but Neo is believed to be The One, perhaps he's an exception? Nope, he fails his first jump just like everyone else did.
Rooftop Confrontation: During their Roaring Rampage of Rescue, Neo and Trinity confront several guards in the roof of the building where Morpheus is held captive. At one point, Neo manages to dodge all the bullets shot at him by an Agent... except two, which puts him at the mercy (as in, lack thereof) of the Agent until Trinity headshoots him.
Rookie Male, Experienced Female: When Neo joins Morpheus' team aboard the Nebuchadnezzar he's completely new and has no idea what's going on. A large fraction of the movie shows him learning how to act in the Matrix. Trinity is Morpheus' trusted second in command and thoroughly experienced and knowledgeable about the Matrix, as shown by her escape from the Agents at the beginning of the film. After Neo becomes "The One" he gains super powers and comes into his own as a hero.
Roundhouse Kick: Both Neo and Morpheus during the training fight, Trinity does it to a soldier during the battle in the lobby, and Neo does it to Agent Smith during the battle in the subway station.
Rubbery World: This happens twice.
- When Neo falls in the Jump Program. When he hits the pavement, it collapses under him, bounces him up in the air, and becomes solid in time for his second landing. Justified, as it's a training program, set to protect the jumper.
- When the helicopter slams into the building, the building ripples as if made of gelatin. Not as justifiable, as this takes place in the Matrix, which is supposed to accurately model real-world physics (possibly a hint that Neo's powers are starting to emerge, affecting the world around him).
Run or Die: The strategy for dealing with Agents. Morpheus tells Neo that he can eventually become able to fight the Agents rather than fleeing; Cypher just tells him to run away.

Sacrificial Lamb: Apoc, Switch, Dozer, and Mouse, who all die within about five minutes.
Sadistic Choice: The Oracle apologetically tells Neo that he will have to make a choice, between his own life, and the life of Morpheus. Later, it is revealed that he was told this because it is what he needed to hear: there is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.
Samus Is a Girl: Trinity, from Neo's perspective. Because as we all know… There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Neo: I just thought, um... you were a guy.
Trinity: Most guys do.
Scare Chord: Used effectively, twice:
- When Neo is alone in his room on the Nebuchadnezzar for the first time. Reaching back to the back of his head, we first see the plug on the base of Neo's skull as the scare chord plays.
- Another one is used shortly thereafter, the first time Neo is plugged into the Construct.
Schmuck Bait: We never get to see Cypher actually cash in his deal with the Agents/Machines, but the whole thing does carry the tinge of it. Cypher, so far as we see, has absolutely no guarantee that the Machines will actually honor their side of the bargain once they have what they need from Morpheus and have killed Neo. Cypher's relying on real-world Machines to pick him up, even, to re-insert him into the Matrix. It's very easy to read Agent Smith's demeanor during the dinner scene, as well as his other attitudes, as him having no intention whatsoever to honor the deal, but Cypher is either so desperate to return to the Matrix or to just stick it to Morpheus and Trinity that he goes through with it anyway.
Screaming Warrior: Morpheus, when he busts out of the wall to fight an Agent so Neo can escape, and again when he breaks his handcuffs so that Neo can rescue him.
Screw Destiny: Subverted. The Oracle has a pretty good grasp on people's reactions to prophecy, so she tells Neo (and others) exactly what they need to know for the future to come to pass. In particular, she tells Neo that Morpheus will die because of his mistaken belief that Neo is The One. When Neo says "screw destiny!" and charges in to rescue him, he realizes that he is The One after all. Also an example of Metaphorically True as, from a certain point of view, Neo only becomes The One when he chooses to believe he is.
Screw the Rules, They're Not Real!: This is at the heart of what Morpheus teaches Neo. "It has the same basic rules, rules like gravity. What you must learn is that these rules are no different than the rules of a computer system... some of them can can be bent. Others... can be broken." Inside the Matrix, even gravity is a rule to be ignored.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Agents Brown and Jones do this after witnessing Neo destroy Smith at the end of the film.
Screw Your Ultimatum!: When Agent Smith has Neo arrested and interrogated before he is unplugged from the Matrix, he makes an offer to have Neo's criminal record expunged in exchange for helping him apprehend Morpheus. Neo replies to the offer by Flipping the Bird and asking for his lawyer.
