The Matrix (1999) Retrospective/Review - The Matrix Retrospective, Part 1

[@RowanJColeman]

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[@ZigUncut]

The comparison to a Star Wars level movie event was spot on.

[@dsillsevans]

Saw it in a matinee opening day. The trailers weren’t really a great sell - but I had the day off and I really wanted to see a sci-if movie. There were five people in the audience - all strangers. Afterward, we were all so blown away that we stopped each other in the lobby to talk about it, then immediately paid to see it again. Three of us are still friends. The first DVD I bought as well.

[@camcappe353]

This is the most amazing anecdote about the movie Ive ever heard

[@keithcoyne]

That's a great story.

[@kennywilkinson913]

so the other 2 took the blue pill?

[@LittleAngryCarrots]

I’m curious to what questions that were brought up that day

[@hanyolo_]

The Trailer was one of the best parts of the "promotion" of the movie. "No one can be told what The Matrix is, they have to see it for themselves". That's all we got, nothing else. As soon as I saw Fishburne deliver that line I had to see the movie... Went in, mind blown, the end.....

[@ohareport]

you just couldn’t watch this movie for the first time in 2023 and truly understand the impact it had in 1999. how do you express how completely new, and unexpected, and *freaking cool* it was?

[@les4767]

That's interesting. I feel the same thing about current generation not understanding what seeing "Star Wars" for the first time in 1977 was like and how it impacted pop culture.

[@andromidius]

@@les4767 Definitely - I was born after Star Wars was first released. I get in principle how it changed cinema and pop culture - but I'll never understand the feeling of first seeing the starship chase scene and the theatre exploding with excitement and awe.

[@les4767]

@@andromidius Few films gave me that universal audience thrill like "Star Wars" did. I came close with "Die Hard," "Ghostbusters," "Back to the Future," "Terminator 2 Judgement Day," "The Avengers," "Spider-Man No Way Home" and "Top Gun Maverick."

[@ThomasSorensen1]

My friends and I talked about it for years after it came out. And it still holds up today easily imo

[@thebasementfilmgroup]

Totally agree - it was na once in a lifetime experience you can never recapture.

[@georgezachos7322]

Quite possibly the best cinema experience I've ever had. I can't properly convey how amazing it was back then.

[@shaggycan]

Exactly my experience. I was so pumped after I saw it I was actually high. No other movie blew my mind as much as The Matrix.

[@Opocrious]

I still remember catching the paper on the bus home from the film and seeing that the film critic gave it a bomb. I couldn't stop laughing, this guy must have been watching something else, was a paid shill or just didn't get it.

[@demonicusa.k.a.theblindguy3929]

I regret not seeing it on the big screen, but your comment reminds me of how I still feel about Blade Runner.

[@atquinn1975]

Yup. Saw it twice in the theater. Seeing it for the first time with no information going in was awesome.

[@ydna]

Yeah man, it was the first movie I attended where people applauded when it was over!!

[@Afreshio]

We were spoiled during 99-2000 years. This, Fight Club and Fellowship of the Ring. Absolute uber masterpieces.

[@tikari3987]

Not mentioning Memento, Gladiator, Requiem for a Dream, American Beauty, Sixth Sense, Snatch, Crouching tiger, Hidden dragon, Magnolia and the rest of the masterpieces of the 90´s... We will never have that kind of a decade ever again in cinema, it was pure magic growing up in those days.

[@kennywilkinson913]

some terrific porn at the time as well

[@a-nus]

@@kennywilkinson913 pro porn is degenerate garbage

[@swishfish8858]

At least we had The Phantom Menace to balance it out!

[@willlauzon3744]

Never watched fight club when it came out. Years later in college because we were night class we used the tv room for training videos to watch movies at lunch. I walked in on fight club one night and got ripped apart by my pals when I told them I'd never seen it. I loved the movie so much I took it with me when I graduated. Still have it.

[@edkwon]

As a physician who works in surgery, knowing Keanu was healing from cervical spine surgery and doing martial arts stunt training is beyond insane 😱

[@MichaelEilers]

My favorite memory of seeing this in the theater was from the second time. Someone’s cell phone rang during the first few scenes and a very large, very deep-voiced gentleman said quite loudly, “I hope that thing can call 9-1-1”. Let’s say that phone (still a novelty in 1999) was put on silent instantly.

