The Matrix
The Matrix arrived in 1999 carrying a great deal at once: Hong Kong wire-work choreography staged by Yuen Woo-ping, a photographic technique the film called bullet time that stopped motion while the camera kept moving, cyberpunk fiction's central premise made legible to a mass audience, and a quantity of philosophy that the film wears openly. Its visual language — the green cast, the long coats, the falling code — was imitated so heavily and so quickly that it dated almost immediately, which tends to obscure how unusual the original was.
About The Matrix
The Matrix arrived in 1999 carrying a great deal at once: Hong Kong wire-work choreography staged by Yuen Woo-ping, a photographic technique the film called bullet time that stopped motion while the camera kept moving, cyberpunk fiction's central premise made legible to a mass audience, and a quantity of philosophy that the film wears openly. Its visual language — the green cast, the long coats, the falling code — was imitated so heavily and so quickly that it dated almost immediately, which tends to obscure how unusual the original was. The Wachowskis have since spoken about the film as an allegory for transition.
The falling green code was reportedly created from scanned characters of a sushi cookbook.
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Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Original | 1999 | Bullet time and Hong Kong choreography reach a mass Western audience. |
| Sequels | 2003 | Two sequels released in the same year, plus an animated anthology. |
| Return | 2021 | A fourth film that comments directly on its own franchising. |