http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DodgeTheBullet
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Dr. McNinja: The problem with your gun is you have to point it where you want to send the bullets, and I can see that.
Frans Rayner: The bullets are supposed to be faster than you and you know that!
Frans Rayner: The bullets are supposed to be faster than you and you know that!
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A character who can stroll into the middle of a firefight and emerge unscathed. Guns Are Worthless against them. They aren't Immune to Bullets, but they're so fast they might as well be. If you shoot at them from any farther than point blank range, they'll jump out of the way, or use some impressively small object to deflect the bullet, Improbable Aiming Skills be damned.
Considering the speed at which bullets and some other projectiles travel, these kind of reflexes are blatantly unrealistic, the domain of superhumans and Super Speedsters. Most guns fire at the speed of sound or faster, so by the time you hear the shot, it will have either hit you or missed you, and even if you could see the shot and react the human body is too slow to do much to get out of the way. Writers who want a Badass Normal to dodge bullets will maintain a modicum of realism by saying the character is simply predicting where the gunman is going to fire and making sure they're not there when the trigger is pulled.
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This accomplishes the same goal as Stormtrooper Marksmanship, but in the opposite way: The hero wins despite being outgunned, not because his enemies are terrible shots, but because he's just that good. Oddly, despite being able to dodge bullets, when the fight turns to fisticuffs the hero usually becomes much less able to dodge the much slower punches.
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Coincidentally, if the enemies did have standard mook accuracy, this dodging probably wouldn't work, as mooks tend to hit everything except where they're aiming (The Hero), so the only way to actually get shot is not have the gun pointed at you.
Sometimes this skill is imparted by a background in Gun Fu, Gun Katanote , Implausible Fencing Powers, or Super Reflexes. Maybe the enemy was Point Defenseless? For maximum coolness, show off the dodging in Bullet Time. See also Could Have Been Messy. More Dakka may be employed to attempt to overcome this. Compare Deadly Dodging. Also compare Bullet Catch, which is even cooler, and Catch and Return, which takes this to its logical extreme. Contrast Bullet Dodges You. When you upgrade from bullets to missiles, High-Speed Missile Dodge is the result.
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Examples
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- Overdosed in Black Lagoon. This is what keeps Rokuro'Rock'Okajima alive when his Chain of Deals fails - his version is normal compared to his Pseudo-TsundereAction GirlfriendRevy (yeah, no Bullet Time for the little Rock).
- Vash from Trigun did this a couple of times. It was lampshaded in the first instance where he explains that the enemy is 'just a bad shot'. He is one of the more amusing examples because of how he dodges the bullets in the first half of the anime. Eventually, we are shown that he is fast enough to change the paths of bullets in mid-air.. by throwing rocks at them.
- Notably, he is using the 'predict where the marksman is going to fire, then dodge before they shoot' method. (Though this is justified; he has the incredible analytical skills and reflexes that would be needed to pull this off because he isn't human) He also does get turned into swiss cheese repeatedly once Cerebus Syndrome gets into full swing because of this.
- Grenadier takes this to a whole different level. Yajiro can deflect bullets with his sword without much problem, and Rushuna can't be shot even from point blank range!
- Let's put it in perspective. A villain with a galdo and an army of marksmen (who just wiped out a troop of samurai) with rifles and automatic weapons, can't hit Rushuna when she's standing in a courtyard surrounded by them. She has one six-gun. She wipes them out.
- The eponymous girls from the 'Girls with Guns Trilogy' (Noir, Madlax, El Cazador de la Bruja) do this all the time, starting with the opening of the shows. Madlax is a particularly ridiculous example, as half the time she manages to dodge so fast that we don't even see her move (although this could qualify as Immune to Bullets), and the rest of the time she is dancing around the bullets.
- Many of the Mobile suits from Mobile Suit Gundam are often seen doing this on a larger scale (dodging cannon fire rather than bullets). And it doesn't seem limited to New Types. It seems that any MS piloted by a named character can zip past enemy fire. If it's a mobile suit/weapon going up against a conventional weapon or vehicle, then even a nameless mook will suddenly develop bullet dodging enabling precognition.
- An early demonstration of Star Platinum's powers in the third part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is when Jotaro points a gun at his head and pulls the trigger. Star Platinum catches the bullet before it gets close to Jotaro's head.
- Spinzaku from Code Geass
- Hanyuu stopped time to make herself dodge a bullet in the finale of Higurashi's second season due to her god powers. Except in the canal drying chapter, where she dies. Again. She also did this to Keiichi with multiplebullets in the Matsuri only arc, Miotsukushi-hen.
- In Cowboy Bebop the Red Eye Serum not only sends user into potential bloody rampages, but vastly increases their speed and perception, allowing even small-time mooks to dodge bullets (there are also subtle hints that Big Bad Vicious uses it as well, which is why he can successfully use a katana against gun wielders).
- In Black Cat ex-assassin and gunman Train Heartnet blocks bullets with his gun, Hades, made of a special, ultra-strong metal called Orichalcum. Train's supernatural speed is never directly discussed, but it's implied it comes from his previous life as an uber-assassin. Almost all the other characters, as well, block or dodge bullets. Some with supernatural help, others simply with speed.
- For Rurouni Kenshin, gifted in the art of god-like-speed, dodging bullets (as long as he can see the line of fire) is child's play. Granted, these are old timey rifles, but it still looked cool; he later just barely manages to outrun an early-model Gatling gun long enough for the guy using it to run out of bullets.
- This is kept in the Live-Action Adaptation, but taken Up to Eleven. During Kenshin's battle with Gein (first battle he has to expend effort at all in the movie) he uses his sword to block the bullets that Gein shot at him..while disoriented and upside down. He does it so well, that when he's back on his feet, Gein's still shooting and almost out of bullets. But Kenshin just. Keeps. Blocking.
- Probably one of the earliest anime and manga examples, Goemon of Lupin III regularly blocks bullets by cutting them with his sword. In his first appearance, the bullets are even shown splitting apart after hitting the ground. Lupin's tricks make him seem similarly fast, as he's managed to leap out of a full-body Latex Perfection disguise fast enough for the disguise to be shot instead of him.
- It's been explicitly stated in Mahou Sensei Negima! that Shinmeiryuu swordsman aren't affected by bullets because of the ability to swat them out of midair with their swords. These tend to be roughly 2-metre-long Nodachi swords.
- The Mariage in StrikerS Sound Stage X of the Lyrical Nanoha franchise. In the track where we first meet one, a squad of TSAB mages fires a barrage of energy shots at her, only for the Mariage to block all of them with one arm blade.
- In the Sengoku Basara anime Uesugi Kenshin takes on a woman holding a gatling gun. Not only that, he runs headlong into the volley of bullets in order to get to her. And dodges every single one. In a cloud of rose petals! Given that the series in nominally set in the Sengoku period, how Kenshin managed to dodge the gatling gun is perhaps a less important question than what it was doing there in the first place. note
- Fuhrer King Bradley is the ultimate bullet timer in Fullmetal Alchemist. The guy, despite admittedly being near 60 years old not only weaves through gunfire, but casually deflects automatic gunfire with his sword! You wonder why people even try to shoot him..?
- In One Piece Mihawk changes the course of two bullets fired at him with his BFS. Zoro claims that it is because Mihawk is so fluid in his sword motions.
- Later on we see Zoro dodging a gun shot at point-blank range fired by a World Noble, even earlier than that we see Sanji do the same with with Montblanc Cricket. Luffy one ups both of them dodging Pacifista’a laser beams and claimed it was “too slow”.
- Belldandy from Ah! My Goddess seems to be able to avoid harm, without trying, even in cases where everyone else gets injured, once she walked through a hail of rubber bands without getting hit once, and was completely unaffected by a massive lighting strike that destroyed the temple and left everyone else in a blackened heap. Well, y'know — goddess.
- Thing is, so are the others, Belldandy on the other hand seems to either be super lucky or have unconscious probability control
- Done in Detective ConanThe Movie 13, The Raven Chaser. Ran Mouri dodges a bullet fired by Irish when he's standing right in front of her.
- Claire Stanfield from Baccano! can do this. But then, he's the sort of guy who can reasonably be mistaken for an Urban Legend.
- Similar to the page quote, the Big Bad of Parasyte isn't fast enough to dodge the actual bullets. He is fast enough, however, to be able to see where the police point their guns, and be able to move out of the way.
- Some of the better fighters in Change 123 can pull this off, with lots of effort spent explaining how it actually works. You don't have to dodge the bullet, you just have to make the guy with the gun miss.
- Double Subverted in Katanagatari where Emonzaemon is mystified on how he fails to hit Shichika using two modern pistols at near point blank. Shichika revealed that they all did hit, except he purposefully used his super speed to catch all the bullets away from anything vital. He's implied to have the speed to actually dodge the shots but his Death Seeker status meant he solved the problem of getting in close with the most masochistic way possible.
- A pretty damn Awesome moment in episode three of K has Yata dodge someone shooting him at point blank range! Justified by his enhanced abilities and powers from being a Clansman of the Red King. He then proceeds to thrash the guy who shot him and his companion.
- Sword Art Online: Played with in the game Gun Gale Online, which, as the name implies, involves lots of guns. The game uses a 'bullet prediction line' to warn players when they are about to be shot to give them a small opening to hide behind cover. The point of this is to simulate the natural combat instincts real soldiers have, and isn't enough to actually dodge bullets. However, Kirito is a veteran of Sword Art Online, and not only has those instincts that the system is meant to simulate, but the best reflexes in the entire game. This results in him not only being fast enough to dodge bullets, but to cut them apart in midair.
- All speedsters. All of them. From Wild Cards' Joe Twitch to The Flash family of The DCU to the Marvel Universe character Quicksilver. Every last one of them can dodge bullets or pluck them out of the air.
- Daredevil does this with a combination of Flash Step speed and his Super Senses allowing him to track bullets in flight.
- Batman does this on a regular basis as well.
- As does Cassandra Cain -Batgirl II- (pictured). Born to be the ultimate assassin/bodyguard, her father raised her in a bunker under special conditions that deprived her of any form of spoken or written language so she could learn to read body language and movement like a book. Using this ability, Cass can see where the gunman would point the gun and when they'd pull the trigger so she could step out of the way before they fire. Or in several cases, step out of the way after they've fired. To the point of drawing the bullets hanging in the air as she steps around them.
- A particularly egregious example in the animated series, when Bruce is doused with anti-fear gas, he stands at near point blank range dodging bullets as they're fired just to show off. Though Robin is right to think Batman is pushing his luck, he comes out unscathed somehow.
- Wonder Woman regularly deflects bullets and any kind of energy weapon with her bracelets. The bracelets are Immune to Bullets, but moving her arms to block the bullets definitely counts as dodging. Justified by literally possessing the speed of Hermes.
- Superman, Supergirl, Power Girl.. often invert this: they're fast enough to deliberately place their own invulnerable bodies in the path of bullets, to protect whatever's behind them.
- Spider-Man can dodge bullets due to his spider-sense. According to Marvel's published data, Spider-Man's reflexes are fast enough to dodge single-shot gunfire, he only needs his spider-sense to dodge full-auto weapons fire.
