PROLOGUE
SCENE ONE
Trinity and Cypher converse over the phone, as a visual approximation of a trace program runs.
Turn: Trinity hears something on the line
Values: JEALOUSY - DANGER
Purpose: This scene primarily sets up mood, while planting the visual idea of the matrix for later.
SCENE TWO PART A
Cops approach a room, then bust down the door. Trinity surrenders
This is actually the first half of a scene. The opening value here is CAPTURE
SCENE THREE
Agents arrive, and chide the police Lieutenant for not waiting. He claims it’s under control when the agents chide him, seeking to restore the sense of order he already had. This task, in his mind, is under control and he’s about to prove it.
The agents tell the lieutenant that his men are already dead.
Turn: Smith reports that the men are already dead.
Values: ORDER - FAILURE
Purpose: To build curiosity, and heighten the impact of the about-to-be completed Scene 2
SCENE TWO PART B
Cops try to cuff Trinity, but she beats them up in a highly stylized manner.
Turn: Trinity shows she can defeat the cops.
Values: CAPTURE + FREEDOM
Purpose: We are showing that Trinity is “different.” The especial effects involved here are preparing the audience to perceive her and others like her as supernatural somehow. But since no explanation is given, this may be a powerful source of more CURIOSITY.
SCENE FOUR
Morpheus calls Trinity. She is seeking an exit, but also asks if there are agents. Morpheus says yes, and Trinity is scared. Morpheus coaches her on.
Turn: Morpheus reports that there are agents.
Values: FREEDOM - DOOM
Purpose: Serves to show us that Trinity is powerful, but not invincible. This is a subtle but important function, so that conflict remains. There’s a reason the agents are after her, and that they believe she can be taken – they are also powerful in this mysterious supernatural way.
SCENE FIVE
Trinity enters the hall to see the agent rushing at her. She bolts.
Both Trinity and the agent leap over an impossible gap, leaving the police to comment “That’s impossible.”
Trinity makes a physics-defying leap through a window, making it. Landing, she waits for her pursuers to barge in. But it doesn’t happen. Fighting her fear, she gets up and runs.
Approaching a telephone booth, she sees an agent is going to ram it with a dump truck. She takes the risk, running in and picking up the phone.
The truck shatters the booth, and the agent surveys the wreckage – no body. One agent comments that “She got out.”
The agents begin to comment on their next move (a contrivance for exposition’s sake – would they have to comment verbally to each other?), mentioning that they know the next target, Neo, and that a search is running.
The camera goes into the phone line, then into the computer in the next scene.
Turn: Trinity’s body is nowhere to be found.
Values: DOOM + FREEDOM
Purpose: This scene serves to give Trinity a victory and introduce us to her character. Thus, she is already set up as a love interest.
More importantly, We are given more vivid examples of how Trinity and the agents are different from reality. How, but not why- curiosity can remain. Trinity committing what seems to be suicide with the phone booth is the climax of this prologue, and sets up an important connection: A hint to the audience that the missing supernatural link may be tied to telephones and computers, aka information.
Also, the agents speaking confirm that they are in on the mystery, and that the next thing to happen – the protagonist’s introduction – is related to all this.
(This is the same hall, in the same hotel, where the climax of the film occurs. Why? Not sure)
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
Neo wakes up to his computer, outside of any program, talking to him via text. He is disturbed by this, unable to take control of the computer. And then the computer hints that it knows who is knocking at his door. The door does indeed knock.
Turn: Neo sees that his computer is acting strangely.
Values: COMFORT - MYSTERY
Purpose: We introduce Neo as a regular guy – and as hinted by the last scene, something is going on around him. When Neo sees the text, he tries to CUT it – but the computer defies his input.
(Note: I always thought he was pressing CTL + ALT +DELETE to gain control of his computer, but in fact it is CTL + X. Neo is trying to CUT the text. He is trying to gain control of the computer, but also seeking to preserve the occurance. He is both scared and fascinated by this, immediately. Keanu’s mediocre everyman acting is probably covering up subtext intended by the filmmakers.)
However, the real purpose of this scene is to show that someone/thing is looking for Neo, validating what the agents aid in the last scene. But, continuing the MOTIF of phones and information being significant, the sign is quietly out-of-control computer.
SCENE TWO
Neo answers the door – it is his client. Neo completes the transaction, and when asked tries to describe what happened on his computer. This leads to Neo being invited out. Neo turns them down, until he sees the white rabbit. Knowing this is the clue his computer left, Neo accepts.
Turn: Neo sees the white rabbit.
Values: BUSINESS + DISCOVERY
Purpose:
SCENE THREE
Neo is at the edge of the club, uninterested in the revelry and awaiting the next sign. It comes in the form of Trinity. Trinity identifies herself, but pushes past Neo’s conversation and questions to warn him, and guide him.
The buzzing of Neo’s alarm guides us into the next scene.
Turn: Trinity appears
Values: UNCERTAINTY + DISCOVERY
Purpose: This turn is a relatively weak one. This scene is basically to set up the next one. But, it works, as questions have been well planted in the audience’s mind thus far, and we are eager to discover along with Neo.
Trinity tells Neo very little – she confirms that his search for The Matrix is on to something. But she is just prepping Neo for Morpheus’ phone call. And prepping the audience, as well.
SCENE FOUR
Neo wakes up late, and is chided by his boss. At his cubicle he gets a package – it is Morpheus’ phone, and it rings. Morpheus introduces himself, but soon warns Neo that he is about to be captured. Morpheus guides Neo past his pursuers, then out to a ledge. Morpheus offers Neo capture, or the risk of a daring escape.
Neo attempts the escape, then gives up.