[@Roman-nu1om]

mobile phones were already common place in 1999, everyone at school had one.

[@i.quadmegistus5768]

@@Roman-nu1om Everyone in school? Doubt it…

[@Roman-nu1om]

@I. Quadmegistus I'm fairly certain since I was one of the last who eventually got a phone (I wanted the Matrix phone back then)

[@gpettigrewgmailcom]

@@Roman-nu1om I went to a public school in a very wealthy town and only a handful of seniors had them in 1998/1999. I didn't have one until 2002 when I bought it with my own money as a college Senior.

[@i.quadmegistus5768]

@@Roman-nu1om In the US, VERY few people in high school had cell phones in ‘99. I think Europe and Japan were a little ahead at the time.

[@LikeTheBuffalo]

One of my favourite Fun Facts about this movie involves the scene where Neo follows the White Rabbit to that club to meet Trinity. While location scouting for a suitable club to shoot in, they found out that the club they selected does a Leather Night on a regular basis. The dancers in the club are not extras in the traditional sense, but merely the regular patrons of the club in their normal gear who all signed a release to be in the film. So cool.

[@RealityCheck6969]

Wait... what?! :D

[@alialmuhanna4938]

Regarding the “rip off” remakes, I’m reminded of something a screenwriter said;to paraphrase , you cannot copyright ideas, only their execution. That’s why the “Hero’s Journey” is a story that any and all writers can tell; it’s the details of the execution that make each story different.

[@SteveSmith-wk9dx]

A couple of things not mentioned that added to the Matrix's success. The soundtrack was amazing - not just the score, but the needledrops from such as The Prodigy, Propellerheads, Rob D, and of course, RATM. This was music that a lot of the core audience were listening to and which hadn't been heard much in mainstream cinema. Second, the film was released on home media just as DVD was getting traction. This was HUGE for the release. The Matrix was a great film to view on DVD, and DVD provided a great platform for the extensive production extras like documentaries and cast/crew commentary.

[@Astfgl]

When The Matrix came out in cinemas in 1999, I was at the perfect age for it, 15 years old. Young enough to be completely blown away by it, but also old enough to completely understand it by the time the credits rolled. I think this may be *the* most formative movie of my childhood. It perfectly embodies the spirit of the late '90s, both the awe and the anxiety of the technological revolution happening at the time. And boy does it hold up well today. I could rewatch this film over and over and will never get bored of it.

[@jamesbizs]

LOL “completely understand it” Yeah. Ok.

[@powerbadpowerbad]

AGREED.

[@carlosvergara4132]

Coming out of the teather after watching this movie for the first time, going from the near total darkness to the bright lights, the crowds, business signs and cars going about the city, was very much like Neo's "waking up in the matrix" scene, I was in a state of euphoria and hyper awareness, it was a feeling of unrealness of the world that just stuck to you (and everyone of my friends at the time), and since then very few movies have had a similar effect. One of the greatest movies of all time no doubt.

[@metroidprime3863]

There will never be a film that will blow you away like The Matrix ever again.

[@rathelmmc3194]

I was too young to see Star Wars in the theatre, but people spoke about how amazing that movie was to see. Well that's how The Matrix is to me. You can't describe to someone who sees it today for the first time how amazing it was back then to see that movie.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

The Matrix... the single most important documentary ever made

[@mennyraziel760]

I've seen this movie back than in 1999 upon its release, I was 18 years old and saw it with my girlfriend. When we left the theater, we were both dead silent for almost 15 minutes straight from the shock of what we've just experienced. It took me several more times of watching it to process all the concepts of this amazing masterpiece.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

The Matrix really was like Star Wars. A simple efficient film but if you look closely the rabbit hole goes deep.

[@ohareport]

had the sequels been good, this really would have been that generation’s star wars. we’d be knee deep in merch, video games, and expanded universe tv shows right now

[@jakethet3206]

With respect… Matrix is like a novel for grown ups, while Star Wars is essentially a GvE for kids. Matrix is an ocean, Star Wars is a pond.