- In the fourth issue of the Season 8 comic continuation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy and Satsu are seen fighting through numerous soldiers while outmanoeuvring their various gunfire◊.
- Blade does this quite often, even though bullets are a minor annoyance he can quickly heal from. Justified since his vampiric powers give him Super Reflexes. Though when he's in the mood to dodge, he doesn't get hit. In fact in a situation very similar to the trope picture of Cassandra Cain, Blade pulls the exact same maneuver as she did. However its taken a step further: As Deadpool fires at him, Blade gradually moves forward, dodging the bullets until he is close enough to punch Deadpool in the head.
- Subverted in Garth Ennis' The Punisher series: at one point he follows a criminal who muses how he once killed four federal agents then dodged a bullet fired by the fifth and killed him too. Frank's solution? The criminal may have dodged one, but he cannot dodge thirty.
- Wesley Gibson and his father from Wanted. In the opening scene Gibson Sr. dodges sniper fire. Wesley is not usually seen being shot at, and it's possible he simply kills opponents before they can fire. In one exception, he deflects the bullet with a knife. Even then, Wesley was surprised that the deflection actually worked.
- Amadeus Cho, from The Incredible Hercules (no, really). He's a badass normal in that he is so smart he has the ability to figure out where the bullets are going to be and not be there. Despite being physically normal.
- Captain America can do this pretty well, although he prefers blocking them with his Immune to Bullets shield. Since the shield isn't that big, it still takes amazing reflexes for it to protect him as well as it does.
- When the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles aren't spinning their weapons, they're dodging bullets and lasers and so on.
- John Doe of Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja , thanks to a lifetime of Ninja training. In the first issue of his comic, he dodges a bullet fired at him from point-blank range; later, he dodges a sniper's bullets while running uphill towards the gunman.
- Sin City plays around with this. Miho and Wallace generally dance around gunfire. Dwight avoids it most of the time but has been pinned down by enemy fire more than once with nowhere to go. Marv avoids gunfire more often than not but is known to get clipped every now and then (not that it stops him). Hartigan was clipped in every gun battle he was involved in, although considering he was an old man suffering from a heart condition, this is quite impressive.
- Old West: Rattlesnake Jake does this when Johan Quall fires at him with two revolvers. This is a case of a justified trope because Jake has memorized Quall's firing pattern in case the ring-tailed cat would ever turn his guns on the rattlesnake.
- Mulan: Part of the training for the new recruits is to learn to run through a hail of burning arrows without being hit. This is almost an inversion in that in the beginning when they are no good at it they do some actual dodging, but once he's got the hang of it, Yao runs through without being hit or making any visible effort to dodge.
- Star Wars: Jedi knights dodge and deflectFrickin' Laser Beams (often straight back at the shooter) so often that one wonders why individual mooks even try to shoot them. (As we find out in the prequel trilogy, the Jedi aren't all as good as the main characters, particularly against an army. Moreover, individual lightsaber styles or 'forms' may or may not emphasize deflection and defense.) Justified in that blasters are actually particle weapons that fire bolts moving slightly slower than bullets, and the Jedi use their Combat Clairvoyance to anticipate attacks and defend against them before they even happen. This can be defeated with lots and lots of guns, and lots and lots of firing, in a rapid succession. aka: More Dakka. In one of their very first scenes, C3PO and R2-D2 strolled right through the middle of a firefight without getting so much as scorched.
- One of the infamous edits to the original film prevented Han from shooting Greedo first by having Han effortlessly dodge a point-blank range blaster shot before firing his own lethal shot.
- The Matrix:
- The Agents, though they can't dodge everything. Dodging bullets also requires them to have their feet on the ground, which Trinity takes advantage of in the second movie.
- Neo mentions it early on:Neo: What are you trying to tell me, that I can dodge bullets?Morpheus: No, Neo. I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to.
- When the time comes, he does it almost as well as the Agents, although a few bullets still graze his skin. Shortly afterward, he lives up to Morpheus's claim: first by coming back to life after being shot, then by stopping bullets in mid-air.
- Daredevil was able to dodge Bullseye's projectiles in The Movie. At one point, he back-flips his way through a window's worth of flying glass shards. His senses make him aware of the whole 3D environment around him, and he's able to tell from an opponent's stance which way they're about to shoot (or throw). A bit like Vamp from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (see video game section below).
- The Grammaton Clerics of Equilibrium have this as part of the Gun Kata package, though their opponents seem to have graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
- The Beast from Kung Fu Hustle demonstrates that he is a Not So HarmlessOld Master by catching a bullet fired at him from close range. Admittedly, one he fired at himself, but still..
- Blade Trilogy:
- Blade: The main villain, Frost, can do this. Though no other vampire besides him and Dracula has ever done this, and it was never mentioned again.
- Blade: Trinity: Drake can not only dodge bullets fired from near-point blank ranges, but also change his form at the same time. Justified because he is the friggin' Dracula.
- Boris The Bullet Dodger from Snatch. seems to have a talent for making bullets miss him. In Boris' death scene, Tony has to use every bullet from a Desert Eagle clip before he manages to hit Boris, and that only works because he aims very carefully with the last shot. The .50AE Desert Eagle's absolutely hellacious recoil probably wasn't doing Tony's marksmanship any favours though.
- Cris Johnson in Next can see two minutes into the future and play out various scenarios in order to pick the best outcome. At one point in the movie, he finds himself up against a terrorist with a fully loaded gun. From our perspective, we get to see him split off in various directions in an attempt to dodge all the bullets complete with each false choice getting shot and disappearing until only one is left standing, the one outcome where he successfully dodged all the bullets.
- Jet Li's character in Lethal Weapon 4 does not seem to fear guns and in one scene dodges a bullet fired at him in the back unawares.
- Also Jet Li's character, Yulaw from The One has superhuman physical abilities and is once shown dodging a bullet.
- Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins features a man being trained to do this, complete with comments about which muscles to watch for twitching and why you shouldn't cheat by remembering how many bullets are meant to be in the gun.
- Lampshaded in UHF. George fantasizes about raiding a heavily guarded prison camp to rescue Stanley. At one point, George stands inches away from a soldier firing a gun at him, but he keeps missing. Later in the fantasy, George catches a bullet in his teeth, chews it, and then fires the pieces out of his mouth back at the shooter like a machine gun.
- During the WWI sequence in Sucker Punch, as Baby Doll is closing in on the German courier, she uses her katana to parry the bullets he fires at her.
- Some of the other girls tilt, twist, and leap out of the way of bullets.
- In Alien: Resurrection one of the Aliens manages to repeatedly dodge point-blank shots from a guy established to have nearly RoboCop-levelImprobable Aiming Skills.
- In Bulletproof Monk, the titular character appears to be able to do this as well, although he still gets shot by the Big Bad at the beginning after dealing with all the other Nazis firing submachineguns. One of the scenes (which, naturally, made it into the trailer) shows a Mook firing at the Monk with the bullet-time effect showing us the bullet moving past the Monk's nose, with the Monk following the bullet with his gaze. However, the bullet had already missed by that time (the Monk didn't even move aside), and we simply see that the Monk can react fast enough to see a moving bullet.
- The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) in The Great Race is inexplicably the sole clean soul in the midst of a chaotic food fight in a bakery, perhaps part of his Man in White status. He does get hit with a pie (by someone on 'his side', accidentally) at the very end of the fight. $18,000 (in 1965 dollars) worth of pies were used for the scene, which lasts over four minutes and took several days to shoot (necessitating the careful reconstruction each morning of the characters' appearance at the end of the previous day of shooting).
- Almost the same thing occurs with the canteen food fight in Blazing Saddles, where ultimate 'black hat' Hedley Lamarr ducks out unstained, only to apparently get nailed with a pie by some malicious party lurking in the washroom.
- In Edge of Tomorrow, Cage's ability to reset the day with full knowledge of the day's events gives him quite the edge in dodging anything and everything, eventually resulting in him giving Rita Vrataski a pace-by-pace, second-by-second rundown on how to dodge every single blow she faces in any given scenario.
- The In-Laws: 'Serpentine!'
- In Xmen Days Of Future Past, Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver not only dodges the bullets in the Pentagon's kitchen, he moves those about to hit the other X-men so they miss, and makes all the security guards punch out themselves or each other.
- The Destroyer paperback series of novels and the movie based on them, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, states that Masters of the martial art of Sinanju are able to dodge bullets, among their many other abilities.
- Further explored in later novels in the series, Remo discovers that a Sinanju master can 'punch' Civil War era muzzle-loader projectiles away. Master Chiun demonstrates this while kicking Remo in the chest simultaneously because why not?
- Averted somewhat in The Ganymede Takeover by Philip K. Dick and Ray Nelson, in that the person being shot at is telepathic, and therefore knows when the shooter is about to pull the trigger.
- The engineereds in Duumvirate dodge single aimed bullets easily, but have a harder time with things such as poorly-aimed A Ks and shotguns.
- Grandpa Smedry of Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians and sequels presents an interesting twist, as part of his SmedryTalent: his Talent is being late; when somebody shoots a gun at him, he always arrives late for the bullets to hit him.
- In the Warhammer 40,000 novel Grey Knights, Ligeia's death cultists dodge almost all the firepower thrown at them.
- In the novel Deus Sanguinius, the daemon Malfallax dodges the rounds fired at him by the Space Marines. As a princeling of Tzeentch, Chaos god of fate, he has an ability that allows him to see where the rounds go and move appropriately; when the body part enabling this is damaged, he fares considerably worse at avoiding.
- In Discworld, in Men at Arms, Sergeant Colon enters the Tower of Art, having just heard somebody, and reasons, seeing nobody in the tower, that they are behind him. He dives right as the Gonne is fired. Afterwards he swears that he felt the shot pass over him. Discworld is based on Steampunk era technology, and the Gonne would not be as fast-firing as modern guns. Also, Sergeant Colon can spout a lot of shit sometimes.
- In John D. MacDonald's The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything, the hero activates his magic pocket watch just as his adversary pulls the trigger. Not only can he easily get out of the bullet's way, he uses a ruler and his knowledge of the gun's normal-speed muzzle velocity to calculate just how much the pocket watch is slowing down time.
- In Halo: Ghosts of Onyx, Kelly proves that dodging bullets is for sissies by dodging a Sentinel's laser blast. Then she flips it off.
- In Theirs Not to Reason Why Ia parries not just bullets but lasers with her sword. Justified by her precognitive powers; she knows beforehand where the projectile is going to be, so she can put her sword in the way.
- In the Ghost in the Shell novel After The Long Goodbye, Batou can do this thanks to his cybernetic body and predictive software, but never for longer than five minutes at a time, which would cause serious damage to his body (it's the equivalent of red-lining a high-performance racing car).
- Ciaphas Cain dodges incoming fire in just about every story. In Caves of Ice, he even manages to dodge a Necron gauss flayer. However, his combat instincts are so highly developed that he's usually able to start the dodge before the attacker actually fires.
- Hyperion. When Kassad is given phase-shifting technology for the first time, he's astonished to realise he just dodged a laser beam.