Turn: Neo is delivered a phone via courier – and it then immediately rings, Morpheus on the other side of the line.
Values: ROUTINE + REVELATION
Purpose: My first instinct was to call the boss-lecture a scene. But since it contains no significant turn, and other than thematic support, the boss’ lecture serves no story purpose.
Or does it? Two reasons:
1.) A rhythm break, in the sense that it is a step back into a normal world, away from the unfolding mystery. We are away from the mysteriousness of all the hints planted thus far, until the audience’s anticipation of story advancement is paid off by the delivered phone.
2.) Most importantly, however, is that the scene has a negative tone. This is crucial to avoid monotony, as both Scene THREE and FOUR have positive turns. Repeating positive turns of the same nature is by definition repetitive. A small sin, but it still would be a mistake to risk boring the audience, especially this early on.
This scene is basically a ‘patch.’ There might have been a better way to tell this act. But in my opinion, that patch works.
Scene Note: Agents know what all the organic minds in the system are thinking, as proven later in this film when citizens see Neo, and the agents then posess them.
Thus, when other office workers see a man running along the ground with a phone to his ear- wouldn’t the agents know exactly where he was going? If the operator were messing with the cose going through the office workers’
This is nitpickery as irrelevant – and a great example of logical flaws being okay, if they’re subtle enough, and the audience will only discover after being satisfied by the movie as a whole. Despite the pleasure of discovering a plot-hole other moviegoers might have missed, I would rather preserve my enjoyment of the movie
Thus, the film prioritized drama over logic.
SCENE FIVE
Neo gets to the office Morpheus led him to. Morpheus reveals the plan: Neo will have to walk along the ledge of the building, to a rickety window washer’s platform, which will bring him to the roof.
Neo gives it a shot – but then gives up.
Turn: First, Morpheus reveals the details of how Neo can escape. Second, Neo gives up.
Values: SAFETY – DANGER -- DEFEAT
Purpose: Neo has made the sensible choice – he has faced the true antagonistic force of the film, Doubt, and given up to it. This is a very regular guy kind of choice. It is highly sympathetic, but also disappointing.
SCENE SIX
Neo is taken downstairs and into a car by agents, while Trinity watches on.
Then, Neo is offered a deal by the agents in an interrogation room. He rejects this, and then agent Smith gets a kick as Neo’s mouth is sealed shut, and the agents grab Neo. Once pinned down, a machine is implanted into Neo.
Turn: First, Neo discovers that the agents want his help. Second, his mouth seals itself shut. Third, the horror gets even worse as an insectoid burrows into his navel.
Values: IMPRISONMENT + OPPORTUNITY – HORROR – DOUBLE HORROR
Purpose: This scene is where the ‘supernatural’ re-enters. So far in Act 1, the unexplained bending of reality introduced in the prologue has been absent (Neo’s computer could have just been hacked). This brings it back, and to new levels. Also, it shows that the agents really are to be feared, as there may be no limit to their power.
More importantly, though, we get a powerful insight into what is driving Neo. He really does want the truth – he’s willing to risk the agent’s wrath to get to the information Morpheus has. He might even be risking his success to not betray Morpheus.
Also, Neo does have a backbone: “you don’t scare me with this Gestapo crap.” This is the first time he has taken a strong stand thus far, as opposed to letting himself be led along.
Scenes FOUR and FIVE both involved significant negative turns. Neo is really getting taken down, with a positive break in the middle. Thus, Trinity’s brief appearance , while seemingly purposeless, does serve as a positive element among the negative. She gets away from the agents. Like the boss scene, this helps break up a mono-polar series of turns, and avoid boredom. Probably could have done better, but it works. And CURIOSITY is the main driver of the narrative here, conquering these potential pitfalls.
SCENE SIX
Neo wakes up in bed. All that insectoid stuff must have been a dream, right? The phone rings, and it’s Morpheus. Morpheus says some cryptic mumbo jumbo, but asks Neo if he wants to meet. Neo says yes.
Under the bridge, a car arrives and Neo gets in. But Switch pulls a gun on him- Neo wants to know why. Trinity tries to explain it. But Neo doesn’t like the orders he’s been given, so he opens the door to leave. Trinity appeals to Neo’s ambition – and he sees her point. He closes the door.
Trinity places a device on Neo, which begins to shock and probe Neo – then the insectoid is sucked out of him.
It is dropped out the window, and they continue on.
Turns: First, a gun is pulled on Neo. Then Neo agrees to stay in the car. Then, the insectoid is extracted.
Values: COOPERATION – AGGRESSION + FREEDOM
Purpose: The Morpheus call scene stem is there to plant the idea of “The One” and a give a clue into Morpheus’ motivations, but it’s too cryptic to represent a turn for Neo. It does, however, allow Neo to show more willingness – he is choosing to get this far, still.
Inside the car, Neo again gets another choice to turn back. He almost takes it, but stays. Despite his choice not to go out on the ledge, we’re learning that he does have a spine, and he wants to find out the truth, because he is willing to take risk.
The fake-suggestion of the insectoid as a dream is refuted. Whatever the agents can do, it must be real.
At this point, the audience has been stroked pretty hard over the fact that there’s a big secret hiding under reality. They need to release soon with a hard reveal.
SCENE SEVEN
Neo meets Morpheus, and sits down to talk with him. Morpheus seeks Neo’s motivation – and they come to the Matrix. Morpheus describes what the Matrix is, but Neo can’t understand. So Morpheus offers Neo two pills – go to sleep, or wake up. Neo chooses to wake up by taking the red pill.
Turns: Morpheus offers Neo the truth – with a warning that Neo won’t necessarily like it.