[@ohareport]

@@jakethet3206 yes, star wars made decisions on stuff that would Look Cool and went no deeper, leaving the audience to fill in the lore and complexity themselves over the decades. whereas the matrix provided such intense existential questions that the audience has barely answered any of them after 24 years. neither of these things invalidate my previous point. and you’ll note that i declined to offer an opinion as to wether it would be a good or bad thing for matrix to become such a franchise.

[@BubblegumCrash332]

@@jakethet3206 oh definitely. I was thinking more about the simple heroes journey in both films. The Matrix definitely has some heavy themes. Star Wars is closer to King Arthur or Robin Hood

[@jakethet3206]

@@ohareport Dude, you literally admit that Star Wars left it to the audience to make the films deeper, but say that doesn’t negate your point? Thomas, I simply can’t take you seriously.

[@Xondar11223344]

Me and my friends originally saw The Matrix in theatre after we couldn't get tickets to Star Wars Episode 1. During the interrogation room scene ("Tell me Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call is you are unable to speak?") my friend turned to me and said "what is this movie about?" and I whispered back "I don't know!" We were enthralled.

[@avace917]

When I saw this at the theater in 99, I knew nothing besides the trailer, poster and name. My girlfriend and I were heading to dinner and passed the theater where it was playing. She saw the poster and said she wanted to see it. After watching it, I knew I needed a DVD player

[@w.iraheta3769]

This movie was a phenomenon in the late 90s. Everything single person was talking about this movie.

[@dentoncrimescene]

I watched all of them again recently. I think it might be one of the greatest films ever made. Top three at least.

[@rudyrobles8294]

Which are the other two?

[@Afreshio]

I completly agree. The impact it had in the industry is now misunderstood because now all the tropes, ideas and effects have been done and redone a million times, but they created a revolution, even a new paradigm.

[@dentoncrimescene]

@@rudyrobles8294 . I've been trying to think actually. 😃

[@ryanbaker7404]

This released my senior year of college, and it couldn't have been a better time to be alive. There's something special about coming up in the time period of our transition as a society and species from the tried and true analog of old to the digital of today. I've owned The Matrix on every home video format, and proudly so. Great job on this retrospective, Rowan!

[@benjaminscott8198]

"The Matrix is 24 years old now" Thanks for reminding me how old I am 🤣 Saw it opening night, we didn't know what to expect from the movie, but it was a hell of a ride.

[@KaiCrafted]

I saw the Matrix in theatres when I was 12, it was unique for me going in just because I had literally NO IDEA what the movie was going to be about. The marketing had been so mysterious and repeatedly asked: what is the matrix? Not having internet at the time I had no access to the website they were hyping. Great video, looking forward to the next one!

[@Astfgl]

My experience was much the same. The advertising was intriguing but also rather vague. Mostly I saw clips of it in the Rock Is Dead music video from Marilyn Manson. I had no idea what the movie was about. In fact I didn't really want to go see it, I was more interested in The Mummy which came out around the same time here. But my sister convinced me to go see The Matrix instead and, well, she wasn't wrong.

[@KaiCrafted]

@@Astfgl it's funny, now you bring it up I actually also wanted to see another movie instead, I don't remember what it was but my mom decided to go to The Matrix instead because she (correctly) thought it would be more impressive on the big screen than whatever else we were thinking of

[@Nezuji]

It's interesting to me how many people say how vague and mysterious all the promotional material was before the film came out (which it was, for the most part), but the penny just dropped for me when I read your comment about the website. I was at university at the time, with easy, high-speed Internet access, and there were things on the official website that gave away quite a bit for anyone familiar with science fiction tropes. The biggest thing was a series of short stories, written by writers who'd been told a lot about the film and sworn to secrecy. The stories were about other people living in The Matrix who have strange experiences, and revealed some details about the world of the film fairly clearly.

[@Chasmodius]

I love seeing actors learn to do their own fights and stunts, but the stories from this production highlight _exactly_ why stunt performers are so useful and valuable to a film. Any small injuries on the part of the primary actors can affect the entire production schedule and cost tens or hundreds of thousands, not to mention maybe deminishing the final product.

