The Matrix - Plot

Plot

Thomas Anderson works as a computer programmer while maintaining a double life as a hacker, under the alias "Neo". He is restless and driven to learn the meaning of cryptic references to "the Matrix" appearing on his computer. Infamous hacker Trinity contacts Neo and informs him that a man named Morpheus can tell him what the Matrix is; however, three Agents, led by Agent Smith, arrest Neo to prevent him from collaborating with Morpheus. Undeterred, Neo meets with Morpheus and confirms that he wants to learn more about the Matrix by choosing an offered red pill. After swallowing the pill, Neo abruptly awakens in a liquid-filled vessel, connected along with millions of other people to an elaborate electrical structure. He is rescued by Morpheus and brought aboard a levitating ship, the Nebuchadnezzar.

Morpheus tells Neo that humans are fighting against intelligent machines that were created early in the 21st century and have since taken control of the Earth's surface. After the humans polluted the sky to cut off their solar power, the machines captured humans to use their bioelectric energy as a power source. Enslaved humans are kept docile within the "Matrix" – a simulation of the world as it was in 1999. Neo has lived in this simulated world since birth; in reality, the year is closer to 2199. Morpheus explains that he and his crew belong to a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their rebellion against the Machines. They can hack into the Matrix and re-enter the simulated reality, where their understanding of its true nature allows them to manipulate its physical laws, granting them superhuman abilities. Neo undergoes virtual combat training. He is warned that fatal injuries within the Matrix will also kill one's physical body, and that the Agents he encountered are powerful sentient programs that patrol the Matrix and eliminate threats to the system. Morpheus believes Neo is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war between humans and machines.

After Neo's training, the group enters the Matrix to visit the Oracle, a prophet who predicted the emergence of the One. The Oracle implies that Neo is not the One, and warns he must soon choose between his own life and that of Morpheus.

As the group prepares to exit the Matrix, they are ambushed by Agents and tactical police, leading to the death of a crew member called Mouse. Morpheus allows himself to be captured to let the rest of the crew escape. As they prepare to leave the Matrix, they learn that their ally Cypher has betrayed them. Disillusioned with the real world, Cypher had arranged to hand Morpheus over to the Agents in exchange for a permanent return to a comfortable life within the Matrix. Aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, Cypher murders crew members Switch, Apoc and Dozer before he is killed by Dozer's brother Tank.

In the Matrix, the Agents drug and interrogate Morpheus in an attempt to learn his access codes to the mainframe computer in Zion, the humans' last refuge in the real world. Neo returns to the Matrix with Trinity and rescues Morpheus; in the process, Neo gains confidence in his ability to manipulate the Matrix and is ultimately able to dodge bullets in the simulated reality.

Morpheus and Trinity exit the Matrix, but Neo is ambushed by Agent Smith before he can leave. In the real world, "sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar. In the Matrix, Agent Smith kills Neo. Trinity, standing over Neo's body in the real world, whispers that the Oracle told her she would fall in love with the One. She kisses Neo, restoring his life. In the Matrix, Neo revives with new power to perceive and control the Matrix. He effortlessly destroys Agent Smith, and returns to the real world in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the attacking sentinels.

In the Matrix, Neo makes a telephone call, promising the Machines he will show their prisoners "a world where anything is possible". He ends the call and flies into the sky.