Values: COOPERATION +/- COMMITMENT
Purpose: The mood of this scene is decidedly ominous and tense – the first shot of Morpheus is him smiling while lightning flashes behind him. The audience has been teased and teased with a forthcoming revelation of the secrets hinted at so far.
This is Neo’s final chance to turn back, which he declines. Ultimately, this scene and the next are hinting at and preparing the audience for the shock of the Act Climax in Scene Nine.
SCENE EIGHT
They enter another room, filled with machines. Neo sits down, and notices something strange in the mirror. When he touches it, the mirror sticks to his fingers like slime. Then, the slime spreads over Neo’s body – until it completely covers him.
Turns: Neo sees something in the mirror and when he touches it “kills” him.
Values: COMMITMENT - HORROR
Purpose: The big reveal the audience is waiting for begins with Neo touching the mirror. But both we and Neo don’t know what is really happening, but it is horrifying for the protagonist.
This scene is much more calm than the last scene. The choice has already been made, and Neo is left in quiet anticipation. And nothing happens right away. He, and the audience are wondering – where’s my big reveal? When the mirror shifts, it’s beginning. But it is slow, and then builds. This leads us to…
SCENE NINE – ACT CLIMAX
Neo awakens in the real world – he comes out of his pod, and removes some of the apparatus attached to him. He sees the fields, and then a robot comes to eject him. He is flushed like so much fecal matter.
Turns: Neo sees the fields, Neo sees the machine, Neo is dumped
Values: NUMBNESS -/+ AWE – DANGER – DOOM
Purpose: This scene visually explains what Neo really is, but there is no explanation. Not all members of the audience will feel comfortable that they understand what is really happening. When they see Morpheus and the crew on the ship, a gap will close – but many answers will still remain – as they do for Neo.
SCENE TEN
Neo is dumped into a lake of gunk, where he struggles, drowning. Then a light appears above, and he is lifted upwards. Inside a hold, Morpheus and Trinity and the others he saw, in much rattier outfits, greet Neo.
Turns: Neo is saved. Then, Neo sees Morpheus, Trinity et al. again.
Values: DOOM +/- SURVIVAL -/+ FAMILIARITY
Purpose: The values here are complex. Neo being saved is good…except it could be by something hostile. It turns out he is being saved, and he sees people he recognizes. But why they are here, too, is too much of a mystery to him to definitely be a good thing.
This Act resolution scene is important because while a large reveal has occurred, Neo and the audience still need a lot of details filled in.
ACT TWO
SCENE ONE
Morpheus talks over Neo, and Neo asks questions during a montage of Neo’s physical rehabilitation. When Neo wakes up, physically capable, Morpheus plugs Neo into a chair and, after a painful transition – boom. They are in a Computer program.
Morpheus explains the computer reality – and the gaps in history from what Neo thought the world was. Then Morpheus sums up the purpose of the Matrix’s deception – to harvest the energy of human bodies. Neo can’t handle it, and he is removed from the simulation, then vomits.
Turns: the transition is agony. Then, Neo wakes back up in a computer program, safe and better dressed. Then, Morpheus reveals what the current world really looks like. Then, Morpheus reveals what the Matrix’s purpose, with enough specific information and visual aids to make it clear.
Values: SICKNESS – AGONY + PEACE - RUIN - - EXISTENTIAL PANIC
Purpose: This scene reveals so much, that was so anticipated, that it seems like an Act climax itself. Rather, it is a sequence climax – Neo already knows he had woken up into a strange, new world. This scene merely confronts Neo will all its horrors, and answers the nagging questions he and the audience still have.
It also leaves Neo to let his driving desire change quality – known that he knows the truth about the world, he’s looking for the rest: namely, his place in the true world.
SCENE TWO
Morpheus is in the shadows, as Neo tries to get his head together. Morpheus explains the prophecy of the one, and promises Neo that he is “The One.”
Turn: Morpheus tells Neo he is a digital messiah
Values: MEANINGLESSNESS + PURPOSE
Purpose: All that “The One” mumbo jumbo that was hinted at is also explained. And it is exposed as the solution to Neo’s panic. Despite the horror he has just faced, there is a damn good reason.
Neo has his catalyst to continue to pursue his desire of self-knowledge.
SCENE THREE
Tank enters, and introduces himself. He tells Neo about Zion, then brings Neo to his training session. Neo has knowledge downloaded directly into his brain – and he embraces the change. Then, Morpheus enters to observe – he calls for some demonstration, leading to the next scene.
Turns: Neo gets knowledge jammed into his skull. It hurts. Then, Neo asks for more.
Values: ANTICIPATION - AGONY + AMBITION
Purpose: This is a turn that shows Neo is accepting Morpheus’ proposed purpose for him. Not sure how necessary this is- but it shows something ‘cool,’ and explains how Neo can get ready as quickly as he does. This scene doesn’t strike me as terribly necessary. But it doesn’t weigh anything down, either.
SCENE FOUR:
Morpheus calls for Neo to fight him. The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar rushes to watch. After some scrapping, Morpheus defeats Neo. Morpheus asks questions to stimulate Neo’s re-perception of the scenario and they fight again. Neo begins to adapt, and then seems to defeat Morpheus. The crew is ecstatic.
Turns: Morpheus defeats Neo, Neo defeats Morpheus
Values: AMBITION – HELPLESSNESS - UNDERSTANDING
Purpose:
SCENE FIVE – SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Morpheus tells Neo he must jump across a chasm. Morpheus demonstrates, then calls on Neo to try. The crew watches on in excited anticipation. Neo tries, and fails.
Turns: Neo fails the jump, Morpheus reveals that dying in The Matrix kills you for good.
