The Matrix Resurrections is arriving in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22, making it the perfect time to revisit the events of the original trilogy. When The Matrix arrived in 1999, the world was left collectively blown away by the film's philosophical depth and groundbreaking action sequences, which combined martial arts with gunplay, wire-fu, and CGI that was well ahead of its time. Following the runaway success of The Matrix, its two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both followed in 2003.
The Matrix franchise is set in the post-apocalyptic future where machines have conquered the world, and humans are now plugged into a simulated version of the world known as the Matrix. While the Matrix is policed by programs known as Agents, human resistance fighters hack in to free the minds of those living in the simulation. One man, known as Neo (Keanu Reeves), is believed by some to be a mythical messianic figure for whom the rules of the Matrix don't apply.
The Matrix Resurrections has kept the lid on the details of how it follows up the original trilogy, but what is clear is that Reeves will be back as Neo, along with Carrie-Anne Moss as his love and ally Trinity. Yahya Abdul Mateen II also plays a new version of Neo's mentor Morpheus, while Jonathan Groff is all but confirmed as a new take on Neo's sworn enemy, Agent Smith. With The Matrix Resurrections arriving just in time for Christmas, here's a recap of the story of The Matrix trilogy that sets up the fourth movie in the franchise.
The Matrix
The Matrix introduced Thomas Anderson as a software programmer who leads another life online as the hacker Neo, trying to track down the mysterious figure known as Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). After Neo is brought to meet Morpheus by his associate Trinity, he is given the choice of returning to the normalcy of life by taking the blue pill, or learning the truth about the Matrix by taking the red pill, with Neo choosing the red pill. Neo finally has his eyes opened, learning that humans are now used as a source of energy by the machines, and seeing the artificial reality of the Matrix for what it really is.
Though Neo is full of questions, Morpheus explains that he believes Neo is "the One", a prophesied savior able to defy the rules governing the Matrix and who will end the war between man and machines. The faith Morpheus has in Neo turns out to be well-placed when Neo, after a kiss from Trinity, rises from being killed by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) and defeats his misanthropic enemy. At the end of The Matrix , Neo departs with a warning for the machines that he will show humanity "A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.", before flying into the sky, now fully able to bend the Matrix to his will as the One.
The Matrix Reloaded
Set six months after The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded takes the story to the underground human city of Zion, home of those freed from the Matrix and last stronghold in man's war against the machines. Under the leadership of Commander Lock (Harry Lennix), Zion is preparing for battle as machines drill into the Earth to eliminate Zion. Meanwhile, Neo receives a message from the clairvoyant program known as the Oracle (Gloria Foster) that to fulfill his destiny as the One, he must reach a location within the Matrix known as "the Source". Neo's old enemy Smith, now no longer an Agent of the Matrix, also raises the stakes of the situation with his newfound ability to copy his code onto anyone like a computer virus, even managing to escape into the real world after overtaking the mind of Bane (Ian Bliss).
Once Neo reaches the Source, he meets the creator of the Matrix known as the Architect (Helmut Bakaitis), and learns the truth about himself. The One is a recurring anomaly within the Matrix, with five Ones before Neo. As explained by the Architect, the One is now meant to return to the Source as part of the cycle of rebooting the Matrix, with Neo to select 23 humans from within to rebuild Zion after it is destroyed by the machines. Neo chooses to defy his programming to rescue the imperiled Trinity, and after telekinetically frying a platoon of sentinels in the real world, is left in a coma. Bane also lies comatose alongside Neo, having sabotaged an effort by some human soldiers from Zion to stop the drilling machines before they reach the city.
The Matrix Revolutions
As the machines draw closer to Zion in The Matrix Revolutions, Morpheus, Trinity, and their program ally Seraph (Collin Chou) free Neo from the clutches of the Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), Neo having been trapped in a purgatory be the real world and the Matrix. With Neo now awakened, he learns from the Oracle (now played by Mary Alice, after Foster passed away during production) that he must defeat the rapidly multiplying Smith before he conquers the Matrix and spreads into the real world. Neo and Trinity then travel by hovercraft to the Machine City, the Smith-possessed Bane stowing aboard and blinding Neo with an electrical cable, only for Neo to defeat Bane, now able to see the Matrix's source code in the real world.
The sentinels finally arrive in Zion, with an EMP from the hovercraft of Niobe (Jada Pinkett-Smith) able to fry the attacking machines, but also doing the same to much of Zion's defenses. As the machines resume drilling with a new wave of sentinels, Neo arrives in the Machine City, with Trinity dying as their hovercraft crash lands. Neo negotiates a peace between the machines and Zion, on the condition he enter the Matrix and eliminate Smith. With Smith now having completely taken over the Matrix, he battles Neo one-on-one until Neo allows himself to be turned into a Smith clone. With Neo and Smith now connected, the machines are finally able to delete Smith from the Matrix completely. The Oracle and the Architect agree that all humans who wish to be unplugged from the Matrix will be freed, while Neo is honored by both Zion and the machines for saving the real and simulated worlds as the One.
While the first two sequels in the series get less love than the original, The Matrix changed sci-fi, action movies, and cinema as a whole in a way that very few films ever have. Early reactions to The Matrix Resurrections hint to the meta-leaning sequel possibly be a polarizing new chapter in the franchise. Whatever the case may be, The Matrix series has lost none of the enduring power that it's always had, and hopefully, The Matrix Resurrections offers some new thought-provoking twists in the franchise's layered ideas of, as Morpheus himself once put it, "What is real?"