- Contessa of Worm dodges bullets in a somewhat less traditional since with her Combat Clairvoyance. She's physically a normal human, but her power lets her know exactly how to accomplish any task she wants, such as winning a fight. As a result she can avoid bullets before they're even fired.
- In The Reckoners Trilogy the Epic Fortuity has precognitive abilities allowing him to see a short distance into the future as well as super reflexes which make him generally able to avoid getting shot. However David notes that he relies on knowing that he's about to get shot with his former power and using the latter to get out of the line of fire before the bullets are shot as super reflexes won't allow him to dodge automatic weapon fire.
- Illyria from Angel could dodge bullets fired at point blank range by twirling gracefully.
- Game of Thrones: Theon dodges several arrows while fleeing his captors in 'Walk of Punishment'.
- Star Trek:
- Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation can do this. Justified as he's an android with reflexes beyond human abilities and, as suggested above, can move before the shot is fired.
- The Augments from Star Trek: Enterprise appear to dodge disruptor beams when seizing the Klingon Bird of Prey, but that might be an illusion caused by their genetically-enhanced reflexes.
- MacGyver (1985) does this at times. He dives between lines of bullets shot by a helicopter in the early season intros. He's blocked a crossbow bolt with a 2x2 board. Practically nobody who shoots at him can hit him—if they do, they graze him (and cause amnesia). It's played off as luck, though, rather than skill, and he has a healthy respect for people pointing guns at him.
- Ziva does this in an episode of NCIS, though what actually happens is she hears the gun being cocked and reacts to that.
- Averted and busted by the MythBusters. While it is theoretically possible to dodge a .338 Lapua round in as close as 500 yards, it is not practical nor likely to happen with military grade rounds in a combat scenario. You can't see the muzzle flash from that far away, and the bullet will reach you before the sound of the shot.
- Hicks from Alphas is able use his Super Reflexes to get out of the way of a bullet. He realizes that the shooter is about to fire and drops to the ground before the trigger is squeezed. He follows this up with a feat of acrobatics right out of The Matrix which confuses the shooter and causes the second shot to miss as well.
- Parodied in The Office (US). Michael Scott's amateur film features his character dodging bullets from point blank range using some awkward and poorly choreographed poses.
- In Person of Interest Root is eventually able to do this as part of her God Mode abilities courtesy of The Machine being able to predict the bullet paths and allow her to dodge.
- The New Avengers: In 'K is for Kill: Tiger by the Tail', Gambit is able to use his pistol to deflect the bullet a Russian assassin fires at him.
- Clark uses his Super Speed to do this in an early episode of Smallville, unaware it wouldn't have actually hurt him. He has time to lean one way, then the other, and turn to watch the bullet go while everything's in slow-motion.
- Averted in Wonder Woman. She avoids gunshots not by dodging them but by letting them hit her..on her wrisys which are covered by bullet-proof bracelets.
- Fudge Fu, for Fudge, allows people to deflect lasers. This is with lasers that actually travel at the speed of light. And all they need is a little mirror, or even something along the lines of a very shiny spoon. Although it is intended to mimic crazy kung-fu movie action, and has more than a few other things which are just as ridiculous. Such as being able to walk across rapidly moving water.
- In GURPS the ability of characters to dodge bullets is justified by the assumption that you're staying away from where the shooter is aimed. You usually need exotic or cinematic powers to raise it above 10 (50% chance) so it's best not to rely on it against guns. With the right advantages and the high skill levels you can deflect weapons that move faster than the speed of light because.. you know.
- Hero System has 'Combat Luck' — Armor defined as 'it just missed me, good thing I dodged' instead of the usual 'it bounced off my skin/bulletproof vest/powered armor'.
- In Shadowrun, the firing character uses a dice pool that can't really go higher than around 15 (agility max. 6 plus firearms skill max. 6 plus aptitude 1 plus specialization 2) while the defender uses reaction (max. 6) plus dodge (max. 6) plus aptitude (1) for a dice pool of 13, which gives an almost even chance of dodging any shot. (you successfully dodge if you roll more 5's or 6's on your 13 dice than the other person does on his 15) That is for a single shot (and we should mention that with stat-boosting cyberware, bioware and magic the shooter's pool could actually be up around 18). Start using burst fire and your chance of hitting can be a lot better..
- In Aberrant, Novas with at least two Mega Dexterity can make Dodge rolls against gunfire even without cover. (Those with four Mega Dexterity can make Block rolls to catch them.)
- The Old World of Darkness has a Dodge skill that allows you to dodge bullets. The difficulty of the dodge depends on your available cover. If you've got good cover, it can be a 6, which is a standard difficulty. If there is no cover, you can still drop to the floor to avoid the bullets, which is difficulty 8, pretty challenging.
- The New World of Darkness
- The default rules avert this trope: firearms ignore characters' Defense scores, assuming that a normal human can't react fast enough to make a difference against someone pulling a trigger.
- In Vampire: The Requiem, vampires' power of Celerity grants Super Speed and a Defense bonus that does apply against bullets, on the basis that it makes them too unnaturally fast to target.
- Some of the shielding spells in Mage: The Awakening function in this way, depending on the type of magic. Fate-based shields make the caster just too lucky to hit, Time and Space distort their position just enough to avoid strikes, and Death and Forces slow bullets down enough to dodge.
- In second edition Werewolf: The Forsaken werewolves can apply their defense against firearms as long as they're in one of their hybrid forms.
- The Dodge technique allows you to attempt this in Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution.
- In Warhammer 40,000, some models get an invulnerable save, which gives them a chance of ignoring being hit even by anti-tank weaponry, and normally is due to the model having a forcefield or being daemonic in nature. Imperial Assassins get one from their ability to dodge, leading to crazy situations where an assassin can survive being hit dead on by an orbital bombardment capable of leveling a city block by dodging it.. without moving.
- Older Than Steam: In Ben Jonson's 1598 play Every Man in His Humour a character claims to be able to teach another to deflect bullets with his sword. 'Unless it be grapeshot, and spread.'
- Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
- Vamp can predict a bullet's trajectory by watching his opponents' muscles, and dodge out of the way.
- Mantis can do the same, but by reading minds instead of muscles. There's also the possibility that the Mantis you're shooting at is just a mental illusion, and the real one has simply stopped your brain from seeing him.
- Grey Fox also has a form of this in his ability to deflect bullets with his sword, thanks to impossibly-fast reflexes.
- Fortune doesn't even dodge. She just stands there and the bullets miss her. In other words, her power is to causeStormtrooper Marksmanship. this is mostly thanks to a device the Patriots secretly gave her, capable of deflecting bullets and making explosives inert. However, when a salvo of missiles is fired against her and the heroes, she makes the missiles steer away with no apparent reason, before dying from a previous wound.
- After Raiden Took a Level in Badass, he learned to deflect bullets with his sword as well. With the Scene expansion for Metal Gear Online, players lucky enough to use Raiden can do the same by holding his sword at the ready. It deflects all bullets incoming from the front.
- Gene from Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops does this through actual Super Speed.
- Also, the GRU soldiers during the Ocelot duel. Go ahead, try using the shotgun. Or thePatriot. It won't get you anywhere.
- Brain Dead 13 combines this with Deadly Dodging in the final battle.
- Nathan Frost from Project: Snowblind has a reflex augmentation which lets him 'dance through the enemy's bullets'. He still gets hit a fair amount if you try, though. He also has an augmentation which allows him to become Immune to Bullets (and rockets, and grenades, and lasers..)
- The player character can do this in Mercenaries 2: World In Flames, but without the help of superpowers, or even Badass Normality; the bullets are just that freakin' slow.
- Faith, the Runner protagonist of Mirror's Edge seems to be able to dodge bullets even when facing More Dakka from a helicopter gunship. Either that or the police were all trained at the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.
- Albert Wesker in Resident Evil has superhuman senses, strength, and reflexes thanks to his Only Mostly DeadGambit Roulette from the first game, but it's jacked up to ridiculous levels in RE5 when he sidesteps bullets so fast that you can't even see him moving. He even dodges rocket-propelled grenades in the first part of your fight with him, and a major part of that Boss Battle is figuring out a way to slow him enough down to hit him. Even then, you can never score a direct strike, he catches the RPG out of midair and you're forced to blow it up in his hands. It is possible to actually hit Wesker with bullets. You just have to kill the lights, wait for him to lose sight of you, and shoot him while his back is turned. But after the first couple of hits he'll start dodging again.
- Viewtiful Joe can do this too whenever he uses the Slow VFX power, but Joe can also punch bullets andtank shells and send them right back at the person that fired them.
- Besides of Jedi deflecting shots with a lightsaber, Jedi Academy features characters actually dodging energy blasts. Justified, more or less, in that they're relatively slow ones and almost everyone uses a burst of Force Speed to accomplish it. Jedi, Cultists and Reborn can do this, and it's also an almost undiscoverable power for the player character. Activating it takes something like standing still facing an enemy whose shots you can't block, which just doesn't seem like such a great idea. Of course, it's also within the realm of possibility to dodge blasts through the player's own reflexes. Boba Fett also dodges blaster shots, but not as reliably.
- In the Final Fantasy VII OVA Last Order, Zack is shown easily dodging machine gun fire from multiple shooters and causing the shooters to hit each other.
- In Team Fortress 2, the Scout can use Bonk! radioactive energy drink to dodge bullets, rocket explosions, and strangely, flamethrower fire, for a few seconds. Even though he doesn't take damage, sentry gun fire still knocks him back, and he can still have Huntsman arrows embedded in him. 'Didn't hurt!'
- In City of Heroes, Scrappers and Stalkers had optional secondary abilities such as 'Super Reflexes'. Once activated, many of these were automatically on and cost no endurance, meaning Stamina could be completely disregarded because if it doesn't hit you, you don't get hurt.Project Mirage(player-character): 'I'm not bulletproof. And I'm not invincible. I don't need to be.'
- In Metroid: Other M, Samus can do this with her new 'Sense Move' ability.
- Non-Red Shirt Army blaster units in Lego Star Wars have ability to dodge enemies' beam shots while firing back at them.
- Several higher-level mooks and bosses will dodge your bullets in Red Steel II if you randomly fire at them. No such luck for you, though..
- Most Super Robot Wars depict units dodging bullets by moving like this. The 'Alert' seishin allows you to have 100% chance to dodge anything from Macross Missile Massacre to Wave Motion Gun. Even without Alert, gigantic units like battleships can still dodge salvos of bullets with ease as long as the odd's right.
- In Touken Ranbu, all swords can dodge projectiles during night battles, but kiwame tantō are the only ones able to do so during daytime.
- Akihiko does this at the beginning of his story in Persona 4: Arena. His Internal Monologue uses the old 'watch the arm then jump out of the way before trigger is pulled' hand wave and even then, he admits that this is only possible because the would-be shooter is slow and clumsy, causing him to telegraph his shots well in advance of actually pulling the trigger.
- In the roof-top level of The Matrix: Path of Neo you actually learn how to dodge bullets. It's even a critical part of the mission because you have to distract the Agent until you can get rid of it.