Values: CAPABILITY – SELF-DOUBT – MORTALITY
Purpose: There are two negative turns here. This may be why the revelation that dying in the matrix is death in real life, lacks dramatic punch. Revealed elsewhere, it might have been more dramatic, and established more of a foreboding of going into the matrix.
Interestingly, this may have been subdued for a reason – it isn’t entirely true, as the ending will later show. Thus, it might be best that such a source of antagonism be revealed, but not made too significant, as the rule is important but will be broken.
Moreover, during the climactic scenes, the pressing problem of Neo having to get out in a time limit is important – if only Neo’s life was on the line (when this double turn lessened the impact of that as an antagonism), the climax might have lacked punch.
This may be an effective example of purposely breaking the law of diminishing returns to de-emphasize an important piece of exposition, where full emphasis might not have been desirable later. If not, then it is a rule-break the filmmakers got away with, its placement extracting minimal enjoyment from the film.
The negative turn of the jump, however, is important: it represents the greater antagonism Neo will have to face, his doubt/fear. And its placement shows that it is not just Neo’s lack of capability holding him back. In a game of mind-over-matter, it is Neo’s self-doubt that has gotten him hurt.
SCENE SIX
Trinity leaves food for Neo, who then finds Cypher waiting outside. Cypher points out that Trinity is going to extra lengths for Neo. Trinity brushes him off. Cypher mentions the oracle – Trinity brushes Cypher off again.
Turn: Cypher is waiting for Trinity.
Values: LOVE - JEALOUSY
Purpose: This scene has a very weak turn. Could serve rhythm purposes, slowing the rhythm post-sequence climax so that the next can ramp up the rhythm.
Setting up the old romance between Cypher and Trinity, I feel, has little impact. Trinity is already a strong woman archetype, with little complexity otherwise. In fact, her purpose seems to be to save Neo at climax, and little else.
Scene Ten probably needs set-up, as I will mention in the purpose of Scene Nine. This and scene nine fulfill such a function.
SCENE SEVEN
Neo follows Morpheus down the street in the Matrix. While lecturing Neo, Neo notices a woman in the red dress. Morpheus tells Neo to turn back around – an agent is pointing a gun at Neo.
Purpose: This is where the prologue reveals more of its function. We’ve been given a chance to see the agents, and now they are explained. This sets up the agents fully, where meeting them again in the coming scenes might have had lessened impact, due to them remaining a mystery too long (audience’s curiosity re: the agents might have waned by then). This effectively satisfies any lingering curiosity the audience might have had from the prologue re: agents. Now, the curiosity shifts from WHAT they are, to – CAN they be beaten?
Interestingly, in the training program, the agent is Agent Smith. Despite Morpheus’ later line, “you all look the same to me,” could Morpheus’ band be obsessed with Smith? Did they lose good crew members to Smith? It seems like a poor choice to include Smith here without there being a reason. Doesn’t that impact the perception of the villain, if he is specifically included here without reason?
SCENE EIGHT
The Nebuchadnezzar is pursued by Sentinels, and Neo and Morpheus exit the Matrix and look on as the Sentinel approaches. An EMP is readied (and the situation is explained to Neo), and the crew waits. The Sentinel moves on, and they are safe.
Turns:
Values:
Purpose:
SCENE NINE
Neo comes to Cypher’s side as he covers an operator shift. They talk, and Cypher offers Neo a drink. Cypher brings up the prophecy – and warns Neo not to mess with the agents – he should run like everyone else. Neo politely moves on.
Turns: Cypher warns Neo not to think he can stop an agent.
Values: FRIENDSHIP – DISBELIEF
Purpose: Cypher is becoming the voice of doubt. This foreshadows his betrayal, but also makes him a foil. Cypher is the man might become, if he lets doubt hold him back.
Foreshadowing might be necessary for the next scene, proximate or not. Simply cutting to Cypher betraying them all immediately might seem to ‘out of nowhere.’
Note: In another version of the screenplay, Cypher reveals to Neo in this scene that there have been five others before Neo, all sent to fight agents, and all were killed. This transitions to his line in the film: “if you see an agent, you do what we all do: run. Run your ass off.”
Not sure why this was cut- it adds a lot more risk to the prospect of following Morpheus’ prophecy. And it gives more meaning to why, later, Neo is the Not-One who becomes the one.
This leads to a cut conversation in a later scene, between Mprheus and Neo, before the door to the oracle. Another subtraction that baffles me – will address it in the scene it was cut from.
SCENE TEN
Cypher at dinner with Agent Smith. Cypher explains his perspective to Agent Smith (why?), then reiterates his demands (for the audience?). Smith tries to get the codes directly – Cypher reiterates that he can get them the man that does. Smith says his name for the audience – Morpheus.
Turns: The details of Cypher’s betrayal are spoken aloud
Values: LUXURY - BETRAYAL
Purpose: This might be the heaviest-handed scene in the movie. Dialogue seems to exist for little reason other than to clue in the audience. Did they really have to meet over dinner, in the Matrix? How did Cypher get away during a mission to meet an agent? How did the operator not see what was going on? If he did it alone while everyone was asleep, wouldn’t there be records to wipe? Why not just send agent smith an email, and wipe the record of that?
Well, because the filmmakers wanted the audience to see the betrayal coming. But was this the best way to do it? Cypher explains his reason for betrayal later, in scene (insert number here).
I argue that Scene Nine could have included the dialogue about the previous ‘one’ candidates, and mentioned that he doubts Morpheus. Combined with Cypher dropping the cell phone in the upcoming scene, his betrayal would be sufficiently set up when it occurs.
SCENE ELEVEN
The crew chats over their shitty synthetic meal. Then, Morpheus enters and announces that it is time to see the oracle.