[@jarednil69]

The lobby shootout is one of the greatest scenes ever in cinematic history!!✌😄😄😄

[@Adrian_S04]

There was this youth-oriented radio program in the mornings (just right before going to high school) one commentator said: "what is the Matrix? We can't tell you, you need to see the movie... I can assure you is the best and most original sci-fi story I ever see..." and he sold it to me. I was blown away when I saw it.

[@willlauzon3744]

I also loved how Morpheus used a more eastern style while Neo used a combination of everything very well. Smith's style was harder to detect for me.

[@geographicaloddity2]

The fact that many actors had trouble understanding the concepts of the movie speaks volumes regarding the current state of Hollywood.

[@af8604]

I remember feeling completely blown away by the film when I saw it in theaters. I left gobsmacked. That film continues to resonate with me deeply, every time I rewatch. Thank you for this thoughtful review!

[@bryndal36]

I saw the Matrix at the cinema when it first came out and it blew me away. It still is one of my top 3 movies of all time with The Fifth Element and the original Tron being the other 2.

[@skystarless]

This movie was literally the Star Wars of its time. The impact it had on my generation was huge. It's also similar to Star Wars in how it shoves a bunch of influences into a blender to create something entirely new. Also, it coincided with the growing interest in anime in the US. A lot of nerds were very ready to see a movie like this, even if they didn't know it yet. I unfortunately missed it in theaters and didn't get to watch it until it came out on DVD (one of the first DVDs I ever owned). I would love to catch it on the big screen sometime.

[@GreenAppelPie]

I watched it with my wife for the first time, she didn’t understand it the first time either. I explained it to her after the movie and she seemed to understand. I find it interesting that so many people were the same way.

[@stvbrsn]

God, I love listening to Hugo speak in his natural accent! It is just the perfect blend of England and Oz.

[@AD-ov5rt]

I watched the Matrix fully for the first time nearly ten years after it was released in the early 2010s. I can't really explain how I missed it, I was 9 when it came out, but it's impact was so all encompassing at the time that I felt like I had seen it without actually seeing it. That said, while you may never recapture the surprise of seeing it in the theater in 1999, it's still an incredibly well-made film, and it sparked my imagination as much in 2010. It's 100% a hallmark in the cyberpunk genre.

[@RealityCheck6969]

I remember when I came out the cinema after watching the film. I didn’t knew what reality I was in. It really changed my perspective on life. I was so confused for hours. And was 18 years old already. I never experienced anything similar before or after that.

[@louisvictor3473]

16:42 Laurence Fishburne is simply incredible.* No reason to say in the role, the man is just that good.

[@basilforth]

I remember seeing this movie with a couple of friends in 1999. We were silent leaving the theater. It was a few minutes later, as we drove away, that my friend simply said, "That works on so many levels." Nothing more needed to be said at the time.

[@BCWasbrough]

I remember reading an interview with Morrison about his feelings about The Matrix. At first, he was angry, because he felt they stole his ideas. Later, he realized he made The Invisibles to help the themes and ideas of that book become mainstream, and here was The Matrix doing just that. Plus, Warner Brothers owned DC/Vertigo at the time, so he would have been asking his employers to sue themselves for their own movie.

[@Hard2Def]

Remember seeing it in a special 4am premiere downtown promoted by a local radio station back then. So we went in early in the night, watched the movie & came out of the theatre to a nice sunny morning. Everything around us looked so unreal, colors almost oversaturated after 2 hours of the green tilted look of the Matrix. Everyone needed a few minutes to adjust & was blown away by the effect this movie had on us. Never had a movie experience like that again. My friends & I were pc-kids, hard into Anime, Cyberpunk & everything expressing this attitude/zeitgeist toward this kind of dark technological future. The ideas & concepts of this movie were all around us, but except for Johnny Mnemonic there were no live action movies that captured this feeling towards the future & not in this focussed way. Dark City had a look to it which felt familiar, but the story was somewhere else. Matrix just gave u a 2 hours long mindfuck & the inevitable question after leaving the theatre was "What if we live in a simulation? What if the Matrix is real?" So there we were... a bunch of kids, 7 in the morning, discussing reality right before we had to go to school 😂

[@antonisauren8998]

I was in elementary school back then. One of my friends sunk into Matrix completly. Rewatched it on VHS every day and recreated scenes on every brake. Including (not) dodging bullies in bullet time and running on walls.