- Beam katana wielders in the No More Heroes series can deflect bullets with more ease than Jedi and Sith can deflect blaster shots. The only drawback is that it drains the battery.
- Trying to shoot a Bonethief in Eternal Darkness can be a frustrating experience, as they'll casually lean out of the way of the bullet. However, if you wait until they attempt to jump at you, you'll be guaranteed a hit, though they won't be interrupted if the gun you use is a weak one.
- A primary game mechanic in Superhot; time only moves when the player does, giving the player plenty of opportunity to notice a bullet and step out of its path.
- One of the armor stats in PAYDAY 2 is 'Dodge'. It's meant to reflect your ability to dodge bullets, but in practice it's a percent chance that you'll take no damage when a bullet hits you. Lighter armors have more Dodge, and certain skills and perks also buff it.
- With a sufficiently fast tank/ship and sufficiently slow shells (usually either fired in a high arc or from a howitzer type gun), it is possible to dodge enemy fire in both World of Tanks and Worldof Warships.
- Because of the way that the mechanics of the game were designed, you can easily dodge two of the most powerful weapons in the early Mech Warrior 2 engine: the PPC and the Gauss rifle fired powerful projectiles with a visibly slower than normal travel time (substantially less than missiles, notably), and thus could be easily sidestepped by use of jump jets, or just throttling up and darting to one side in a sufficiently light enough machine.
- Happens all the time in Madness Combat. The main characters are rarely, if ever, hit, and even then, it's usually because an enemy has sneaked up on them.
- DSBT InsaniT: Whitney does this using her Jet Pack against ???'s Mecha-Mooks.Killdra: Did you SERIOUSLY dodge a volley of machine gun fire?
- MAG ISA — Eman Cruz did it during his gunfight with Kyle.
- As the opening quote shows, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja has played this trope straight. On the other hand, it also gave us a dramatic subversion. And this (although it was an April fools joke)
- From Scary Go Round: 'Have you ever tried to jump in front of a bullet? They move pretty fast, you know, 'like a bullet does.''
- The RPG-centric comic Darths & Droids manages to both lampshade and subvert this quite brilliantly at the same time, while also teaching its readers some valuable roleplaying techniques to boot.
- Von Pinn of Girl Genius does the deflection version here, after a Bullet Catch.
- And Agatha herself thanks to the Training from Hell Zeetha gave her earlier in the series.
- This happens a fair bit in Survival of the Fittest although considering that it is a roleplay and handlers are reluctant to allow their characters to die, it is only to be expected. The most ridiculous example happened with Clive Maxwell. He was shot at with an MP5 (a weapon which, mark you, fires around 13 rounds per second) and not only managed to push his 'friend' Liam Black aside but avoid getting hit at all by running around the shooter in a circle.
- Most modern-era small arms fire bullets somewhere between 1000 and 3000 feet per second (300 to 900 meters per second), and the vast majority of shootings are done at ranges under 10 yards. For all intents and purposes, when someone is shooting at you, they've either missed or hit by the time their finger pulls the trigger.
- In many cases, soldiers and other people involved in close combat survived by running away from the shooter - the quicker you open the range, the worse the other guy's accuracy gets. Most gunmen are not Olympic shooters and handguns are vulnerable to the slightest tilt sideways. Enough to hit at 10 yards, miss at 20 yards, fire randomly in the bushes at 50. It works much worse when the other guy fires a rifle, or a salvo from an automatic weapon.
- There used to be an old naval trick of steering into the splashes made by a salvo knowing that when the enemy gunnery officer corrected the next salvo would land elsewhere. He might know the trick too.. Matt Helm (in the novels by Donald Hamilton) has done this a couple times in speedboats to avoid snipers.
- If you're sufficiently far away from the shooter, it is possible to dodge an airborne paintball. The fact they're large, brightly colored and relatively slow moving (compared to actual bullets) makes it possible - although still very hard.
- Nerf darts travel VERY slowly compared to actual bullets, paintballs, or airsoft pellets. If you're paying attention to your shooter, you really can't get hit by a Nerf dart at any sort of range.
- Sufficiently lower powered airsoft guns (especially those firing light plastic pellets) can often be slow enough to both be seen and dodged.
- In his memoir a Russian artillery officer described how he managed to dodge a shot from a Panther tank's main gun. He was observing it through his observation telescope at the time and it fired from half a mile away. He saw the puff of smoke and hurled himself and his assistant into the bottom of the trench. He later calculated that he had just half a second between seeing it fired and the shell arriving.
Index
The Matrix | |
---|---|
Directed by | The Wachowskis[a] |
Produced by | Joel Silver |
Written by | The Wachowskis |
Starring | |
Music by | Don Davis |
Cinematography | Bill Pope |
Edited by | Zach Staenberg |
| |
Distributed by |
|
| |
136 minutes[1] | |
Country |
|
Language | English |
Budget | $63 million[3] |
Box office | $463.5 million[3] |
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film[3][4] written and directed by the Wachowskis[a] that stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, created by thought-capable machines (artificial beings)[b] to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.[5] When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias 'Neo', uncovers this truth, he 'is drawn into a rebellion against the machines'[5] along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
The Matrix is an example of the cyberpunksubgenre of science fiction.[6] The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes was influenced by Japanese animation[7] and martial arts films, and the film's use of fight choreographers and wire fu techniques from Hong Kong action cinema influenced subsequent Hollywood action film productions. The film is known for popularizing a visual effect known as 'bullet time', where the heightened perception of certain characters is represented by allowing the action within a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed, allowing the sped-up movements of certain characters to be perceived normally. While some critics have praised the film for its handling of difficult subjects, others have said the deeper themes are largely overshadowed by its action scenes.[8]
The Matrix was first released in the United States on March 31, 1999, and grossed over $460 million worldwide. It was well-received by many critics[9][10] and won four Academy Awards, as well as other accolades, including BAFTA Awards and Saturn Awards. The Matrix was praised for its innovative visual effects, cinematography and entertainment value. The film has since appeared in lists of the greatest science fiction films,[8][11][12] and was added to the National Film Registry for preservation in 2012.[13] The success of the film led to the release of two feature film sequels in 2003, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which were also written and directed by the Wachowskis. The Matrix franchise was further expanded, with the Wachowskis being heavily involved, through the production of comic books, video games and animated short films. The Matrix franchise has even inspired books and theories on some of the religious and philosophical ideas alluded to in the movies.
- 3Production
- 4Reception
- 6Influences
Plot[edit]
A woman is cornered by police in an abandoned hotel; after overpowering them with superhuman abilities, a group of sinister superhuman grey green-suited Agents leads the police in a rooftop pursuit. She answers a ringing public telephone and vanishes.
Computer programmer Thomas Anderson, living a double life as the hacker 'Neo', feels something is wrong with the world and is puzzled by repeated online encounters with the cryptic phrase 'the Matrix'. The woman, revealed to be Trinity, contacts him, saying that a man named Morpheus can explain its meaning; however, the Agents, led by Agent Smith, apprehend Neo and attempt to threaten him into helping them capture the 'terrorist' Morpheus. Undeterred, Neo later meets Morpheus, who offers him a choice between a red pill that will show him the truth about the Matrix, and a blue pill that will return him to his former life. After swallowing the red pill, his reality disintegrates and Neo awakens, naked, weak and hairless, in a liquid-filled pod, among countless others connected by cables to an elaborate electrical system. He is rescued and brought aboard Morpheus' hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar.
As Neo recuperates, Morpheus explains the truth: in the 21st century, intelligent machines (robots) waged war against their human creators. When humans blocked the machines' access to solar energy, the machines retaliated by harvesting the humans' bioelectric power. The Matrix is a shared simulation of the world as it was at the end of the 20th century, where the harvested humans' minds are pacified while their bodies are contained in pods. All free humans live in Zion, the last refuge in the real world. Morpheus and his crew are a group of rebels who hack into the Matrix to 'unplug' enslaved humans and recruit them. Their understanding of the simulated reality enables them to change parameters of the Matrix, bending its physical laws and granting them superhuman abilities. Morpheus warns Neo that death within the Matrix also kills the physical body, and that the Agents are powerful computer programs that eliminate threats to the system. Neo's prowess during virtual combat training lends credibility to Morpheus' belief that Neo is 'the One', an especially powerful human prophesied to free humans and end the war.
The group enters the Matrix to visit the Oracle, an all-knowing prophet who predicted the emergence of the One. She implies that Neo is not the One and warns Neo that he will have to choose between Morpheus' life and his own. Before they can leave the Matrix, the group is ambushed by Agents and tactical police alerted by Cypher, a disgruntled crew member who betrayed Morpheus to Smith in exchange for a comfortable life back in the Matrix. Morpheus allows himself to be captured so Neo and the rest of the crew can escape. Cypher exits the Matrix and murders several crew members as they lie defenseless in the real world. As he prepares to disconnect Neo and Trinity, Tank, a crewman whom he had left for dead, kills him.
In the Matrix, the Agents interrogate Morpheus to learn his access codes to the mainframe computer in Zion. Tank proposes killing Morpheus to prevent this, but Neo, believing that he is not the One, decides himself worth sacrificing if need be to rescue Morpheus; Trinity insists she accompany him. While rescuing Morpheus, Neo gains confidence in his abilities, performing feats comparable to the Agents'. Morpheus and Trinity exit the Matrix, but Smith ambushes and kills Neo before he can leave. In the real world, machines called Sentinels attack the Nebuchadnezzar. Trinity whispers to Neo that he can't be dead because she loves him and the Oracle told her that she would fall in love with the One. She kisses Neo and he revives with the power to perceive and control the Matrix. He effortlessly defeats Smith and the other Agents and leaves the Matrix just as the ship's electromagnetic pulse weapon disables the attacking Sentinels.
Later, Neo makes a telephone call inside the Matrix, promising the machines that he will show their prisoners 'a world where anything is possible'. He hangs up and flies into the sky.