Turn: Morpheus gives his orders to see the oracle
Values: BOREDOM +/- PURPOSE
Purpose: This scene could easily be cut. We could simply cut to the next scene, and have a character mention their mission. Or, Neo could discuss his trepidation with seeing her (see upcoming dialogue cut from another version of the screenplay).
The best justification that comes to mind is Rhythm, giving a low-conflict scene after the last, and providing a positive turn after a negative one.
SCENE TWELVE
Neo grills Morpheus about the oracle – Morpheus patiently answers Neo’s questions, trying to let his doubt play itself out.
They enter, and Neo waits with the other candidates. He sees children floating blocks in the air, and another child bending spoons with his mind. Neo sits down with the spoon bender, who gives Neo advice on how to do it : “there is no spoon.” Neo stares at the spoon, and it begins to bend. Then, Neo is called to see the oracle.
Turns: Neo accepts the guidance of the spoon bender, doing it himself
Values: SKEPTICISM + ENLIGHTENMENT
Purpose: This is the first time Neo shows ‘ability’ since failing at the jump.
Scene note: This is the scene with cut dialogue. In the previously referenced alternate screenplay draft, Neo stops before the door and doubts that seeking the advice of an oracle is taking control of one’s destiny. And isn’t that the basis from which they got here? To be in control of their destiny, instead of having their lives controlled for them? Then Neo reveals to Morpheus hat he knows about the failed candidates before him – Morpheus is shamed, and tells the story of how he lost faith after the fifth. But his resolve returns, and he convinces Neo that he must see the oracle. Neo reaches for the knob, and it plays out as in the movie.
One could argue that this is somewhat represented in the subtext of the scene as presented in the movie. I feel that confronting Morpheus is a necessary scene, but one could argue that this extension of the cut Cypher dialogue is less necessary. I maintain that Cypher revealing the previous dead five candidates is crucial, however.
It made the lead-up to the scene its own scene, and I wish they hadn’t cut it.
SCENE THIRTEEN
Neo enters, to see the back of the Oracle. She tells him to wait while she prepares cookies, but confirms Neo’s question that she is the Oracle. She predicts that Neo will break a vase- he does. After deferring his questions about her foresight, she sits, hinting that Trinity loves Neo.
Then, they get down to business: is Neo the one? Neo says he doesn’t know. The Oracle describes being the one as being in love. She then tests Neo, pretending to physically examine him. Then she leads Neo to state her conclusion for her: Neo is not the one.
The Oracle hints that Neo missing something but says no more. She then baits Neo into asking about Morpheus: the oracle prophesizes that Neo will have to choose between his life, or that of Morpheus. But one of them will die.
She reassures Neo that he’ll get beyond this, and sends him off with a cookie.
Neo meets Morpheus in the hall, but Morpheus does not want to know what was said. They walk off, together.
SCENE FOURTEEN
After a brief intro with mouse checking out the Lady in Red. The group arrives at the building where they will find their exit and leave The Matrix behind. Cypher smiles at Neo awkwardly; in his chair on the ship, Cypher smiles deviously. Tank hears something strange on the line, and then Neo has ‘déjà vu’ as a cat walks by twice. The group is alerted, explaining that déjà vu is a bad sign.
Tank sees the monitor, and is taken back. There is a cut-away to wires being cut. They group runs, and Tank calls Mouse. But Mouse is quickly killed by ambushing police. The group sees more police coming, and rushes upwards. Morpheus pushes back a curtain, and they see that the windows are brick walls. Tank gives Morpheus plans, but the agents hear it and pursue.
Soon the agents find Morpheus’ jacket, and none of their targets.
Turns: Neo has déjà vu, The agents cannot find Morpheus and others
Values: ROUTINE – DANGER + SAFETY
Purpose: This scene is necessary to set up the scenario in which the
Watching this scene, I was hit with the impression that Mouse is a forgettable, unnecessary character who could be cut. There is thing that would be lost without him: the audience needs to see a character die in the matrix, because they were killed there. This reinforces Morpheus’ verbal set-up of this as fact. This is crucial because Apoch and switch will die in Scene Eighteen because of the link being severed between reality and Matrix. And Morpheus will almost be killed by the same method, and Neo will die because he was killed in the matrix…but then comes back. To reinforce the fact that death in the matrix, due to extreme trauma, is fatal in real life, we need to see a clean kill. This makes Neo’s death and resurrection later have its full impact. Thus, the creators intuiting this, needed a character to die cleanly from defeat in The Matrix. And so they marked Mouse to die by gunshot, as Neo will. And they felt Mouse needed to leave SOME impression before he left…thus he has his little part.
But couldn’t have Apoch or switch just have been shot on the way to the TV repair shop? Is it better to see Apoch AND Switch severed?
This is a small complaint, but Mouse feels like a technically functional but weak link to the story.
SCENE FIFTEEN
The group sneaks down a chamber inside the wall, as the police search. But a cop hears Cypher cough inside the wall, reporting it and then opening fire. Neo fires back, but the cop takes cover – and becomes Agent Smith.
Agent Smithy grabs Neo – so Morpehus throws himself through the wall and onto Smith, ordering Trinity to get Neo out. Neo shouts in defiance, knowing that this is the Oracle’s prophecy coming true. But Trinity grabs Neo’s boot, and all slide downward, leaving Morpheus.
Turns: Police find them, Agent grabs Neo, Morpheus sacrifices himself
Values: SAFETY – DANGER - - DEFEAT + SACRIFICE
Purpose:
SCENE SIXTEEN – SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Morpheus and Smith engage in taunting, but then Smith throws Morpheus, and despite Morpheus’s best efforts, is beaten down by Smith. Smith exits the room, ordering police in with batons to take Morpheus. Morpheus is weak, and they are too many. Tank yells at the screen as Morpheus goes down.
