Agent Brown : The name is Neo... Agent Smith : We'll need a search running.. Agent Jones : It has already begun. Neo : What? On the computer, now appears 'The Matrix has you...' Neo : What the hell? On the computer, now appears 'Follow the white rabbit...' Neo : Follow the white rabbit? Trinity : Hello Neo. Neo : How do you know that name?
Trinity : I know a lot about you. Neo :Who are you? Trinity : My name is Trinity. Neo : Trinity..._The_ Trinity? That cracked the IRS d-base? Trinity : That was a long time ago. Neo : Jesus! Trinity : They're watching you, Neo. Neo : Who is? Trinity : Please, just listen. I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, and why night after night you sit at your computer. You're looking for him. I know, because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him, I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did... Neo : What is the Matrix?
Agent Smith : As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, _Mr._ Anderson. It seems you have been living..two lives. In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a _respectable_ software company....you have a social security number, you pay your taxes, and you...help your landlady carry out her _garbage_. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias 'Neo', and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for. One of these lives has a future....the other does _not_... I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, _Mr._ Anderson. You're here because we need your help. We know that you've been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself...Morpheus.
Agent Smith : Tell me, _Mr._ Anderson, what good is a phone call...if you are unable to speak. The question unnerves Neo and strangely, he begins to feel the muscles in his jaw tighten. Neo feels his lips grow soft and sticky as they slowly seal shut, melding into each other until all trace of his mouth is gone. Agent Smith : You're going to help us, _Mr._ Anderson, whether _you_ like it or not. Smith nods and the other two rip open his shirt. From a case taken out of his suit coat, Smith removes a long, fibre-optic wire tap. Neo struggles helplessly as Smith dangles the wire over his exposed abdomen. Horrified, he watches as the electronic device animates, become an organic creature that resembles a hybrid of an insect and a fluke worm. Thin, whisker-like tendrils reach out and probe into Neo's navel. He bucks wildly as Smith drops the creature which looks for a moment like an uncut umbilical cord - Before it begins to burrow, its tail thrashing as it worms its way inside.
Neo : Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my own life. Morpheus : I know..._exactly_ what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something _wrong_ with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there...like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you _know_ what I'm talking about? Neo : The Matrix? Morpheus : Do you want to know...._what_ _it_ is....? Neo nods Morpheus : The Matrix is everywhere. It's all around us, even in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. The Matrix is the world that has been pulled over your eyes, to blind you from the truth.
Neo : What truth? Morpheus : That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison...for your mind....Unfortunately, no one can be..._told_ what the Matrix is...you have to see it for yourself. Morpheus opens a container which holds two pills : a blue one, and a red one. He puts one in each hand, and holds them out to Neo. Morpheus : This is your _last chance_. After this, there is no turning back.....You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up and believe...whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill.....you stay in wonderland...and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes. Neo pauses for an instant, then reaches for the red pill. He swallows it down with a glass of water, and looks at Morpheus. Morpheus : Remember...all I'm offering you is the truth : nothing more.
Morpheus : Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference, between the dream world...and the real world....? As Neo pulls away, the strands thin like rubber cement as he pulls away, until the fragile wisps of mirror break, and only a tiny fragment of the liquid is left. He looks at it, and it begins to consume his hand, crawling up his arm. He squirms. Trinity : It's going into replication! The mirror liquid pours down Neo's throat, as he screams, and we travel down his throat with it, and then get swallowed by total darkness. We emerge in a cocoon filled with a red gelatine-like liquid. Neo is attached to the sides of it by wires, tubes and things which look like IV lines. He struggles, air bubbles into the gelatine, but does not break the surface. As he presses up, the surface distends, stretching like a red rubber cocoon. Unable to breathe, he fights for stand, and eventually ruptures the surface, creating a hole which he uses to gasp for air. Tearing himself free,
Morpheus : Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection...of your digital self. Two chairs appear in front of them, and Neo reaches out to touch one. He runs his hand along it's back. Neo : This....this isn't real? Morpheus looks at him Morpheus : What _is_ real? How do you _define_ real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. A television appears in front of the two chairs, as Neo sits down in the chair beside Morpheus. Morpheus picks up the television control and turns it on. Morpheus : _This_ is the world that you know. The world as it was at the end of the twentieth century. It exists now only as part of a neuralinteractive simulation, that _we_ call the Matrix.
Morpheus : You've been living in a dream world, Neo. This...is the world as it exists today. Morpheus changes the channel on the television. Morpheus : Welcome.....to the desert of the real...We have only bits and pieces of information, but what we know for certain is that some point in the early twenty-first century all of mankind was united in celebration. We marvelled at our own magnificence.... Neo looks confused Morpheus : .....as we gave birth...to A.I. Neo : A.I. - you mean Artificial Intelligence? Morpheus : A singular consciousness that spawned an entire race of machines. We don't know who struck first - us, or them. But we know it was us that scorched the sky. At the time they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. Neo stares at Morpheus, with his mouth open.
Morpheus : The human generates more bioelectricity than 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTVs of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion, the machines have found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields...endless fields, were human beings are no longer born. We are grown. For longest time, I wouldn't believe it...and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watch them liquefy the dead, so they could be fed intravenously to the living. And standing there, facing the pure horrifying precision, I came to realize the obviousness of the truth. What is The Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world, built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this. Morpheus holds up a battery to Neo Neo begins to panic. Neo : No....I don't believe it!! It's not possible. Morpheus : I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.