Cast[edit]
- Keanu Reeves as Thomas A. Anderson / Neo: A computer programmer who moonlights as a hacker. Reeves described his character as someone who felt that something was wrong, and was searching for Morpheus and the truth to break free.[14]Will Smith turned down the role of Neo to make Wild Wild West, because of skepticism over the film's ambitious bullet time special effects.[15] He later stated he was 'not mature enough as an actor' at that time,[15] and that if given the role, he 'would have messed it up'.[16][17]Nicolas Cage also turned down the part because of 'family obligations'.[18] Warner Bros. sought Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer for the role. When both declined, the studio pushed for Reeves, who won the role over Johnny Depp, the Wachowskis' first choice.[19]
- Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus: A human freed from the Matrix, captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. Fishburne stated that once he read the script, he did not understand why other people found it confusing. However, he had a doubt if the movie would ever be made, because it was 'so smart'.[14] The Wachowskis instructed Fishburne to base his performance on the character Morpheus in Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics.[20]Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Val Kilmer were also considered for the part.[19] Despite widespread rumors, Sean Connery was offered the role of the Architect in the sequels, not that of Morpheus.[21]
- Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity: Freed by Morpheus, crewmember of the Nebuchadnezzar, Neo's romantic interest. After reading the script, Moss stated that at first, she did not believe she had to do the extreme acrobatic actions as described in the script. She also doubted how the Wachowskis would get to direct a movie with a budget so large, but after spending an hour with them going through the storyboard, she understood why some people would trust them.[14] Moss mentioned that she underwent a three-hour physical test during casting, so she knew what to expect subsequently.[22] The role made Moss, who later said that 'I had no career before. None.'[23]Janet Jackson was initially approached for the role but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting it.[24][25] In an interview, she stated that turning down the role was difficult for her, so she later referenced The Matrix in the 'Intro' and 'Outro' interludes on her tenth studio album Discipline.[26]
- Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith: A sentient 'Agent' program of the Matrix whose purpose is to destroy Zion and stop humans from getting out of the Matrix. Unlike other agents, he has ambitions to free himself from his duties. Weaving stated that the character was enjoyable to play because it amused him. He developed a neutral accent but with more specific character for the role. He wanted Smith to sound neither robotic nor human, and also said that the Wachowskis' voices had influenced his voice in the film. When filming began, Weaving mentioned that he was excited to be a part of something that would extend him.[27]Jean Reno was offered the role, but declined, unwilling to move to Australia for the production.[28]
- Joe Pantoliano as Cypher: Another human freed by Morpheus, but one who regrets taking the red pill and seeks to be returned to the Matrix. Pantoliano had worked with the Wachowskis prior to appearing in The Matrix, starring in their 1996 film Bound.
- Marcus Chong as Tank: The 'operator' of the Nebuchadnezzar, he is Dozer's brother, and like him was born outside the Matrix. Chong was reportedly written out of the Matrix sequels by the Wachowskis over a salary dispute.
- Anthony Ray Parker as Dozer: A 'natural' human born outside of the Matrix, and pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar.
- Julian Arahanga as Apoc: A freed human and crew member on the Nebuchadnezzar.
- Matt Doran as Mouse: A freed human and programmer on the Nebuchadnezzar.
- Gloria Foster as The Oracle: A prophet who still resides in the Matrix, helping the freed humans with her foresight and wisdom.
- Belinda McClory as Switch: A human freed by Morpheus, and crew member of the Nebuchadnezzar.
- Paul Goddard as Agent Brown: One of two sentient 'Agent' programs in the Matrix who work with Agent Smith to destroy Zion and stop humans escaping the system.
- Robert Taylor as Agent Jones: Second sentient 'Agent' program working with Agent Smith.
- Ada Nicodemou as DuJour, a reference to the White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
In 1994, the Wachowskis presented the script for the film Assassins to Warner Bros. Pictures. After Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the president of production of the company at the time, read the script, he decided to buy rights to it and included two more pictures, Bound and The Matrix, in the contract. The first movie the Wachowskis directed, Bound, then became a critical success. Using this momentum, the siblings later asked to direct The Matrix.[29]
In 1996 the Wachowskis pitched the role of Neo to Will Smith. Smith explained on his YouTube channel that the idea was for him to be Neo, while Morpheus was to be played by Val Kilmer. He later explained that he didn't quite understand the concept and he turned down the role to instead film Wild Wild West.
Producer Joel Silver soon joined the project. Although the project had key supporters like Silver and Di Bonaventura to influence the company, The Matrix was still a huge investment for Warner Bros, which had to invest $60 million to create a movie with deep philosophical ideas and difficult special effects.[29] The Wachowskis therefore hired underground comic book artists Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce to draw a 600-page, shot-by-shot storyboard for the entire film.[30] The storyboard eventually earned the studio's approval, and it was decided to film in Australia to make the most of the budget.[29] Soon, The Matrix became a co-production of Warner Bros. and the Australian company Village Roadshow Pictures.[31]
Pre-production[edit]
The actors of the film were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix.[29] French philosopher Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.[32] Reeves stated that the Wachowskis had him read Simulacra and Simulation, Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World, and Dylan Evans’s ideas on evolutionary psychology even before they opened up the script,[14] and eventually he was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved.[29] Moss commented that she had difficulty with this process.[14]
The directors had also been admirers of Hong Kong action cinema for a long time, so they decided to hire the Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director Yuen Woo-ping to work on fight scenes. To prepare for the wire fu, the actors had to train hard for several months.[29] The Wachowskis first scheduled four months for training. Yuen was optimistic but then began to worry when he realized how unfit the actors were.[22]
Yuen let their body style develop and then worked with each actor's strength. He built on Reeves' diligence, Fishburne's resilience, Weaving's precision, and Moss's feminine grace.[22] Yuen designed Moss' moves to suit her deftness and lightness.[33] Prior to the pre-production, Reeves suffered a two-level fusion of his cervical spine which had begun to cause paralysis in his legs, requiring him to undergo neck surgery. He was still recovering by the time of pre-production, but he insisted on training, so Yuen let him practice punches and lighter moves. Reeves trained hard and even requested training on days off. However, the surgery still made him unable to kick for two out of four months of training. As a result, Reeves did not kick much in the film.[22] Weaving had to undergo hip surgery after he sustained an injury during the training process.[29]
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Production design[edit]
In the film, the code that composes the Matrix itself is frequently represented as downward-flowing green characters. This code uses a custom typeface designed by Simon Whiteley,[31] which includes mirror images of half-width kana characters and Western Latin letters and numerals.[34] In a 2017 interview at CNET, he attributed the design to his wife, who's from Japan, and added, 'I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes'.[35] 'The color green reflects the green tint commonly used on early monochrome computer monitors'.[36] Lynne Cartwright, the Visual Effects Supervisor at Animal Logic, supervised the creation of the film's opening title sequence, as well as the general look of the Matrix code throughout the film, in collaboration with Lindsay Fleay and Justen Marshall.[31] The portrayal resembles the opening credits of the 1995 Japanese cyberpunk film, Ghost in the Shell, which had a strong influence on the Matrix series (see below).[34] It was also used in the subsequent films, on the related website, and in the game The Matrix: Path of Neo, and its drop-down effect is reflected in the design of some posters for the Matrix series. The code received the Runner-up Award in the 1999 Jesse Garson Award for In-film typography or opening credit sequence.[31]
The Matrix's production designer, Owen Paterson, used methods to distinguish the 'real world' and the Matrix in a pervasive way. The production design team generally placed a bias towards the Matrix code's distinctive green color in scenes set within the simulation, whereas there is an emphasis on the color blue during scenes set in the 'real world'. In addition, the Matrix scenes' sets were slightly more decayed, monolithic, and grid-like, to convey the cold, logical and artificial nature of that environment. For the 'real world', the actors' hair was less styled, their clothing had more textile content, and the cinematographers used longer lenses to soften the backgrounds and emphasize the actors.[34]
The Nebuchadnezzar was designed to have a patched-up look, instead of clean, cold and sterile space ship interior sets as used on films like Star Trek. The wires were made visible to show the ship's working internals, and each composition was carefully designed to convey the ship as 'a marriage between Man and Machine'.[37] For the scene when Neo wakes up in the pod connected to the Matrix, the pod was constructed to look dirty, used, and sinister. During the testing of a breathing mechanism in the pod, the tester suffered hypothermia in under eight minutes, so the pod had to be heated.[38]
Kym Barrett, costume designer, said that she defined the characters and their environment by their costume.[39] For example, Reeves' office costume was designed for Thomas Anderson to look uncomfortable, disheveled, and out of place.[40] Barrett sometimes used three types of fabric for each costume, and also had to consider the practicality of the acting. The actors needed to perform martial art actions in their costume, hang upside-down without people seeing up their clothing, and be able to work the wires while strapped into the harnesses.[39] For Trinity, Barrett experimented with how each fabric absorbed and reflected different types of light, and was eventually able to make Trinity's costume mercury-like and oil-slick to suit the character.[33] For the Agents, their costume was designed to create a secret service, undercover look, resembling the film JFK.[27]
The sunglasses, a staple to the film's aesthetics, were commissioned for the film by designer Richard Walker from sunglass maker Blinde Design.[41]
Filming[edit]
All but a few scenes were filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney, and in the city itself, although recognizable landmarks were not included in order to maintain the impression of a generic American city. The filming helped establish New South Wales as a major film production center.[42] Filming commenced in March 1998 and wrapped in August 1998; principal photography took 118 days.[38]
Due to Reeves' neck injury, some of the action scenes had to be rescheduled to wait for his full recovery. As a result, the filming began with scenes that did not require much physical exertion,[40] such as the scene in Thomas Anderson's office, the interrogation room,[27] or the car ride in which Neo is taken to see the Oracle.[43] Locations for these scenes included Martin Place's fountain in Sydney, half-way between it and the adjacent Colonial Building, and the Colonial Building itself.[44] During the scene set on a government building rooftop, the team filmed extra footage of Neo dodging bullets in case the bullet time process did not work. The bullet-time fight scene was filmed on the roof of Symantec Corporation building in Kent Street, opposite of Sussex Street.[45]
Moss performed the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film and all the wire stunts herself.[33] The rooftop set that Trinity uses to escape from Agent Brown early in the film was left over from the production of Dark City, which has prompted comments due to the thematic similarities of the films.[46] During the rehearsal of the lobby scene, in which Trinity runs on a wall, Moss injured her leg and was ultimately unable to film the shot in one take. She stated that she was under a lot of pressure at the time and was devastated when she realized that she would be unable to do it.[47]
The dojo set was built well before the actual filming. During the filming of these action sequences, there was significant physical contact between the actors, earning them bruises. Because of Reeves's injury and his insufficient training with wires prior to the filming, he was unable to perform the triple kicks satisfactorily and became frustrated with himself, causing the scene to be postponed. The scene was shot successfully a few days later, with Reeves using only three takes. Yuen altered the choreography and made the actors pull their punches in the last sequence of the scene, creating a training feel.[48]
The filmmakers originally planned to shoot the subway scene in an actual subway station, but the complexity of the fight and related wire work required shooting the scene on a set. The set was built around an existing train storage facility, which had real train tracks. Filming the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling, Chad Stahelski, Reeves' stunt double, sustained several injuries, including broken ribs, knees, and a dislocated shoulder. Another stuntman was injured by a hydraulic puller during a shot where Neo was slammed into a booth.[49] The office building in which Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, and the outside view from inside the building was a large, three story high cyclorama. The helicopter was a full-scale light-weight mock-up suspended by a wire rope operated a tilting mechanism mounted to the studio roofbeams. The helicopter had side mounted to it a real minigun, which was set to cycle at half normal full (3000 rounds per min) firing rate. The visual effect of the helicopters rotating blades was effected by using strobe lighting.[50]
The Matrix Dodge This Scene
To prepare for the scene in which Neo wakes up in a pod, Reeves lost 15 pounds and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look. The scene in which Neo fell into the sewer system concluded the principal photography.[38] According to The Art of the Matrix, at least one filmed scene and a variety of short pieces of action were omitted from the final cut of the film.[51]
Visual effects[edit]
The 'bullet time' effect was created for the film. A scene would be computer modeled to decide the positioning of the physical cameras. The actor then provided their performance in a chroma key setup, while the cameras were fired in rapid succession, with fractions of a second delay between each shot. The result was combined with CGI backgrounds to create the final effect at (0:33).