Turns: Morpheus falls
Values: DEFIANCE – DEFEAT
Purpose:
SCENE SEVENTEEN
Trinity and the group get out of the sewer, and Cypher calls Tank, showing he survived. He asks for an exit. Then Trinity calls: Tank reports that Morpheus is still alive.
Turns: Cypher is revealed as safe, Morpheus is revealed as still alive
Values: DANGER +/- SURVIVAL +/- HOPE
Purpose:
SCENE EIGHTEEN
Cypher gets to the TV repair shop, and wakes up from The Matrix. He checks on Trinity and the others, then gets a gun he has stashed.
Cypher opens fire as Trinity hands the line to Neo. Tank is hit, and Neo finds the phone line dead.
Dozer sees Cypher, and charges, but Cypher fires first.
Turns: Cypher shoots Tank
Values: SAFETY - MURDER
Purpose:
SCENE NINETEEN – ACT CLIMAX
Trinity calls back, and Cypher picks up, Dozer dead on the ground. Cypher reveals his feelings to Trinity, feeling in control, explaining his choice to her. She realizes what he has done, and says so, shocking the others. Trinity can’t be convinced of Cypher’s perspective, so he kils Apoch and Switch. He forces Trinity to confess her feelings for Neo, but just before he is about to kill Neo, Tank appears with the gun, and shoots Cypher.
Neo hears the phone ring, and hands it to Trinity. She wakes up, seeing Tank’s wound. She finds out that Dozer is dead, and hugs Tank.
Turns: Trinity declares that Cypher killed them, Cypher kills Apoch, Trinity admits to HEART-ing Neo, Tank kills Cypher
Values: FRIENDSHIP – BETRAYAL - - DEATH +/- LOVE ++ JUSTICE
Purpose: The first turn here is basically the same as the last scene – but it happens from the perspective of Trinity and crew, distinct in that it is treacherous betrayal over a violent one. I postulate that it is not redundant, as it is the same turn with dramatic irony giving it new context and thus a new dramatic quality.
ACT THREE
SCENE ONE
The secured compound in the building is shown, and Agent Smith brags to Morhpeus about the efficiency of the Matrix as Morpheus is drugged.
Agent enters, and warns that there may be a problem.
Turns: Agent warns there may be a problem
Values: DOMINATION + INTERRUPTION
Purpose:
SCENE TWO A CRISIS, SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Tank lays out the danger of Morpheus being interrogated – and suggests that they kill Morpheus to save Zion.
(This is really the first part of one scene, intersected by Scene Three)
SCENE THREE
The agents consider the problem of Cypher being dead- but determine it irrelevant, and order sentinels deployed.
Turns:
Values:
Purpose:
SCENE TWO B – CRISIS, SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Trinity and Neo don’t like it, but it seems the only solution. Tank grabs the plug, and says goodbye to Morpheus. But Neo can tell this is the oracle’s prophecy coming true – and he demands that Tank wait.
Tank reasons with Neo, but Neo insists there’s something bigger going on – and he says he is going in to save Morpheus.
Trinity follows Neo, trying to reason with him. But Neo won’t be deterred – he reveals that he is not the one, which Trinity finds impossible. But Neo insists he must go, and he can bring Morpheus back.
Neo readies the console, but Trinity readies hers. Trinity is going too, which Neo – protests. Trinity makes it clear she is coming, and it’s settled.
Turns: Neo decides to go back in
Values: TRAGEDY + FAITH ++ SOLIDARITY
Purpose:
SCENE FOUR
Smith further pokes at Morpheus’ mind by laying out the case that humans are a destructive force to be cleansed.
Turns: Smith concludes that humans are a virus
Values: RESISTANCE – TRUTH
Purpose: This is, admittedly, a weak turn. The argument could be made that this isn’t a turn at all, and that this scene exists to set up the menace of Smith as the embodiment of the film’s antagonism.
SCENE FIVE
Neo and Trinity load guns in the construct. Trinity comments that this has never been done before. Neo draws a fallacious conclusion that sounds cool.
Turns: Neo assures Trinity
Values: UNCERTAINTY + LEADERSHIP
Purpose: another weak turn: the case could be made that this scene is irrelevant. It just happens to be cool, and short, so if it is redundant, it gets away with it.
Just as much as seeking a turn, it may have been necessary to break up two Agent Smith scenes, which the filmmakers wanted to make sure got in.
Ultimately, as politics shows us time and time again, nothing is quite as inspiring as a logically vacant but bias-affirming conclusion.
SCENE SIX
The agents comment that Morpheus is resisting more than expected. Smith demands private time, disconnecting himself from his data feed (why?) and gripping Morpheus’ skull as he whines to Morpheus (with fury).
Turns: Smith demands private time with Morpheus
Values: ORDER - FRUSTRATION
Purpose: I guarantee you the Wachowskis battled over whether or not to keep this scene, internally as screenwriters or externally with readers/editors. I love Agent Smith in this movie, but why this speech would actually crack Morpheus, I can’t see. This is just to show off Hugo Weaving’s great mastery of the character, and give some insight into a machine psyche.
Again, weak turn here, scene purpose not obvious. Could be cut – but I very much enjoyed the scene. Technically a weak scene, but I think it works.
SCENE SEVEN
Neo and Trinity enter the building, and when Neo is asked to remove metal objects, he shows his guns. Neo and Trinity blast past security. But then a SWAT team shows up, and they fight. Neo and Trinity PWN them good.