Sensing You Are Outmatched: At the beginning of the movie, an unarmed Trinity defeats two units of armed police officers single-handedly. As soon as she sees an Agent, however, she starts to run for her life. Because Agents can possess anyone still stuck in the Matrix and can take apart many Free Minds, trying to fight them is suicide at least until Neo becomes The One.
Settle It Without Weapons: The movie has the "both run out of bullets" version when Neo and Agent Smith are in the subway station. They charge at each other shooting and use up all of the rounds in their pistols, ending up with empty weapons pointed at each other's head. Smith throws away his gun and Neo follows suit. They then engage in a knockdown drag out fight. Of course, given that this is the Matrix, hand-to-hand combat is just as deadly as guns.
Shell-Shock Silence: In the climax when Smith shoots Neo in the chest, all sounds drown out, and only the empty shell hitting the ground is audible.
Shoo Out the Clowns: The first team member to die is Mouse.
Shoot the Rope: Multiple times in the movie; most notably, when Neo shoots the elevator cables to drop it, and Trinity right before she leaps from the helicopter.
Short-Lived Aerial Escape: After rescuing Morpheus, Neo and Trinity start to make their escape in a helicopter. They don't get very far after one of the Agents demonstrates how to take down a helicopter with a handgun: he doesn't aim at the humans, he aims at the copter's fuel tanks.
Showdown at High Noon: The shot immediately before Neo's fight with Smith homages those, from camera angle and fingers twitching to a newspaper "tumbleweed".
Sickly Green Glow: The Matrix is suffused with a greenish tint, and the green Matrix Raining Code has that nice, sinister Borg-ish hue over a black background. When outside the Matrix, the hue is blue to cleverly signify reality.
Significant Anagram:
- Neo is the One.
- Additionally, there are several anagrams in the score:
  - "Bow Whisk Orchestra", "Saw Bitch Workhorse", and "Switch or Break Show" - "Wachowski Brothers"
  - "Threat Mix" and "Exit Mr. Hat" - "The Matrix"
Silent Running Mode: Happens when the Nebuchadnezzar has a close call with the sentinels.
Sinister Subway: While the subways shown aren't quite "abandoned", they certainly have an air of creepiness to them.
Slow-Motion Fall: The helicopter with Trinity inside drops in slow motion.
Solo Mission Becomes Group Mission: Neo states his intention to return alone to the Matrix and rescue Morpheus from the Agents... until Trinity tells him in no uncertain terms that she is coming along to help.
Spent Shells Shower: Two places:
- When Neo and Trinity are trying to rescue Morpheus from the building, shell casings are ejected from all the automatic weapons that were being used.
- When Neo is attempting to rescue Morpheus from the building using the helicopter with a belt-fed Gatling gun, the shell casings fall like rain.
Spiteful Spit: Tank forcefully spits after he electrocutes the traitorous Cypher.
Spoon Bending: The unreality of the Matrix is properly demonstrated to Neo when a boy mentally bends a spoon. Neo's attempt at doing so is the first time Neo learns to manipulate the world around him.
Stairwell Chase: The déjà vu shootout features this traveling stairwell shot.
Standard Office Setting: Neo's workplace. Although the company is "one of the top software companies in the world", it's definitely no Dot-Com Bubble Wacky Startup Workplace. It's a big skyscraper with glass windows, inside of which is a classic "cubicle farm" (with actual offices, with doors, for higher-level bosses... or for fugitives to escape out the windows of). There is clearly an old-fashioned dress code that wouldn't be inappropriate for The Fifties, with suits, button-down shirts, and ties; and a strictly hierarchical relationship between The Boss and some lowly programmer like "Mr. Anderson".
Starfish Robots: The Sentinels are robots with twice as many tentacles as a squid and twice as many eyes as a spider that fly through the air.
Stay in the Kitchen: Near the climax of the movie, when Neo sets out to rescue Morpheus, Trinity insists on going with him, only for him to refuse. She tells him in no uncertain terms that Morpheus is important to her, that he needs her help, and that with Morpheus gone, she outranks Neo, so her insistence on coming along is an order. Neo promptly shuts up and lets her come with him.
Stealth Pun: After capturing Neo, the Agents implant a Tracking Device robot that looks like an insect into his body. Later on, Morpheus's team prepares to extract it.
Trinity: We think you're bugged.
Stock Phrases: "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, Tank tells Mouse to get out of the building after the glitch in the Matrix.
Storming the Castle: At the start of the climax, Neo and Trinity plan on storming a secure military building where Morpheus is being held captive.
