The Matrix

A science fiction action film directed by the Wachowski brothers from their own screenplay and produced by Joel Silver. The lead roles were played by Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. The film was released in the United States on March 31, 1999 and served to create a media franchise of the same name. The film depicts a future in which the reality that exists for most people is actually a brain-in-a-vat simulation — the Matrix — created by intelligent machines to subjugate and pacify the human population, while the heat and electrical activity of their bodies are used by the machines as a source of energy. Drawn into the rebellion against the machines, a hacker nicknamed Neo (Thomas A. Anderson in the Matrix) finds himself in a new, frightening real world. He is faced with a choice — to return to a simulation existence, or to begin a rebellious struggle against the machines, which also involves other people who have been freed from the Matrix and have made it into reality. Neo chooses to fight.