Turns: Neo shows his guns, SWAT team shows up, Neo drops the last SWAT officer
Values: ORDER + DEFIANCE – DANGER + VICTORY
Purpose: Good action scene, but little drama other than that. This really could have been cut, or merged with the roof fight upcoming.
This is when the violence in the film is the most senseless, and has the least meaning or dramatic impact. Really, it’s violence porn.
SCENE EIGHT
Agents enter and see Smith with Morpheus. They see Smith isn’t informed, and Smith is frightened by their suggestions.
Turns: Agents enter and interrupt Smith.
Values: TORTURE + CHAOS
Purpose: Dunno. Could be cut, might help pacing.
SCENE NINE
Neo and Trinity ready a bomb, One of the agents realizing that they are trying to save Morpheus. Then N&T launch themselves up as the bomb plummets to the first floor.
Turns: Agent realizes T&N are there to save Moprheus, and M hears it? Not sure if that really is a turn.
Values: If the above is a turn, then CHAOS + SALVATION (redundant)
Purpose: Wachowskis wanted the set piece of sprinklers flooding everything. It’s the best reason I can come up with.
Tactically, why set a bomb to blow up the first floor? I guess it stops reinforcements. But as Neo and Trinity are shooting up the cable…won’t they be blown up by the ascending fire? Hmm?
Totally could have been cut.
SCENE TEN
Trinity and Neo finish up SWATs on the roof, when an agent appears. Neo panics, but dodges enough bullets to remain alive. As the agent comes in for the kill, Trinity blows him away at point blank range.
Turns: Neo sees the agent, Trinity kills the agent
Values: PROGRESS– DOOM + SALVATION
Purpose: I wonder about this scene. Killing an agent here actually lessens the impact of the upcoming Neo-Smith duel.
SCENE ELEVEN
Trinity requests a pilot program, which Tank provides. The agents are shocked to see a helicopter lowering, and Neo opens fire on them. They are all shot dead.
Neo calls to Morpheus, who breaks free. But the agents return, shooting Morpheus’ legs. Neo jumps to catch Morpheus, and saves him. But Smith shoots the tail of the helicopter, and it starts to lost altitude.
Turns: Neo kills the agents, Morpheus gets shot, Neo saves Morpheus, Smith injures the helicopter
Values: ORDER + VICTORY – CHAOS + SALVATION - DOOM
Purpose: This makes their victory over the agents believable- they were resourceful and clever, and worked together, and acted fast in the face of the unexpected. More satisfying than killing the agent on the roof, I think.
SCENE TWELVE – SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Neo and Morpheus are dropped to safety as the helicopter crashes, but Neo grabs the tether, and holds Trinity up enough for her to bail. The helicopter crashes, but Trinity lives, and Neo pulls her up.
Watching the monitor, Tank declares Neo the one.
Morpheus approaches Neo, declaring that Neo is the one, though Neo isn’t sure. Afterall, he’s expecting to be dead.
Morpheus calls Tank, and they get their exit.
Turns: Neo and Morpheus get to safety, Neo saves Trinity
Values: DOOM + SAFETY ++ HEROISM
Purpose: All the characters consider this ‘proof’ that Neo is the one, yet later Tank can’t believe Neo stops bullets, and Morpheus is pleased to see Neo become the one later. Couldn’t Morpheus hold on to a rope, if he can jump across a chasm?
The sequence probably had to end positively, but maybe there should have been less talking about the whole thing. Also, isn’t Neo expecting to be dead any minute?
SCENE THIRTEEN
The agents exit onto the roof, examining the fallen tether. Non-Smiths mention that the sentinels are closing in, and the strike is ordered. Smith wants to get Neo, as it’s becoming personal for this agent program.
Turns: The sentinel strike is ordered, Smith is distracted by rage
Values: VICTORY – PURSUIT --/+ OBSESSION
Purpose: Weak turn, but sets up the sentinel arrival later. Probably not necessary, other than to show Smith’s transition from cocky antagonist to desperation and obsession with order.
SCENE FOURTEEN
Neo, Trinity and Morpheus reach the exit. Morpheus gets out. A bum sees this, and Smith is alerted. But Trinity wants to reveal to Neo something about what the oracle told her (why the hell can’t this wait until they’re out?). She stops talking, and reaches for the receiver, when BOOM. The receiver is taken out. Trinity is awoken from the Matrix, but Neo is alone with an agent.
Turns: Bum alerts Smith, Smith destroys the phone.
Values: SAFETY – DANGER -- DOOM
Purpose: Yes, this is Neo fighting an agent alone (so he didn’t have to kill one with Trinity on the rooftop- He killed THREE with teamwork in the helicopter scene). This is Neo seeing his true goal – finding his place in the world – and Morpheus’ plan for him suddenly coinciding. Neo is expecting to die at some point, having saved Morpheus. But he also believes he can defy fate, or at least die well. Or maybe he can be The One without the label.
SCENE FIFTEEN – SEQUENCE CLIMAX
Neo has the chance to run – but he stays and fight. He holds his own, but Smith beats him up, and on the ground he spits blood. But Neo gets up and pulls a kung fu pose. He fight on, but Smith beats him again. Smith holds Neo down for a train to smash him. But Neo smashes Smith into the ceiling with a Super Mario jump, and Neo backflips to safety while Smith is killed.
Turns: Neo stays and fights, Smith hurts him, Neo kung fu poses, Smith beats Neo, Neo pulls a reversal and wins
Values: DANGER + FAITH – DEFEAT + DEFIANCE – DEATH + VICTORY
Purpose: A good action scene, shifting polarity to keep things interesting. The figurative meaning backs the action well – Smith is the guardian of a system of control, and Neo’s self-belief in defiance of that control is expressed through punches.