Stress Vomit: While in virtual reality Neo learns that his entire previous life has been an illusion and most of humanity is enslaved by the Machines. He can't accept this, and after returning to the real world he throws up on the deck of the hovership.
Suddenly Always Knew That: Enforced when characters have new skills downloaded directly into their brains, for example Neo being given fighting skills or Trinity learning how to fly a helicopter.
Suicide Mission: Neo and Trinity's plan to rescue Morpheus is considered one by Tank.
Tank: This is loco. They've got him in a military-controlled building. Even if you somehow got inside, there are three Agents holding him. I want Morpheus back too, but what you're talking about is suicide.
Super Hero Origin: A strange case in that this is primarily within the Alternate Universe of the Matrix, but this film in particular follows Type 2: Thomas Anderson goes from a lowly office worker and small-time hacker to a reality-warping Flying Brick named Neo fulfilling his destiny as The One.
Super Multi-Purpose Room: "The Construct" is a virtual reality program which can "load" anything from clothes to mountains, oceans and training dojo.
Super-Reflexes: In the Agent Training Program scene, Morpheus explains to Neo why the Agents are The Dreaded, and how every single person who's ever attempted to fight one ended up dying. Then when Neo runs into Agent Brown on the helipad while attempting to rescue Morpheus, he (along with the audience) finds out exactly why Agents are so feared; Neo empties two pistols at one, only for the Agent to dodge each bullet, and appearing like a blur as he does so. Neo then finds out he's also capable of moving the same way as well, though one bullet does graze his leg.
Super Window Jump: Deconstructed. Trinity jumps through a glass window and gets her face cut for it.
Symbolic Baptism: When Neo is first unplugged from the Matrix, he wakes up in a womb-like pod filled with a pinkish liquid that drains and flushes him into the hands of his allies. This is his first experience in actual reality.
Symbolic Hero Rebirth: After Neo swallows the red pill and awakes in his battery pod outside the matrix. The whole sequence is a very literal "rebirth" into his new world, with a naked, bald Neo covered in goop, breaking out of a translucent sac and being dumped down a chute, only to wake up disoriented and helpless in a hospital bed.

Tagline: "The fight for the future begins."
Take a Third Option: Morpheus is captured by the Agents and Neo has the choice of letting him be forced to reveal all his secrets, which would doom the resistance, or unplugging his body from the interface, which would mean instant death for him. However, Neo refuses to make either choice and decides to go in and rescue Morpheus instead despite the formidable opposition.
Take It to the Bridge: Neo is picked up by Trinity and the others under the Adams Street bridge.
Take My Hand!: Neo jumping off a chopper to get Morpheus. The shot where you see the two men diving for each other from below, arms outstretched, was called the "I Love You, Man" shot among the crew.
Talking Is a Free Action: When Morpheus does a Barrier-Busting Blow and jumps onto Agent Smith in the bathroom, the latter lies still for a couple of seconds during which Morpheus orders Trinity to get Neo out of danger.
Tastes Like Chicken: Discussed during Neo's first meal on the Nebuchadnezzar — explaining the Nondescript, Nasty, Nutritious paste that is the only available food leads Mouse on a tangent, in which, among other things, he postulates that the idea that "chicken tastes like everything" could be because the machines might not have known what chicken is supposed to taste like.
Taunting the Unconscious: After Morpheus has been taken prisoner by the Agents and Cypher reveals to Trinity and the others who are still in the Matrix that he's betrayed them, he sits astraddle the jacked-in Morpheus and mocks him for not seeing what was about to happen.
"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."
Team Shot: The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar gets one when they take Neo to The Oracle, except Tank and Dozer, who can't jack into the Matrix because they were born outside.
Telepathic Sprinklers: 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.
Telephone Teleport: The rebels use phones to jack their operatives into and out of the eponymous world. The requirement is that it must be a wired connection or "hard line," not the cell phones they use to talk to their operator (and expanded universe material makes it clear that only certain specific wired phones will work, not any random landline telephone). One way the Agents have of trapping them is to cut the hard line.
Tempting Fate: Cypher tells Trinity that Neo can't be The One, since it would take 'a miracle' to stop him from killing him right there. A few lines later, Tank hauls himself to his feet with a gun and kills Cypher before he can unplug Neo.
Terminally Dependent Society: Morpheus describes humans from before the machine rebellion this way. Paraphrased:
Morpheus: Humans have always been dependent on machines. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
That Man Is Dead: "My name... is Neo!"