[@bnjmnwst]

I left the theater after my first time seeing it, went to the box office & purchased a ticket for the next showing & saw it again. Such an amazing film.

[@1975amclav]

The importance of the promotional build-up to The Matrix's release can't be overstated. Teasers and trailers that told us NOTHING about the plot but just drew us in with tantalizing questions, so that we went into the theater totally blind to expectations. This was another situation like The Blair Witch Project (released also in 1999) where we were telling our friends to see it while keeping all the secrets to ourselves, because we wanted our friends to have the same experience we did. I remember being absolutely gobsmacked by this movie and dragging at least two carloads of friends to see it after I did. 'YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE!' was the mantra around The Matrix. I'm glad I was a young adult in those days.

[@MartinWWalker]

I think Neo at the end beating Agent Smith onehanded, after having been resoundly beaten all movie long by him, is about as cool an ending as I've ever seen. I remember watching on VHS at home,. and by the end I was off the sofa and sat in front of the TV like a little kid with my mouth open. Just about my favourite film watching memory

[@chrism7395]

My first job was in a cinema and The Matrix was it's opening movie, 1999 was an incredible year for movies.

[@TJdirect]

I was living in Sydney at the time this was being filmed. I Remember watching the helicopter scenes with stunt men hanging from beneath in Safety harnesses, as they fly over the city. The impact of seeing it on the big screen was amazing. Anyone remember the Y2K bug paranoia at the time? Lol.

[@CantankerousDave]

The first movie uses Chicago street names - skyline notwithstanding - but they drop them in the others. It’s also nice to look back at this brief time when the Wachowskis didn’t let every action scene drag on for five minutes too long.

[@verinonrenthar9176]

Saw this in the theater opening weekend in 1999 when I was 13, knowing absolutely nothing about the film. Hadn't even seen the trailer. Boy, was that the right move. I don't think any theater experience will ever top that one. Once it came out on VHS, my mom bought it for me immediately and I watched it every single day for like a year. To this day, I have every single line in the movie memorized. It is my favorite movie of all time. I still get goosebumps watching it.

[@jdsartre9520]

Did you learn? Do you understand the matrix you are currently living in?

[@l.writer6180]

The pure definition of mind blowing at the time it was released. My girlfriend, a friend and me spent two hours talking about it in a cafeteria after leaving the cinema. I already knew a few things about telecommunications and IT by then and I was shocked by how it maintained coherency with what I knew about the subject, without getting into gritty details.

[@thebeardofpepe]

Jesus that Carrie Ann moss injury is terrifyingly LOUD.

[@psychedalek]

Half a dozen friends and I had free tix to a preview. We had no idea what we were about to see... just that the hype was real. Our packed cinema collectivly had our minds blown that night, it was electric. Easilly the greatest cinema experience of my life.

[@glazdarklee1683]

I saw this while on a business trip to a remote part of California. I had a free day and decided to spend it watching three different films all being shown sequentially in the small, local theater. The other two were great, ('twas 1999 after all) but the one that really sticks with me is The Matrix. Especially since I went in cold, having no prior knowledge of the plot.

[@HuggieBear39]

A couple years ago I recommend The Matrix to my girlfriend, she had never seen the movie. She was blown away, called the best movie she had ever seen.

[@willlauzon3744]

I saw this movie years after it dropped. Had always seen the posters and shit but never bothered with it. I ended up watching it one night when I was alone and tired after work and then school. Blown away. Wish I had seen it in theaters

[@Turbiales]

The Matrix was the perfect storm of the right people with the concept and the will to do a fresh aproach to an untaped genre. Something rare and special.