As for artistic inspiration for bullet time, I would credit Otomo Katsuhiro, who co-wrote and directed Akira, which definitely blew me away, along with director Michel Gondry. His music videos experimented with a different type of technique called view-morphing and it was just part of the beginning of uncovering the creative approaches toward using still cameras for special effects. Our technique was significantly different because we built it to move around objects that were themselves in motion, and we were also able to create slow-motion events that 'virtual cameras' could move around – rather than the static action in Gondry's music videos with limited camera moves.
— John Gaeta[52]
The film is known for popularizing a visual effect[53] known as 'bullet time', which allows a shot to progress in slow-motion while the camera appears to move through the scene at normal speed.[54] Bullet time has been described as 'a visual analogy for privileged moments of consciousness within the Matrix',[55] and throughout the film, the effect is used to illustrate characters' exertion of control over time and space.[56] The Wachowskis first imagined an action sequence that slowed time while the camera pivoted rapidly around the subjects, and proposed the effect in their screenplay for the film. When John Gaeta read the script, he pleaded with an effects producer at Mass.Illusion to let him work on the project, and created a prototype that led to him becoming the film's visual effects supervisor.[57]
The method used for creating these effects involved a technically expanded version of an old art photography technique known as time-slice photography, in which an array of cameras are placed around an object and triggered simultaneously. Each camera captures a still picture, contributing one frame to the video sequence, which creates the effect of 'virtual camera movement'; the illusion of a viewpoint moving around an object that appears frozen in time.[54]
The bullet time effect is similar but slightly more complicated, incorporating temporal motion so that rather than appearing totally frozen, the scene progresses in slow and variable motion.[52][57] The cameras' positions and exposures were previsualized using a 3D simulation. Instead of firing the cameras simultaneously, the visual effect team fired the cameras fractions of a second after each other, so that each camera could capture the action as it progressed, creating a super slow-motion effect.[54] When the frames were put together, the resulting slow-motion effects reached a frame frequency of 12,000 per second, as opposed to the normal 24 frames per second of film.[29] Standard movie cameras were placed at the ends of the array to pick up the normal speed action before and after. Because the cameras circle the subject almost completely in most of the sequences, computer technology was used to edit out the cameras that appeared in the background on the other side.[54] To create backgrounds, Gaeta hired George Borshukov, who created 3D models based on the geometry of buildings and used the photographs of the buildings themselves as texture.
The photo-realistic surroundings generated by this method were incorporated into the bullet time scene,[57] and algorithms based on optical flow were used to interpolate between the still images to produce a fluent dynamic motion[58][59]; the computer-generated 'lead in' and 'lead out' slides were filled in between frames in sequence to get an illusion of orbiting the scene.[60] Manex Visual Effects used a cluster farm running the Unix-likeoperating systemFreeBSD to render many of the film's visual effects.[61][62]
Manex also handled creature effects, such as Sentinels and machines in real world scenes; Animal Logic created the code hallway and the exploding Agent at the end of the film. DFilm managed scenes that required heavy use of digital compositing, such as Neo's jump off a skyscraper and the helicopter crash into a building. The ripple effect in the latter scene was created digitally, but the shot also included practical elements, and months of extensive research were needed to find the correct kind of glass and explosives to use. The scene was shot by colliding a quarter-scale helicopter mock-up into a glass wall wired to concentric rings of explosives; the explosives were then triggered in sequence from the center outward, to create a wave of exploding glass.[63]
The photogrametric and image-based computer-generated background approaches in The Matrix's bullet time evolved into innovations unveiled in the sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. The method of using real photographs of buildings as texture for 3D models eventually led the visual effect team to digitize all data, such as scenes, characters' motions and expressions. It also led to the development of 'Universal Capture', a process which samples and stores facial details and expressions at high resolution. With these highly detailed collected data, the team were able to create virtual cinematography in which characters, locations, and events can all be created digitally and viewed through virtual cameras, eliminating the restrictions of real cameras.[57]
Sound effects and music[edit]
Dane A. Davis was responsible for creating the sound effects for the film. The fight scene sound effects, such as the whipping sounds of punches were created using thin metal rods and recording them, then editing the sounds. The sound of the pod containing a human baby closing required almost fifty sounds put together.[64]
The film's score was composed by Don Davis.[65][66] He noted that mirrors appear frequently in the film: reflections of the blue and red pills are seen in Morpheus's glasses; Neo's capture by Agents is viewed through the rear-view mirror of Trinity's Triumph Speed Triple motorcycle; Neo observes a broken mirror mending itself; reflections warp as a spoon is bent; the reflection of a helicopter is visible as it approaches a skyscraper. Davis focused on this theme of reflections when creating his score, alternating between sections of the orchestra and attempting to incorporate contrapuntal ideas. Davis' score combines orchestral, choral and synthesizer elements; the balance between these elements varies depending on whether humans or machines are the dominant subject of a given scene.[67]In addition to Davis' score, The Matrix soundtrack also features music from acts such as Rammstein, Rob Dougan, Rage Against the Machine, Propellerheads, Ministry, Deftones, Monster Magnet, The Prodigy, Rob Zombie, Meat Beat Manifesto, and Marilyn Manson.[68][69][70]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The film earned $171,479,930 (37.0%) in the United States and Canada and $292,037,453 (63.0%) in other countries, for a worldwide total of $463,517,383.[3] In North America, it became the fifth highest grossing film of 1999 and the highest grossing R-rated film of 1999. Worldwide it was the fourth highest grossing film of the year.[3] As of 2012 it was placed 122nd on the list of highest grossing films of all time, and the second highest grossing film in the Matrix franchise after The Matrix Reloaded ($742.1 million).[3]
Critical response[edit]
The Matrix was praised by many critics, as well as filmmakers, and authors of science fiction,[10] especially for its 'spectacular action' scenes and its 'groundbreaking special effects'. Some have described The Matrix as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time,[8][11]Entertainment Weekly called The Matrix 'the most influential action movie of the generation'.[23] There have also been those, including philosopher William Irwin, who have suggested that the film explores significant philosophical and spiritual themes. However, other reviewers described The Matrix as 'simple-minded fun' and 'another slice of overlong, high concept hokum'. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reported an 88% of positive reviews, with a weighted average score of 7.6/10 based upon a sample of 144 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, 'Thanks to the Wachowskis' imaginative vision, The Matrix is a smartly crafted combination of spectacular action and groundbreaking special effects'.[9] At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received a score of 73 based on 35 reviews, indicating 'generally favorable reviews.'[10] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of 'A-' on an A+ to F scale.[71] It ranked 323rd among critics, and 546th among directors, in the 2012 Sight & Sound polls of the greatest films ever made.[72]
Philip Strick commented in Sight & Sound, if the Wachowskis 'claim no originality of message, they are startling innovators of method,' praising the film's details and its 'broadside of astonishing images'.[73]Roger Ebert praised the film's visuals and premise, but disliked the third act's focus on action.[74] Similarly, Time Out praised the 'entertainingly ingenious' switches between different realities, Hugo Weaving's 'engagingly odd' performance, and the film's cinematography and production design, but concluded, 'the promising premise is steadily wasted as the film turns into a fairly routine action pic .. yet another slice of overlong, high concept hokum.'[75]
Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader reviewed the film negatively, criticizing it as 'simpleminded fun for roughly the first hour, until the movie becomes overwhelmed by its many sources .. There's not much humor to keep it all life-size, and by the final stretch it's become bloated, mechanical, and tiresome.'[76]
Ian Nathan of Empire described Carrie-Anne Moss as 'a major find', praised the 'surreal visual highs' enabled by the bullet time (or 'flo-mo') effect, and described the film as 'technically mind-blowing, style merged perfectly with content and just so damn cool'. Nathan remarked that although the film's 'looney plot' would not stand up to scrutiny, that was not a big flaw because 'The Matrix is about pure experience'.[77]Maitland McDonagh said in her review for TV Guide, the Wachowskis' 'through-the-looking-glass plot.. manages to work surprisingly well on a number of levels: as a dystopian sci-fi thriller, as a brilliant excuse for the film's lavish and hyperkinetic fight scenes, and as a pretty compelling call to the dead-above-the-eyeballs masses to unite and cast off their chains.. This dazzling pop allegory is steeped in a dark, pulpy sensibility that transcends nostalgic pastiche and stands firmly on its own merits.'[78]
Salon's reviewer Andrew O'Hehir acknowledged that although The Matrix is a fundamentally immature and unoriginal film ('It lacks anything like adult emotion.. all this pseudo-spiritual hokum, along with the over-ramped onslaught of special effects—some of them quite amazing—will hold 14-year-old boys in rapture, not to mention those of us of all ages and genders who still harbor a 14-year-old boy somewhere inside'), he concluded, 'as in Bound, there's an appealing scope and daring to the Wachowskis' work, and their eagerness for more plot twists and more crazy images becomes increasingly infectious. In a limited and profoundly geeky sense, this might be an important and generous film. The Wachowskis have little feeling for character or human interaction, but their passion for movies—for making them, watching them, inhabiting their world—is pure and deep.'[79]
Filmmakers and science fiction creators alike generally took a complimentary perspective of The Matrix. William Gibson, a key figure in cyberpunk fiction, called the film 'an innocent delight I hadn't felt in a long time,' and stated, 'Neo is my favourite-ever science fiction hero, absolutely.'[80]Joss Whedon called the film 'my number one' and praised its storytelling, structure and depth, concluding, 'It works on whatever level you want to bring to it.'[81]Darren Aronofsky commented, 'I walked out of The Matrix .. and I was thinking, 'What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?' The [Wachowskis] basically took all the great sci-fi ideas of the 20th century and rolled them into a delicious pop culture sandwich that everyone on the planet devoured.'[82]M. Night Shyamalan expressed admiration for the Wachowskis, stating, 'Whatever you think of The Matrix, every shot is there because of the passion they have! You can see they argued it out!'.[83]Simon Pegg said that The Matrix provided 'the excitement and satisfaction that The Phantom Menace failed to inspire. The Matrix seemed fresh and cool and visually breathtaking; making wonderful, intelligent use of CGI to augment the on-screen action, striking a perfect balance of the real and the hyperreal. It was possibly the coolest film I had ever seen.'[84]Quentin Tarantino counted The Matrix as one of his twenty favourite movies from 1992 to 2009.[85]
Awards[edit]
The Matrix received Academy Awards for film editing, sound effects editing, visual effects, and sound. The filmmakers were competing against other films with established franchises, like Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, yet they won all four of their nominations.[86][87]The Matrix also received BAFTA awards for Best Sound and Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects, in addition to nominations in the cinematography, production design and editing categories.[88] In 1999, it won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Direction.[89]
Award | Category | Name | Outcome |
---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Film Editing | Zach Staenberg | Won |