SCENE SIXTEEN A – ACT CLIMAX
Neo only has a moment of victory, and starts to run out of the subway, when Smith is back. Neo runs faster.
(This is the first part of a broken up scene)
SCENE SEVENTEEN
The proximity alarm goes off. Morpheus and Trinity rush to see what it is, and it is five sentinels about to reach the Nebuchadnezzar. Trinity and Morpheus’s conversation lets the audience know that the lock is ticking for Neo to get out.
Turns: T&M confirm that sentinels are closing
Values: ANTICIPATION – DANGER
Purpose: This is serving to heighten the immediacy and conflict related to Neo getting out- and thus heighten the impact of the imminent Act Climax.
Interestingly, in Scene One of Act Four, this danger will still be fully present. I will comment in that scene.
SCENE SIXTEEN B
Neo continues to run as the agents pursue
(Scene not yet finished)
SCENE EIGHTEEN A
The Sentinels arrive, and rip into the hovercraft’s hull. Morpheus waits at the button, sure Neo will make it.
Turns: The Sentinels arrive
Values: DANGER - - DOOM
Purpose: Anywhere else, this would be redundant and a weak turn, considering it’s just an extension of Scene Seventeen. But this sequence is almost a montage, with the sentinels sub-plot here seeking to press the tension into the penultimate Act climax.
This scene really is an awful thing for the characters, but they blindly believe everything is about to be solved. A good set-up for a negative surprise, no? And so close to the Act climax…
SCENE SIXTEEN C
Still running…
SCENE EIGHTEN B
The sentinels move further into the hull.
(This is just an extension of Scene Eighteen’s turn)
SCENE SIXTEEN D
The scene is finally ready to turn. Neo walks into the door, right into Smith’s gun. Boom. At first neo doesn’t react, as if it didn’t happen. The next bullets snap him back into fake reality, and Neo dies.
Morpheus et al. can’t believe it, and are in shock.
The agents checks Neo, and he is dead. Smith says goodbye, feeling the satisfaction yet emptiness of having killed a worthy foe.
Turns: Neo dies
Values: DANGER - - DEATH
Purpose: The set-up for the climax of the film. This is Neo actually dying – only a miracle could save him now. This is following the textbook of preceding the climax with a major reversal of opposite charge. A positive miracle is coming, so the only worthy set-up is a terribly negative thing: Neo dying.
ACT FOUR
SCENE ONE
Trinity leans over Neo’s dead body, and finally tells the story of the oracle’s prediction which she has been mum to mention until now. She declares that she loves Neo, necessitating that he must be The One. Neo’s hear starts back up, and Trinity tells him to get up. So he does, in The Matrix, alive again.
Turns: Neo wakes up
Values: HOPELESSNESS + MIRACLE
Purpose: The textbook says that the pace must come down now, in the shadow of the Act climax. And the scene is low pace and energy – despite the fact that horrible deaths is literally feet away.
This, of course, sacrifices the terror of the sentinels for dramatic pacing – a wise move. The sentinels are just a “kicker,” and have already outlived their purpose – adding momentum to the Climax of Act Three. While they must be resolved away, at this point they really don’t matter.
When Trinity kisses Neo, sparks fly – I always hated that, from the first time I saw this movie. Cheesy visual pun.
SCENE TWO - CLIMAX
The agents see Neo standing, shocked. So they open fire together, but Neo commands the bullets to stop, and they float in mid-air.
Morpheus sees the moment through the code on screen, and declares Neo The One.
Smith won’t accept it, and charges Neo to attack again. Stopping his punches is effortless, and Neo kicks Smith back. Neo then dives INTO Smith, and literally deletes him, Smith’s code shattering off into fragments.
The agents run.
Turns: Neo stops the bullets
Values: MIRACLE ++ APOTHEOSIS
Purpose: I had a hard time figuring out when the climactic turn was here, and if there was really only one. Morpheus declaring Neo the one sure felt like a pivotal moment, as did Smith being destroyed.
The reality is probably more like Neo stopping the bullets to destroying Smith is a climactic sequence, not separate turns themselves.
SCENE THREE
The sentinels enter the room with Trinity and Morpheus and Tank. Trinity shouts for Neo to get out, and Neo rushes to the phone.
Trinity shouts to Morpheus, who switches on the EMP, and the sentinels are killed.
In the dark, Neo and Trinity kiss.
Turns: Morpheus triggers the EMP
Values: DEATH + LIFE
Purpose: This scene is obligatory, since the sentinels were set up as ‘out there.’ But really, the film is already over- they are an afterthought. Thus this scene has drama, but isn’t really that important, and risks taking away from the climax.
It does take away from the climax, but doesn’t ruin the film. By the book, this should be a mistake, but it doesn’t offend this audience member.
The Wachowskis might have wanted this scene to embody the “Magic Flight” for the monomyth structure.
SCENE FOUR
A phone rings, and Neo begins to speak. We see a trace program running, however, but then the trace is interrupted by SYSTEM FAILURE.
Neo is speaking about how he is going to change the rules of the system – but that he isn’t necessarily out to destroy the system, and leaves the choice of response to his foe.
The camera cuts upwards, viewing the city from above. Neo flies by like a superhero.
Turns: The trace program fails
Values: CONTROL + FREEDOM
Purpose: I had always assumed that Neo was talking to the audience, or a potential initiate into the real world from the Matrix…but on this viewing, I realized that Neo is talking to the machines as a whole – respect for his opponent.
I listed the system failure as a turn, but it’s debatable. This could be considered a turnless scene, merely a statement of theme to resonate the climax. Now that I actually understand it, it seems quite effective in this regard.
It is also well-served by being only the second scene after the climax. Not too much resolution to diminish the climax.
