The Matrix (1999) | The Film Index

Film Record

The Matrix

Country: United States
Release: 31 MAR 1999
Runtime: 136 min
Original Language: English

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Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.

Why It's Here

The Matrix changed the visual language of late-1990s and 2000s action cinema and was widely imitated. It is selected for its perfection of "virtual cinematography" and for popularizing and canonizing the "bullet time" effect, techniques that created the illusion that the camera could move around action while time appeared slowed or suspended.

What to watch for: The bullet time, wire-fu choreography, and precise shot geography to make impossible movement feel clear rather than chaotic. Study the rooftop dodge, the lobby shootout, and the dojo fight, paying attention to how the camera freezes, glides, or pivots around bodies in motion so the action reads as both physical combat and philosophical spectacle.

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