Theme Music Power-Up: Right towards the end of the movie, when Neo becomes The One, and is seeing the "code" for the first time. One-handed kickassery follows.
There Are No Coincidences: Morpheus believes in fate and prophecy, and thus does not believe in coincidence.
There Are No Girls on the Internet: Neo is surprised that Trinity is female. She says most guys are.
There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: Master/Slave. "Two kinds of people: Those with power, and those without."
There Is No Try:
Morpheus: Come on! Stop trying to hit me and hit me!
This Is the Part Where...:
The Oracle: Now I'm supposed to say "Hmm, that's interesting, but…", and then you say…
Neo: But what?
The Oracle: But you already know what I'm going to tell you.
Throw-Away Guns: Used a few times, since the dozens of guns abandoned were conjured up from computer code, and vanish without a trace when the programmed reality is "reformatted". Neo and Trinity plan on doing this during their raid on the government lobby to rescue Morpheus, since they correctly figured there would be no time to reload.
Tired of Running: Throughout the movie, Neo is repeatedly told that anyone who has fought an Agent has been killed, and that he should run away from them. He follows this trope (albeit without saying anything) in the subway station when he decides to stop running from Smith, turning and fighting him instead. In a double subversion, he actually defeats Smith, but defeating an Agent is meaningless as Smith simply body-hops to another person, so Neo ends up running away anyway.
Title-Only Opening: There are no opening credits beyond the production logos and the title.
Token Evil Teammate: Cypher.
Token Trio: Done by happenstance, as performers of various races were considered for all three main parts.
Too Good to Be True: Agent Smith discussed how this trope thwarted the machines' earliest efforts to build a Matrix that was intended to be a utopian Heaven-on-Earth for humanity because humanity just wasn't buying it: "It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost." He speculates that this distrust for perfection is inborn.
Torture Always Works: Smith tortures Morpheus for the codes to Zion's mainframe. The fact that they've given him a digital truth serum that is hacking his mind does help.
To the Pain: At the start of Morpheus' interrogation, we're given a brief pan across gleaming stainless steel surgical instruments and vials of drugs.
Tracking Device: Neo is implanted with a tracking bug, which Trinity later removes.
Trash Landing: Neo, while running from the three Agents in the final act, jumps from a window and conveniently lands on a pile of cardboards and bags of trash.
The Treachery of Images: "There is no spoon."
Trenchcoat Warfare: Neo has plenty of weapons underneath his coat when entering the lobby.
True Love's Kiss: After Neo is killed by Agent Smith, Trinity brings him back to life with a kiss.
Try and Follow:
- In the beginning of the movie, Trinity jumps across a roof to escape an Agent. The first time, he follows. The second time, she jumps into a window in the side of the building. He doesn't follow.
- Subverted when Morpheus gave Neo the ultimatum of either escaping by jumping onto a window-washing platform or being captured by the Agents. Neo tries the first, but ends up choosing the second.
Two Girls to a Team: Switch and Trinity, the only two female members of the Nebuchadnezzar crew in the first film.
Two Roads Before You:
- Morpheus offering Neo the red pill or blue pill in.
- After Neo is captured by the Agents he ends up in an interrogation room.
  Agent Smith: It seems that you've been living two lives. In one life you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a Social Security number, you pay your taxes, and you help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers where you go by the hacker alias "Neo", and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future, and one of them does not.

Unable to Retreat:
- Whenever the Agents track down one of the heroes, their first move is to cut the hardline so that they won't be able to easily jack out of the Matrix; in the first instance of this, Trinity is forced to leave the area on foot with an Agent in hot pursuit until she reaches a payphone. However, when the Agents corner Neo and Morpheus, they go the extra mile by using their power over the Matrix to brick up all the exits, resulting in Mouse getting cornered and shot dead and forcing the rest of the heroes to sneak out between the internal walls of the building. Though this works, Morpheus has to stay behind to prevent Agent Smith from pursuing them, getting beaten to a pulp and captured soon after.
- Soon after, just as Neo, Trinity, Apoc, and Switch have found a viable phone, Cypher takes out Doser and Tank back in the real world, meaning there's no Operator to log them out, leaving them effectively trapped in the Matrix. And then Cypher begins fatally unplugging them one by one.
Unexpected Virgin: We don't know anything about Neo's supposed love life, but it doesn't matter because he was actually in the Matrix and his body was lying in a tube the whole time. When he gets freed, he only kisses Trinity (at least in the first movie). This may have to do with the "Neo is the Messiah" interpretation.