Best Sound | John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David Campbell, David Lee | Won | |
Best Sound Effects Editing | Dane A. Davis | Won | |
Best Visual Effects | John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, Jon Thum | Won | |
British Academy Film Awards | Best Cinematography | Bill Pope | Nominated |
Best Editing | Zach Staenberg | Nominated | |
Best Production Design | Owen Paterson | Nominated | |
Best Sound | David Lee, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David Campbell, Dane A. Davis | Won | |
Best Special Visual Effects | John Gaeta, Steve Courtley, Janek Sirrs, Jon Thum | Won | |
Saturn Awards | Best Science Fiction Film | -- | Won |
Best Director | The Wachowskis[a] | Won | |
Best Writer | Nominated | ||
Best Actor | Keanu Reeves | Nominated | |
Best Actress | Carrie-Anne Moss | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actor | Laurence Fishburne | Nominated | |
Best Costumes | Kym Barrett | Nominated | |
Best Make-Up | Nikki Gooley, Bob McCarron, Wendy Sainsbury | Nominated | |
Best Special Effects | John Gaeta, Janek Sirrs, Steve Courtley, Jon Thum | Nominated |
Franchise[edit]
The film's mainstream success led to the making of two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both directed by the Wachowskis. These were filmed back-to-back in one shoot and released on separate dates in 2003.[90] The first film's introductory tale is succeeded by the story of the impending attack on the human enclave of Zion by a vast machine army.[91][92] The sequels also incorporate longer and more ambitious action scenes, as well as improvements in bullet time and other visual effects.[92][93]
Also released was The Animatrix, a collection of nine animated short films, many of which were created in the same Japanese animation style[94] that was a strong influence on the live action trilogy. The Animatrix was overseen and approved by the Wachowskis, who only wrote four of the segments themselves but did not direct any of them; much of the project was developed by notable figures from the world of anime.[94]
The franchise also contains three video games: Enter the Matrix (2003), which contains footage shot specifically for the game and chronicles events taking place before and during The Matrix Reloaded;[95]The Matrix Online (2004), an MMORPG which continued the story beyond The Matrix Revolutions;[96][97] and The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005), which focuses on Neo's journey through the trilogy of films.[98]
The franchise also includes The Matrix Comics, a series of comics and short stories set in the world of The Matrix, written and illustrated by figures from the comics industry. Most of the comics were originally presented for free on the official Matrix website;[99] they were later republished, along with some new material, in two printed trade paperback volumes, called The Matrix Comics, Vol 1 and Vol 2.[100]
In March 2017, Warner Bros. was in early stages of developing a relaunch of the franchise with Zak Penn in talks to write a treatment and interest in getting Michael B. Jordan attached to star. According to The Hollywood Reporter neither the Wachowskis nor Joel Silver were involved with the endeavor, although the studio would like to get at minimum the blessing of the Wachowskis.[101]
Home media[edit]
The Matrix was released on Laserdisc in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on September 21, 1999 in the US from Warner Home Video as well as in a cropped 1.33:1 aspect ratio in Hong Kong from ERA Home Entertainment. It was also released on VHS in both fullscreen and widescreen formats followed on December 7, 1999.[3] After its DVD release, it was the first DVD to sell more than one million copies in the US,[102] and went on to be the first to sell more than three million copies in the US.[29] By November 10, 2003, one month after The Matrix Reloaded DVD was released, the sales of The Matrix DVD had exceeded 30 million copies.[103] The film was released on DVD on May 15, 2007.[104]The Ultimate Matrix Collection was released on HD DVD on May 22, 2007[102] and on Blu-ray on October 14, 2008.[105][104] The film was also released standalone in a 10th anniversary edition Blu-ray in the Digibook format on March 31, 2009, 10 years to the day after the film was released theatrically.[106] In 2010, the film had another DVD release along with the two sequels as The Complete Matrix Trilogy. It was also released on 4K HDR Blu-ray on May 22, 2018.[107] The film as part of The Matrix Trilogy was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray on October 30, 2018.[108]
Influences[edit]
The Matrix is arguably the ultimate cyberpunk artifact.
—William Gibson[6]
The Matrix draws from and alludes to numerous cinematic and literary works, and concepts from mythology, religion and philosophy, including the ideas of Buddhism, Christianity, Gnosticism, Hinduism, and Judaism.[109]
Film and television[edit]
The pods in which the machines keep humans have been compared to images in Metropolis, and the work of M. C. Escher.[110] The Wachowskis have described Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as a formative cinematic influence, and as a major inspiration on the visual style they aimed for when making The Matrix.[111][112][113] Reviewers have also commented on similarities between The Matrix and other late-1990s films such as Strange Days, Dark City, and The Truman Show.[74][114][115][116][117] The similarity of the film's central concept to a device in the long-running series Doctor Who has also been noted. As in the film, the Matrix of that series (introduced in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin) is a massive computer system which one enters using a device connecting to the head, allowing users to see representations of the real world and change its laws of physics; but if killed there, they will die in reality.[118] The action scenes of The Matrix were also strongly influenced by live-action films such as those of director John Woo.[119] The martial arts sequences were inspired by Fist of Legend, a critically acclaimed 1995 martial arts film starring Jet Li. The fight scenes in Fist of Legend led to the hiring of Yuen as fight choreographer.[120][121]
The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation such as Ninja Scroll and Akira.[7] Director Mamoru Oshii's 1995 animated film Ghost in the Shell was a particularly strong influence;[7] producer Joel Silver has stated that the Wachowskis first described their intentions for The Matrix by showing him that anime and saying, 'We wanna do that for real'.[122][123] Mitsuhisa Ishikawa of Production I.G, which produced Ghost in the Shell, noted that the anime's high-quality visuals were a strong source of inspiration for the Wachowskis. He also commented, '..cyberpunk films are very difficult to describe to a third person. I'd imagine that The Matrix is the kind of film that was very difficult to draw up a written proposal for to take to film studios'. He stated that since Ghost in the Shell had gained recognition in America, the Wachowskis used it as a 'promotional tool'.[124]
Literary works[edit]
In The Matrix, a copy of Jean Baudrillard's philosophical work Simulacra and Simulation, which was published in French in 1981, is visible on-screen as 'the book used to conceal disks',[5][32] and Morpheus quotes the phrase 'desert of the real' from it.[125] 'The book was required reading for'[5] the actors prior to filming.[32][126] However, Baudrillard himself said that The Matrix misunderstands and distorts his work.[125][127] Some interpretors of The Matrix mention Baudrillard's philosophy to support their claim 'that the [film] is an allegory for contemporary experience in a heavily commercialized, media-driven society, especially in developed countries'.[5] 'The influence of [Baudrillard] was brought to the public's attention through the writings of art historians such as Griselda Pollock and film theorists such as Heinz-Peter Schwerfel'.[5] In addition to Baudrillard, the Wachowskis' were also significantly influenced by Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World, and Dylan Evans’s ideas on evolutionary psychology.[14] The film makes several references to Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.[79] Comparisons have also been made to Grant Morrison's comic series The Invisibles, with Morrison describing it in 2011 as '(it) seemed to me (to be) my own combination of ideas enacted on the screen'.[128] Comparisons have also been made between The Matrix and the books of Carlos Castaneda.[129]
The Matrix belongs to the cyberpunk genre of science fiction, and draws from earlier works in the genre such as the 1984 novel Neuromancer by William Gibson.[6] For example, the film's use of the term 'Matrix' is adopted from Gibson's novel,[130] though L. P. Davies had already used the term 'Matrix' fifteen years earlier for a similar concept in his 1969 novel The White Room ('It had been tried in the States some years earlier, but their 'matrix' as they called it hadn't been strong enough to hold the fictional character in place').[131] After watching The Matrix, Gibson commented that the way that the film's creators had drawn from existing cyberpunk works was 'exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis' he had relied upon in his own writing;[6] however, he noted that the film's Gnostic themes distinguished it from Neuromancer, and believed that The Matrix was thematically closer to the work of science fiction author Philip K. Dick, particularly Dick's speculative Exegesis.[6] Other writers have also commented on the similarities between The Matrix and Dick's work;[119][132][133] one example of such influence is a Philip K. Dick's 1977 conference, in which he stated: 'We are living in a computer-programmed reality, and the only clue we have to it is when some variable is changed, and some alteration in our reality occurs'.[134][135][136][137]
Philosophy[edit]
It has been suggested by philosopher William Irwin that the idea of the 'Matrix' – a generated reality invented by malicious machines – is an allusion to Descartes' 'First Meditation', and his idea of an evil demon. The Meditation hypothesizes that the perceived world might be a comprehensive illusion created to deceive us.[138] The same premise can be found in Hilary Putnam's brain in a vat scenario proposed in the 1980s.[138] A connection between the premise of The Matrix and Plato's Allegory of the Cave has also been suggested. The allegory is related to Plato's theory of Forms, which holds that the true essence of an object is not what we perceive with our senses, but rather its quality, and that most people perceive only the shadow of the object and are thus limited to false perception.[29]
The philosophy of Immanuel Kant has also been claimed as another influence on the film, and in particular how individuals within the Matrix interact with one another and with the system. Kant states in his Critique of Pure Reason that people come to know and explore our world through synthetic means (language, etc.), and thus this makes it rather difficult to discern truth from falsely perceived views. This means people are their own agents of deceit, and so in order for them to know truth, they must choose to openly pursue truth. This idea can be examined in Agent Smith's monologue about the first version of the Matrix, which was designed as a human utopia, a perfect world without suffering and with total happiness. Agent Smith explains that, 'it was a disaster. No one accepted the program. Entire crops [of people] were lost.' The machines had to amend their choice of programming in order to make people subservient to them, and so they conceived the Matrix in the image of the world in 1999. The world in 1999 was far from a utopia, but still humans accepted this over the suffering-less utopia. According to William Irwin this is Kantian, because the machines wished to impose a perfect world on humans in an attempt to keep people content, so that they would remain completely submissive to the machines, both consciously and subconsciously, but humans were not easy to make content.[139]
Religion and mythology[edit]
Andrew Godoski sees allusions to Christ, including Neo's 'virgin birth', his doubt in himself, the prophecy of his coming, along with many other Christian references.[29] Amongst these possible allusions, it is suggested that the name of the character Trinity refers to Christianity's doctrine of the Trinity.[140] It has also been noted that the character Morpheus paraphrases the Chinese taoist philosopher Zhuangzi when he asks Neo, 'Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you weren't able to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference from the real world and the dream world?'[141]
Trans themes[edit]
After the release of The Matrix, both the Wachowskis came out as transgender women, and some have seen trans themes in the film.[142] The red pill has been compared with red estrogen pills.[143] Morpheus's description of the Matrix giving you a sense that something is fundamentally wrong, 'like a splinter in your mind', has been compared to gender dysphoria.[143] Also, in the original script, Switch was one gender in the Matrix and another gender in the real world, but this idea was ultimately dropped. [144] In a 2016 GLAAD Media Awards speech, Lilly Wachowski said 'There’s a critical eye being cast back on Lana and I’s work through the lens of our transness. This is a cool thing because it’s an excellent reminder that art is never static.'[145]
