By day Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is a solid citizen, a software developer for a respectable firm. By night he's a legendary computer hacker, known only as Neo. To Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Neo is the answer. The rebels' secret weapon against the sinister machines who control humanity, using a computerised reality called The Matrix.
Neo doesn't have a clue what's going on. But he doesn't have long to decide, with dead-eyed nemesis Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) close behind: "You're a plague and we are the cure." Helping Neo along the way is Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss).
Released within weeks of Star Wars: Episode I, The Matrix was a sci-fi revelation - a futuristic, fully-armed actioner with an apocalyptic plotline, bad-ass rebels and an unstoppable villain. The Wachowski brothers fuse cyberpunk comics with Japanese Anime, groundbreaking special effects and stripped-to-the-bone performances from the likes of Fishburne, Weaving and Reeves. But as the film's tagline says: "No-one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."