Unexplained Recovery: Neo at the end of the movie.
Unnecessarily Large Interior: The sewers are big enough to comfortably fly around in with airships.
Unwinnable Training Simulation:
- The Agent training scenario ("Were you listening to me, Neo, or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?"). Even Neo is fooled into thinking it was the real thing. The scenario is designed always to end with the trainee's death, because a human cannot beat an Agent. The only recourse, when faced with one, is to attempt escape, which doesn't always work.
- The Jump program isn't designed to be this, but nobody ever makes their first jump (not even The Chosen One).
Use Their Own Weapon Against Them:
- Cypher uses a Lightning Gun smuggled aboard the Nebuchadnezzar to attack Tank and Dozer, killing Dozer in the process. Cypher drops the gun and smugly begins unplugging his other shipmates... only to discover too late that Tank is Not Quite Dead when he gets hold of the gun and blows Cypher away with it.
- During the gunfight in the lobby, Trinity grabs a guard's shotgun and shoots him with it.
Use Your Head:
- Morpheus and Agent Smith do this to each other during their fight before Morpheus' capture.
- Smith uses this on Neo during their fight in the subway. Neo returns the favor.

[Verb] This!: Trinity's famous Pre-Mortem One-Liner, "Dodge this," to an Agent right before blowing his brains out at point-blank range. He does dodge the bullet, just not in a natural way; the body he was using as a host was not so lucky.
Viewer-Friendly Interface: Inverted with the famous green-scrolling text effect. Cypher tells Neo that the Matrix is just too complex to show on a screen and the green text is a simplified version that trained humans can read. Really, this lets the characters simply describe what they see instead of the directors needing to create unique footage. When the characters are using the Construct, a simpler version of the Matrix they control, they can display live video at very low resolution and framerate.
Villain Has a Point: Cypher betrays and murders his comrades for a chance to get back inside the Matrix, making him clearly villainous. However, he claims one of his grievances with Morpheus is the admittedly shady way that Morpheus gains new recruits: by piquing their interest with cryptic conversations and not telling them the truth about the real world being a bombed-out wasteland until after they've decided.
Villain World: The future (or really present) outside of the Matrix — a wasteland of ruined society that is inhabited by unfeeling robots that feed on artifically created humans. Notable as it was humanity themselves that turned Earth into such a place (by blotting out the sunlight deliberately in an attempt to shut down the Machines, which failed miserably and reduced the planet to the sorry state that it's in).
Void Between the Worlds: The demo program that shows/explains to people what the Matrix truly is starts off as a featureless, never-ending room.
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Neo puking just before he passes out after The Reveal. This is a case of invokedWritten-In Infirmity: During that take, Keanu Reeves was suffering food poisoning he got from eating some bad chicken. It caught up with him during the take that ended up in the film's final cut.

Wait Here: When Neo decides to go in and rescue Morpheus on his own, Trinity demands to tag along by pulling rank and invoking her longer-standing relationship with The Captain.
Waking Up Elsewhere: When Neo awakes after being ejected from the Matrix, he looks up to see the unfamiliar faces of Trinity and Morpheus and asks if he is dead. Morpheus replies, "Far from it."
Walking Armory: Neo brings nearly twenty guns underneath his trench coat to the lobby shoot-out.
Wall of Weapons: Tank sends Neo, at his request, "guns, lots of guns" so he and Trinity can prepare their Roaring Rampage of Rescue to save Morpheus. The weapon catalogue is more like a mall of weapons.
Wall Run: In the opening sequence, Trinity evades a cop as he's shooting at her by running up and then along a wall of the room they're in before taking the fight to him. She also does this during the Government Lobby shootout later on in the film. Since this happens inside the Matrix, both instances are justified as Trinity being a redpill.
Wall Slump: The scene where Neo dies; Agent Smith repeatedly shoots Neo after he backs up and hits the wall but before sinking to the ground.
Weaker in the Real World: When Neo is first disconnected from the Matrix and wakes up in the real world, he realizes that his actual body is so atrophied from never being used that he's too weak to move under his own power.
We Are Everywhere: Agents are able to be everywhere by taking control of any muggles any time they wish, which makes them nigh impossible to escape and forces the Heroes into the ethical grey area of having to murder people before they are possessed. The movie includes a training simulation where Neo is distracted by a woman in a red dress only to turn around and discover an agent has since materialized in front of him, to teach Neo to beware that an Agent can be anywhere at any time.