Legacy[edit]
The Matrix had a strong effect on action filmmaking in Hollywood. The film's incorporation of wire fu techniques, including the involvement of fight choreographerYuen Woo-ping and other personnel with a background in Hong Kong action cinema, affected the approaches to fight scenes taken by subsequent Hollywood action films,[146] moving them towards more Eastern approaches.[29] The success of The Matrix created high demand for those choreographers and their techniques from other filmmakers, who wanted fights of similar sophistication: for example, wire work was employed in X-Men (2000)[146] and Charlie's Angels (2000),[147] and Yuen Woo-ping's brother Yuen Cheung-Yan was choreographer on Daredevil (2003).[148]The Matrix's Asian approach to action scenes also created an audience for Asian action films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) that they might not otherwise have had.[149]
Following The Matrix, films made abundant use of slow-motion, spinning cameras, and, often, the bullet time effect of a character freezing or slowing down and the camera dollying around them.[53] The ability to slow down time enough to distinguish the motion of bullets was used as a central gameplay mechanic of several video games, including Max Payne, in which the feature was explicitly referred to as 'bullet time'.[149][150]The Matrix's signature special effect, and other aspects of the film, have been parodied numerous times,[23] in comedy films such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999),[151]Scary Movie (2000),[152]Shrek (2001),[149]Kung Pow! Enter the Fist (2002);[153]Marx Reloaded in which the relationship between Neo and Morpheus is represented as an imaginary encounter between Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky;[154] and in video games such as Conker's Bad Fur Day.[155] It also inspired films featuring a black-clad hero, a sexy yet deadly heroine, and bullets ripping slowly through the air;[23] these included Charlie's Angels (2000) featuring Cameron Diaz floating through the air while the cameras flo-mo around her; Equilibrium (2002), starring Christian Bale, whose character wore long black leather coats like Reeves' Neo;[149]Night Watch (2004), a Russian megahit heavily influenced by The Matrix and directed by Timur Bekmambetov, who later made Wanted (2008), which also features bullets ripping through air; and Inception (2010), which centers on a team of sharply dressed rogues who enter a wildly malleable alternate reality by 'wiring in'. The original Tron (1982) paved the way for The Matrix, and The Matrix, in turn, inspired Disney to make its own Matrix with a Tron sequel, Tron: Legacy (2010).[147] Also, the film's lobby shootout sequence was recreated in the 2002 Indian action comedy Awara Paagal Deewana.[156]
Carrie-Anne Moss asserted that prior to being cast in The Matrix, she had 'no career'. It launched Moss into international recognition and transformed her career; in a New York Daily News interview, she stated, 'The Matrix gave me so many opportunities. Everything I've done since then has been because of that experience. It gave me so much'.[157] The film also created one of the most devoted movie fan-followings since Star Wars, and was even briefly blamed for the shootings at Columbine High School.[23] The combined success of the Matrix trilogy, the Lord of the Rings films and the Star Wars prequels made Hollywood interested in creating trilogies.[29] Stephen Dowling from the BBC noted that The Matrix's success in taking complex philosophical ideas and presenting them in ways palatable for impressionable minds might be its most influential aspect.[149]
In 2001, The Matrix placed 66th in the American Film Institute's '100 Years..100 Thrills' list.[158] In 2007, Entertainment Weekly called The Matrix the best science-fiction piece of media for the past 25 years.[12] In 2009, the film was ranked 39th on Empire's reader-, actor- and critic-voted list of 'The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time'.[159]The Matrix was voted as the fourth best sci-fi film in the 2011 list Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time, based on a poll conducted by ABC and People. In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being 'culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.'[13]
Matrix Bullets
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ abcCredited as The Wachowski Brothers.
- ^The film uses the word machine to describe these artificial beings but they are clearly autonomous robots with artificial intelligence (The Coming Technological Singularity: How to Survive in the Post-Human Era, by Vernor Vinge, Department of Mathematical Sciences, San Diego State University, (c) 1993 by Vernor Vinge).
References[edit]
- ^'The Matrix'. British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
- ^ ab'Film: The Matrix'. LUMIERE. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
- ^ abcdefg'The Matrix (1999)'. Box Office Mojo. Amazon. Retrieved June 24, 2009.
- ^'The Matrix laid the template for the gritty, gravity-defying, self-seriously cerebral modern blockbuster'. Vulture.com.
- ^ abcdefAllen, Jamie (November 28, 2012). 'The Matrix and Postmodernism'. Prezi.com.
- ^ abcdeGibson, William (January 28, 2003). 'The Matrix: Fair Cop'. williamgibsonbooks.com. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
- ^ abc'Matrix Virtual Theatre'. Warnervideo.com. Warner Bros. Pictures. November 6, 1999. Interview with the Wachowski Brothers. Retrieved November 29, 2012.
We liked Ghost in the Shell and the Ninja Scroll and Akira in anime. One thing that they do that we tried to bring to our film was a juxtaposition of time and space in action beats.
- ^ abcHeritage, Stuart (October 21, 2010). 'The Matrix: No 13 best sci-fi and fantasy film of all time'. Guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian Media Group.
- ^ ab'The Matrix (1999)'. Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
- ^ abc'The Matrix (1999): Reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved July 11, 2008.
- ^ ab'Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of All Time – Movies Feature at IGN'. Movies.IGN.com. News Corporation. Retrieved January 29, 2012.
- ^ abJensen, Jeff (May 7, 2007). 'The Sci-Fi 25: The Genre's Best Since 1982'. Entertainment Weekly. Time Warner. Archived from the original on May 8, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
- ^ abKing, Susan (December 19, 2012). 'National Film Registry selects 25 films for preservation'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
- ^ abcdefOreck, Josh (Director); Wachowski, Larry; Matthies, Eric (Producers) (November 20, 2001). 'Screenplay'. The Matrix Revisited (DVD). United States: Warner Bros. Pictures.
- ^ abLawrence, Will (February 2007). 'The Empire Interview: In conversation with Will Smith'. Empire. No. 212. Emap. p. 109.
Honestly, I didn't think they could do it, it was too ambitious. I saw Bound and I loved it. The Matrix is exactly what they pitched, but they were designing those cameras to get those freeze-frames, and I was like, 'If that doesn't work, the movie looks ridiculous.' I didn't feel comfortable with the level of importance placed on that effect working properly. .. That's probably the only one that I turned down that I shouldn't have, but when you see somebody do it like Keanu you think, 'Thank God.' I don't think I was mature enough as an actor at that point to get out of the way and just let it be and allow the directors to make the movie. I would have been trying to make jokes. Now I would have loved to take a shot and see what I would have done with it and I know now I could absolutely have been mature enough to get out the way. But back then I don't think I was.
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The Matrix is the most influential action movie of its generation. .. since the movie's release in March 1999, every 360-degree sweep of a camera, every black-clad hero, every sexy yet deadly heroine, every bullet rippling slowly through the air, is a rip-off that can be traced back to writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski. .. They triggered countless pale imitations and dull-witted parodies.
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In the denouement [of The Thirteenth Floor], Douglas Hall simply crests a hill to discover that what he had thought was the real world has, beyond this point, yet to be constructed. In lieu of landscape, only crude phosphor-green polygons, the basic units of video graphics rendering, in the primal monochrome of an old CRT. The raw material of the simulation is even more basic in The Matrix – machine language itself, in the same familiar green..
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What I think of as the 'Matrix' shot, a lone figure frozen while the camera circles around him, has travelled quickly from novelty to cliché, but Meirelles just about keeps it alive by using it to track the passage of time.
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The Matrix Reloaded, which opens here on Friday. .. Andy and Larry Wachowski were apparently busy working on the third part of the trilogy, The Matrix Revolutions, which will be released in November. .. With the resources of Warner Bros. at their disposal, the siblings indulged themselves on the next two, which were shot back-to-back in Australia.
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The film is a perfect product of its time. It is a very modern conspiracy thriller, a film based, like The Truman Show, on the appealingly terrifying notion of a universal conspiracy – that life itself and everything that we know and take for granted are lies. It's also a film steeped in the traditionals of Japanese anime and megamixed philosophy and semiotics (spot the Baudrillard references kids).
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The Matrix was the third in a cycle of movies to arrive in the late nineties with a strikingly similar theme. Like its predecessors from the previous year, Dark City and The Truman Show, it tells the story of a seemingly ordinary man who suddenly finds that his whole life is faked: he is trapped in an artificially created environment designed to keep him in submission. Like the heroes of those earlier movies, Keanu Reeves' Neo starts to realise that he is somehow special, and tries to escape the confines of his prison.
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His influence is pervasive in The Matrix and its sequels, which present the world we know as nothing more than an information grid; Dick articulated the concept in a 1977 speech in which he posited the existence of multiple realities overlapping the 'matrix world' that most of us experience. .. They probably don't realize that the Matrixseries [sic] contains almost as many references to Woo as to Dick. (Fluttering pigeons heralding a fight, a shooter with two guns blazing – pure Woo.)
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I was taken to see The Matrix .. and saw what seemed to me my own combination of ideas enacted on the screen: fetish clothes, bald heads, kung fu, and magic, witnessing the Gnostic invasion of the Hollywood mainstream.
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One of the obstacles in the selling of this movie to the industry at large is that everyone says, 'Oh, well, The Matrix did it already.' Because The Matrix – the very word 'matrix' – is taken from Neuromancer, they stole that word, I can't use it in our movie.
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Even the seeds of his concepts, however, sprout resonant ideas that the biggest special effects can't destroy, and they have pollinated the creative ground of many other films, from the moral quandaries posed by technology in 'The 6th Day' to the paranoia and sanity-threatening conspiracies of 'The Truman Show' and 'The Matrix.'
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There was also debate over the style of the film's fight sequences, thanks to the new standard set by The Matrix, which hit while X-Men was in pre-production. Hence, the movie features some high-flying Matrix-y martial-arts choreography by Corey Yuen (Romeo Must Die).
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Bibliography[edit]
- Babenko, Yelyzaveta (2011). Analysis of the Film the Matrix. GRIN Verlag. ISBN9783640912858.
- Clover, Joshua (2004). The Matrix. BFI. ISBN9781844570454.
- Condon, Paul (2003). The Matrix Unlocked: An Unauthorized Review of the Matrix Phenomenon. Contender Books. ISBN9781843570936.
- Irwin, William (2002). The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real. Open Court. ISBN9780812695021.
- Jones, Steven E. (2006). Against Technology: From the Luddites to Neo-Luddism. Routledge. ISBN9780415978682.
- Pegg, Simon (2010). Nerd Do Well. Century. ISBN9781846058110.
- Toropov, Brandon; Hansen, Chad (2002). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Taoism. Penguin. ISBN9780028642628.
- Wachowski, Larry; Wachowski, Andy (2000). The Art of The Matrix. Titan. ISBN9781840231731.
- Wood, Aylish (2007). Digital Encounters. Routledge. ISBN9780415410663.
Neo Dodges Bullets
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Matrix. |
Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Matrix (film) |
- Official website
- whatisthematrix.com, the first and original Matrix website
- The Matrix on IMDb
- The Matrix at the Internet Movie Firearms Database
- The Matrix at AllMovie
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