The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by Larry
and Andy Wachowski and starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss,
Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving. It was first released in the USA on March 31,
1999, and is the first entry in The Matrix series of films, comics, video games
and animation.The film describes a future in which the world we know is actually
the Matrix,a simulated reality created by sentient machines in order to pacify and subdue
the human population while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used
as an energy source. In the film, computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson leads
a secret life as a hacker under the alias Neo until is told about the Matrix by
Morpheus, who believes that Neo is a messiah who will free humanity. It contains
numerous references to the cyberpunk and hacker subcultures; philosophical and
religious ideas; and homages to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Hong Kong action
movies, Spaghetti Westerns and Japanese animation.