Wham Line:
- Agent Smith in the opening scene: "No, Lieutenant, your men are already dead."
- It's not entirely apparent what kind of film this actually is until Neo is interrogated by men in suits, refusing their offer to turn in a known terrorist and demanding his phone call. The one actually speaking to him coolly puts his sunglasses back on and simply asks him, "what good is a phone call, if you are unable to speak?" Neo immediately finds himself unable to speak - because his mouth is being erased, the surrounding face melting over it.
- Smith suddenly revealing his Hidden Depths during his interrogation of Morpheus is a genuine Wham moment. Up until that point the audience assumes he is an emotionless puppet for the machines. It is at that moment he reveals that he is not only sentient, but that he, too, hates The Matrix in addition to his hatred for humanity, and wants to escape it as much as the protagonists.
  Smith: I'm going to be honest with you. I...hate this place.
Wham Shot:
- Showing the endless fields of humans being grown by the machines.
- Another one comes when Smith takes off his Sinister Shades and his earpiece, revealing that he's beginning to grow beyond his programming, that he has a virulent hate for humanity and that he wants out.
When It Rains, It Pours: The two times it rains, it rains in buckets.
White Bunny: Neo is told to follow the white rabbit, which he does when noticing his client's shoulder tattoo of a white rabbit.
White Void Room: the Construct appeared like this when its users aren't running simulations. It could also be used to procure supplies to take into the Matrix, such as guns. Lots of guns. The Architect's lair would be this if he didn't stick a bunch of TVs to the wall.
Wipe That Smile Off Your Face: When Neo asks for his One Phone Call, Smith responds by erasing his mouth.
Smith: Tell me, Mr. Anderson... what good is a phone call...if you're unable to speak?
Wire Fu: The first film properly introduced this to Western audiences at large and led to more Hollywood movies using it.
Wise Beyond Their Years: The spoon child, emphatically.
With My Hands Tied: At the end, Neo shows some badassery when fighting Agent Smith with one hand behind his back.
World of Weirdness: This is literally the plot of the movie, though one would think at least one civilian would notice other people turning into Agents at some point.
Wraparound Background: If you watch closely, you can see the background wraparound as Neo is being driven to the Oracle for the first time. The scenery is the same on both sides. This is an intentional to show off how the Matrix is just a simulation.
Wrong Genre Savvy: Initially, Neo believes he is in a Cyber-Thriller set Next Sunday A.D. and The Men in Black who kidnap him are government agents who are hassling him about his computer hacking. Of course, it turns out that this is not the case and he's actually living in a Lotus-Eater Machine in a Crapsack World in a distant future, after a Class 2 Apocalypse How, and the world inside the machine is only Cyberpunk because computers and telephones in the virtual world act as symbols of communication with the real world outside the Matrix.

You Are Already Dead: Agent Smith uses this trope to lampshade how bad-ass Trinity is supposed to be.
Lieutenant: I think we can handle one little girl. I sent two units, they're bringing her down now.
Agent Smith: No lieutenant, your men are already dead.
You Can't Thwart Stage One: You are not meant to pass the Jump program first time, much to Mouse's confusion. The entire point of the simulation is to show what you can eventually do, to open and free your mind from all doubt, and most poignantly, that if you die in the Matrix you die in the real world.
You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: A lieutenant who is prosecuting a "little girl" early on in the film doesn't realize that the "little girl" in question is Trinity, a hardcore operative of the Resistance against whom normal humans are simply out of their league.
Lieutenant: I think we can handle one little girl. I sent two units, they're bringing her down now.
Agent Smith: No, Lieutenant, your men are already dead.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Implied. Agent Smith deploys the Sentinels to destroy the Nebuchadnezzar, even though he doesn't know their inside source (Cypher) is dead. This suggests that Smith never intended to return him to the Matrix, regardless of whether he could do it.
You Never Did That for Me: One of Neo's first nights on the Nebuchadnezzar, Trinity has just brought Neo his dinner and Cypher decides to tease her about her obvious attraction to him.
Cypher: I don't remember you ever bringing me dinner.
Your Mind Makes It Real: Trope Namer.invoked When Neo discovers that the inside of his mouth is bleeding 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." 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.
Your Other Left: Actually said by Tank to Neo while on the run from Agents when he tries to dodge into an apartment to escape them.
You Won't Feel a Thing!: Morpheus averts this when he tells Neo, "Try to relax. This will feel, a little weird."

The Matrix Film / Tropes P to Z

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