Making a futuristic movie is a risky proposition. Much like wearing the latest fashion trends, you run the risk of becoming dated quickly. However, every once in a while a film so prescient comes out that it becomes a timeless classic. 1999’s The Matrix is one of those films.
Twenty-five years ago, The Matrix was released in theaters and took the country by storm. Its legacy is even more impressive when you consider how well regarded 1999’s movie slate is amongst film lovers. Every aspect of this movie has aged well, some have even gotten better.
Here are just a few of the best takeaways from The Matrix 25 years later!
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The Style of The Matrix
Rewatching this science fiction classic, one of the first things that jumps out is the style. The wardrobe and costumes do an incredible amount of work in the storytelling of this film. Clothing helps us differentiate between the simulated reality of the Matrix and the real world in the film. It also plays a significant role in helping us identify character development cues.
Upon leaving the Matrix for the first time, we meet the resistance. They are living in gritty conditions. Their drab, tattered clothing is a stark contrast from the shiny, black leather Trinity rocks in the matrix. Morpheus is also sporting a dull, gray sweater in real life compared to the stylish black attire he’s seen wearing in the matrix. While this is a cool nod to the mindset of these rebels, it also helps the audience know that things have officially drastically changed.
Perhaps the most notable role that fashion plays is in the vibrancy and fit of computer programmer/hacker Neo’s (Keanu Reeves) clothing. At the start of the film, we see him being reprimanded by his boss for being late. He’s wearing an ill fitting suit that looked like it may have been black at one point but has since faded to a nasty green. Once he is assimilated into the resistance, his wardrobe is often jet black and perfectly tailored. As his confidence grows, he’s outfitted with new shades to match Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), some sleek outerwear, and other accessories.
The Cast
The star-making power of The Matrix is undeniable: Producers saw how great Keanu Reeves looked in a black suit with a black shirt and said, “Give us thirty more years of that.” He can be seen in similar attire in not one but four John Wick films, as well as Constantine and several other movies.
This cast had such great chemistry that the producers of John Wick decided to pair up Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne for another great cinematic run. It's no coincidence that Keanu dons a black suit again while Fishburne is the king of a group of homeless assassins (and dressed accordingly).
This isn’t the only pair of Matrix alums to team up again afterwards, either. The very next year, Christopher Nolan paired Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano together in Memento.
The Influence
The Matrix is certainly not the first science fiction film to put a greedy corporation or the government at the center of a conspiracy. However, this film did thrust conspiracy theories and a certain aesthetic into the movie lexicon for filmmakers for years to come. There are countless films like Michael Clayton, the Resident Evil film franchise, and even Pixar’s Wall-E that try to mimic The Matrix by taking what was established in earlier films like Alien, RoboCop, and Soylent Green and applying a Y2K filter.
The Messaging
This is probably the one area on this list that the filmmakers wished hadn’t aged so well. There’s a scene where Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) lectures a bound and beaten Morpheus about how human beings aren’t mammals. He compares humans to a virus, because we move into an area and destroy it by utilizing all the resources for profit and greed. It's an unsettling feeling when you find yourself nodding your head in agreement with a villain.
The other message that comes from this film is the idea that corporations don’t have our best interest at heart. In the years since The Matrix was released, we’ve seen a tech boom of products that made our lives so much easier and then watched as those same products moved towards optimizing for profit instead of user experience. Fast forwarding 150 years and imagining a corporation like the one in The Matrix doesn’t require a major leap of imagination.
The Cultural Impact
The cultural impact of The Matrix is probably its greatest legacy. Kids in the early 2000s imitated the back-bending, bullet-dodging scene almost as much as they yelled Kobe while tossing balled up loose leaf into the trash can. It was so prevalent in pop culture that the Ghostface impersonator in Scary Movie reenacted this stunt to hilarious effect when he got stuck in that position due to back problems.
The Matrix is so ubiquitous that even today, 25 years later, people who have not even seen the movie still refer to certain situations as feeling like they're in the Matrix. Online discourse is full of people who (some jokingly and some not so much) refer to the absurdities of modern life as a simulation. There is no doubt this is a reference to this 1999 classic.
Even from a filmmaking standpoint, it is easy to see bits of The Matrix in other films.
Rewatching The Matrix in 2024 was a surreal experience because it felt more like a public service announcement than a futuristic dystopian film. It is also a film that I think will continue to maintain importance to film buffs and filmmakers alike. The writing style, action, shooting style, and every other detail of this film make it the perfect intersection of pulpy, cult classic and prestigious filmmaking. It gets bonus points for having several highly watchable sequels!
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