[@Icypenguigo]

I still vividly remember the time around when this movie came out. I had seen loads of commercials for it on TV, and I rolled my eyes at every single one. I thought it was going to a super-cheesy, trying-to-hard-to-be-cool movie about super-edgy kung-fu hackers. I figured it was going to be like the actual movie "Hackers"(which I already thought was hilariously stupid back then) only with fighting. Me and my friends went to see The Matrix as a joke, thinking we'd be laughing all the way through. But let me tell you, I walked out of that theater completely stunned speechless. It was somehow everything I assumed it would be, but, like, not bad. And not only not bad, but one of the greatest things I'd ever seen. The Matrix is one of only a few movies I have no problem describing as a masterpiece. Another fantastic retrospective, Rowan! You consistently find extremely interesting behind-the-scenes information and footage that always make your videos fun to watch! Looking forward to your next one!

[@kevinkorenke3569]

This is definitely an example of a great movie that should have been left alone by the studio. This should have been a standalone effort.

[@sheldonpetrie3706]

I was 17 when this movie came out, and dragged my mom with me. We both fell in love with the movie. I visibly remember walking into the theater on a brisk day in early April, and walking out to a snow storm. My mind was just not ready for that sort of transition in the weather after that sort of experience 😅

[@ZipplyZane]

I honestly thought I was well acquainted with the Matrix, and was pleasantly surprised with the new information you provided.

[@haiironezumi]

One thing that wasn't touched on in this was the change in the concept of the Matrix itself that occurred. The original idea was that everyone in the Matrix wasn't providing "battery power", but rather that all of humanity was functioning as a neural network. This concept was perceived as being beyond the grasp of the audience at the time, and so was "dumbed down".

[@michaeljw3602]

Seminal film in my opinion.. it changed cinema forever.. probably the most groundbreaking film of the last 25 years.. saw it in cinema 3 times the week it came out

[@davidfausel9029]

Another great video Rowan. Amazingly, this movie was marketed perfectly before release, The fact that no major story or plot points were given away in the trailer or commercials is almost unthinkable, nowadays. Morpheus' reveal moment about the 'real world' was truly a "WTF - no way" moment in the theater when I saw it. Honestly, prior to release, when hearing about a movie filming in Australia with the name 'The Matrix', I would simply chuckle, only thinking of Arnold's 'John Matrix' character from Commando lol. Walking out of that darkened theater after my first viewing, I could barely express how blown away I was.

[@Aranock]

I just found your channel because of one your fans mentioning they found my work from you, thank you so much for the shoutout, I'm glad you liked the video 💜

[@2nd3rd1st]

Over the years I've watched many young reactors on KZbin see the movie for the first time, and I'm saddened by how many watched in brightly lit environments on their iPads and with tiny headphones that lessen the experience dramatically, and by how few had an emotional response to and an intellectual understanding of the material. For many it was simply an old action movie that they heard was supposed to be groundbreaking.

[@HappyBear376]

The brothers caught lightning in a bottle.

[@mutantdog.]

That’s a fair point about the now-dated 90s tech actually complimenting some of the other ‘arbitrary time-period’ aesthetics. While I guess this also adds to the Dark City comparisons, it’s a style that seems to be increasingly common in sci-fi of late (Andor being a particularly good example). If anything this helps it age far better than it may have had they aimed for a more ‘futuristic’ appearance.

[@kevinalford]

As always: Love you Rowan, and your excellent work. I'm genuinely nervous to hear you talk about M2-4, but i have faith.

[@TheGreenAnorak]

Thanks for this one Rowan. I wholeheartedly agree with your comments and I do remember being 29 years old and seeing this at the Warner Village Roadshow cinema in Leeds Yorkshire. As a sci-fi geek and Japanimation fan this blew my mind & my partner at the time who was a philosophy major at Leeds uni was equally impressed considering she read books mostly. This movie helped garner my mind for a desire to live in the USA and work in Manhattan (both of which I achieved.) Truly a masterpiece of cinema then and today.

[@Papillon234]

This came with our very first DVD player my dad won at a work prize draw. I couldn’t stop rewatching. Unfortunately was too young to see in theatre but at home we played it often 🖤

[@joshuapatrick682]

But then they made Jupiter Ascending which wishes it could be “so bad it’s actually good”….

[@WouterCloetens]

… and then the unwatchable Sense8 train wreck.

[@TheBeird]

It's strange when I look back on my initial viewing of The Matrix. Two things I came away with were a snobby attitude of "I've seen this done better by Chow Yun Fat!" and "They gunned down a bunch of old men!" in the lobby. But I kept being drawn back to it and eventually I understood how great it was. I still consider it a classic, even if I'm not quite as in love with it as I were back in the day

[@Roman-nu1om]

Neo had to express vulnerability and strength at the same time, Keanu Reeves was the perfect actor for the job.

[@nicosmind3]

Seen this in the cinema as a teenager (the only thing I knew about it was its name) and loved it so much I went on to watch it a further 2 times. I've never, ever rewatched a movie in the cinema. Not even Tarantino who I love. To me it's just a perfect movie. No scene or line is wasted, the character development perfect, the music, the blocking. Just perfect if you ask me

[@_comment]

"This could be any American city" Is literally just Sydney.

[@benjaminlivingston9706]

I actually watched The Matrix trilogy last month for the first time (along with the Bourne films) and I wholeheartedly believe the original film still holds up extremely well to today's standards of action filmmaking.

[@ThatBonsaipanda]

The green color was used mostly as a 'hint of green' and featured in props, walls and some lighting. It was not until The Matrix's digital release, when the scenes in the matrix are heavily tinted in green. I have the bootleg scan of the 35mm print of the Matrix on the shelf and it indeed confirmed my memories from the original screening that there wasn't much green tinting on the image itself, only in the sets and props. The film looks disturbingly real when viewed from the 35mm print.

[@PaulTheadra]

@8:18 Only Lawrence Fishburne is cool enough to lay on his side during an interview

[@HrWisch]

It's one of those movies I've watched many times and still can watch them again and again while I don't even bother watching the sequel(s). Fun fact, it's the same with Keanu Reeves' latest franchise - John Wick. I've watched the first movie like 15 times now and it never gets old. But like with Matrix I don't feel any motivation to watch the sequels. Both movies can perfectly stand for themselves and never needed a sequel.

[@joshuapatrick682]

This film didn’t come up with many new ideas but it exposed a larger audience to them, I was 16 when it came out and it blew my mind…

[@PsRohrbaugh]

I was 12 when the Matrix came out. One interesting aspect is how cool trenchcoats became over the next few years. I had friends wearing black trenchcoats in summer in Florida because of this movie.

[@jamesbizs]

Lol yeah. And what else trench coat related happened that year?

[@imarxb]

Seen it on its opening weekend. Head was blown off. Hope it gets released at the cinema for the 25th anniversary.

[@RetroCarsForever]

Id love to see more Matrix retrospectives on the other movies/spinoffs!

[@stevepittman3770]

Oh man, Mar 31 1999, I remember that day well. I was on vacation visiting friends in a tiny little town in rural Maine and we went out for a movie that afternoon not really knowing what we wanted to see or even what was playing. On the merits of poster alone we chose The Matrix and the 5 of us had the theater to ourselves; we had no idea what we were in for. It was one hell of a ride and by the time the opening riff of Rage Against the Machine's 'Wake Up' started playing we were all walking 3 feet off the ground and ready to kick everybody's ass. I watch it every couple-three years to this day and it remains one of my favorite movies of all time, and one of my favorite cinema experiences too. I wish the sequels had lived up to the original, but I totally get that that's an extremely hard act to follow.

[@Woodclaw]

I watched the Matrix in a local cinema. I was alone and I distinctly remember walking home after midnight with an incredible feeling of unreality.

[@geekehUK]

I was I think 14 when I saw it in the cinema and the only complaint I had was at the very end when he makes the phone call and I just said out loud "No don't end it here". Like most others I was disappointed with the sequels but many years later I actually got around to watching the Animatrix and it was a revelation, all this background lore, the history of the war with the machines etc. It explained so much about why the sequels took the direction they did and placed them in a whole new context for me.

[@SteveBrant55]

As someone engaged in a life-long struggle against authority (my father was a malignant narcissist who dominated the family by fear), The Matrix gave me what I needed: The story of a mild-mannered guy who managed to defeat the system in the end. What I remember most was how the film ended with Neo saying he'd be waking up the rest of humanity to what the machines were doing to them. And the FAILURE of the sequel to follow up on that promised story is, to me, one of the greatest tragedies of film history. We could have gone from one leader waking up to his life's mission to one people waking up to the need to overthrow the system. And since we did not get that story, the potential for an entire culture to wake up for real ... and rid itself of domination by the Military Industrial Complex (which Eisenhower warned us about becoming too powerful in January of 1961) was lost.

[@aikisteven0616]

I remember prior to seeing it in the theater, I was more than ready to dismiss it as 'Johnny Mnemonic 2', but was quickly blown away by the action, the story, the philosophy-driven themes. It's one of the few movies I've ever seen in theater multiple times, and it will always remain one of my favorites!

[@saheliumd7182]

Reavers had a spinal injury????? I have so much respect for this man

[@greenisnotacreativecolour]

The similarities between The Matrix and Dark City seem to be some of the greatest coincidences in cinema... How one wasn't influenced by the other is just baffling, yet to this day there's no evidence of that.

[@Maulyr]

Love this film, it had SUCH an impact on....everyone, especially those who understood it. The two sequels initially were a bit lackluster but upon watching The Animatrix which filled in the gaps made for a very solid story and setting. The second film was a bit damn slow though after the impact of the original.

[@gordon1891]

I still remember 17year old me heading to the cinema with some lads from work. Being told it was like some of the best Animé come to life. Sat in the cinema all transfixed throughout & then spending hours down pub talking about it & planning on seeing it again the following weekend! It was & is still brilliant! Will you be covering the extended universe stuff like the Animatrix and the games???

[@jenniferwilliams9612]

The Matrix is one of my favorite films ever made! I cannot explain the impact that The Matrix had on my life, and the impact that it had of film and pop culture in anything less than a very long essay. Books can be, and have been, written about the Matrix, and there is so much and yet so little to add. In my opinion, the Matrix is one of the greatest films in history, and it would be hard to dethrone it from that pedestal. Great job touching on such a film, the impact of which is still being explored and dissected.

[@crowtservo]

I bought a DVD player in late summer of 1999 in order to get The Matrix on DVD because at the time they decided to not release it on VHS because Columbine happened a month and a half after the movie came out and they thought teenagers only had VCRs. So it was the first movie I ever bought on DVD. My mom was worried I’d replace all the movies I had bought on VHS with DVDs. I told her I couldn’t afford to do that since I was a broke 19 year old at the time. I just googled it and the VHS of The Matrix was released in December, 3 months after the DVD. Looking back it was probably a ploy to get people to buy DVD players.

[@andromidius]

I don't think the younger generation fully grasp how important The Matrix was (or maybe you do, but second hand) - it changed society. Sounds dramatic, but it influenced fashion for a decade (and still does, to a degree), made people really interested in computers, set a lot of people down the rabbit hole of whether our reality was real or not and of course massively influenced how movies are made today (some techniques weren't created here, but were perfected and given mass market appeal).

[@jamesstaggs4160]

Wow, I had no idea Dark City and The Matrix were connected like that. I saw Dark City before The Matrix and it twisted my mind up just as the latter did since there hadn't been anything quite like them before. I was 19 when I saw The Matrix the day it opened and I walked out with my jaw on the floor.

[@mallninja9805]

I was 23 years old when the Matrix came out. It was perhaps the last great cinema experience of my youth.

[@xedalpha1]

Loved this. I weirdly hope you do a John Wick one too, though that's a bit more modern than your usual picks.

[@russell28533]

The first DVD I ever saw was with a buddy and it was The Matrix. I had a copy of The Matrix on VHS already. When we both sat down and saw it on DVD, we were both blown away by the quality of the footage, with multiple times rewinding scenes just to see just how clear they were.

[@urbanstarship]

I’m glad I got to experience this when came out. I’m not sure anyone can truly innovate with film anymore…it’s getting next to impossible put on screen that no one has seen, but this was one of those films that did.

[@Phoenixguyver]

I always liked how they said the best time period for the people to accept the simulation was basically mid nineties. That way no matter when you watch it the dated tech fits.