Morpheus : When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth : 'As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free.' After he died, the Oracle prophesied his return, and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire _lives_ searching the Matrix, looking for him. I did what I did because...I believe that search is over. Morpheus stands up Morpheus : Get some rest..you're going to need it. Neo : For what? Morpheus : Your training. Morpheus : The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around. What do you see? Business people, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy.
Spoon Boy : Do not try and bend the spoon...that's impossible. _Instead_ only try to realize the truth... Neo : What truth? Spoon Boy : There is no spoon. Neo : There is no spoon? Spoon Boy : Then you will see, it is not the _spoon_ that bends, it is only yourself. Agent Smith : Have you ever stood and...stared at it? _marvelled_ at its beauty? Billions of people, just...living out their lives.. oblivious. Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none _suffered_, where everyone would be.._happy_. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program, entire crops were lost. Some believed that we lacked the programming language to _describe_ your perfect world...But _I_ believe, that as a species, human beings define their reality through _misery_ and suffering. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to _this_, the peak of your civilization. I say _your_ civilization, because as soon as we started thinking _for_ you, it really became _our_ civilization.
Neo : I know you're out there...I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid. You're afraid of us, you're afraid of change...I don't know the future...I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end, I came here to tell you how this is going to begin. Now, I'm going to hang up this phone, and I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you...a world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world...where anything is possible.
Morpheus: Zion! Hear me! It is true, what many of you have heard. The machines have gathered an army, and as I speak that army is drawing nearer to our home. Crowd: [whispers] Believe me when I say we have a difficult time ahead of us. But if we are to be prepared for it, we must first shed our fear of it! I stand here before you now, truthfully unafraid. Why? Because I believe something you do not? No! I stand here without fear because I
remember. I remember that I am here not because of the path that lies before me, but because of the path that lies behind me! I remember that for 100 years we have fought these machines. I remember that for 100 years they have send their armies to destroy us. And after a century of war, I remember that which matters most. We are still here!
Morpheus: Consider what we have seen, Councillor. Consider that in the past 6 months we have freed more minds than in 6 years. This attack is an act of desperation. I believe very soon the prophecy will be fulfilled and this war will end.
The Oracle: We're all here to do what we're all here to do. I'm interested in one thing, Neo, the future. And believe me, I know - the only way to get there is together. Neo: Are there other programs like you? The Oracle: Oh, well, not like me. But... Look, see those birds? At some point a program was written to govern them. A program was written to watch over the trees, and the wind, the sunrise, and sunset. There are programs running all over the place. The ones doing their job, doing what they were meant to do, are invisible. You'd never even know they were here. But the other ones, well, we hear about them all the time. Neo: I've never heard of them. The Oracle: Of course you have. Every time you've heard someone say they saw a ghost, or an angel. Every story you've ever heard about vampires, werewolves, or aliens is the system assimilating some program that's doing something they're not supposed to be doing. Neo: Programs hacking programs. Why? The Oracle: They have their reasons, but usually a program chooses exile when it faces deletion.
Neo: And why would a program be deleted? The Oracle: Maybe it breaks down. Maybe a better program is created to replace it - happens all the time, and when it does, a program can either choose to hide here, or return to The Source.
Link: Whoever it is, he's not reading like an agent. Smith: Surprised to see me? Neo: No. Smith: Then you're aware of it. Neo: Of what? Smith: Our connection. I don't fully understand how it happened. Perhaps some part of you imprinted onto me, something overwritten or copied. That is at this point irrelevant, what matters is that whatever happened, happened for a reason. Neo: And what reason is that? Smith: I killed you, Mister Anderson, I watched you die... With a certain satisfaction, I might add, and then something happened. Something that I knew was impossible, but it happened anyway. You destroyed me, Mister Anderson. Afterward, I knew the rules, I understood what I was supposed to do but I didn't. I couldn't. I was compelled to stay, compelled to disobey. And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed - I'm unplugged - a new man, so to speak, like you, apparently free.
Neo: Congratulations. Smith: Thank you. But as you well know, appearances can be deceiving, which brings me back to the reason why we're here. We're not here because we're free, we're here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose - because as we both know, without purpose, we would not exist. Smith 2: It is purpose that created us, Smith 3: Purpose that connects us, Smith 4: Purpose that pulls us, Smith 5: That guides us, Smith 6: That drives us, Smith 7: It is purpose that defines, Smith 8: Purpose that binds us. Smith: We're here because of you, Mister Anderson, we're here to take from you what you tried to take from us. Purpose.
Architect: Hello, Neo. Neo: Who are you? Architect: I am the Architect. I created the Matrix. I've been waiting for you.
You have many questions, and though the process has altered your consciousness, you remain irrevocably human. Ergo some of my answers you will understand, and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first question may be the most pertinent, you may or may not realize it is also the most irrelevant. Neo: Why am I here? Architect: Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which, despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably... here.
Neo: You haven't answered my question. Architect: Quite right. Interesting. That was quicker than the others. TV Neos: Others? How many others? What others? Answer my question! Architect: The Matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the 6th version. TV Neos: 5 `One's before me? 4 3 2 What are you talking about? Neo: There are only two possible explanations, either no one told me, or no one knows. Architect: Precisely. As you are undoubtedly gathering, the anomaly is systemic - creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations. Neo: Choice. The problem is choice.
Architect: The first Matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect, it was a work of art - flawless, sublime. A triumph equalled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is apparent to me now as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature. However, I was again frustrated by failure. I have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required a lesser mind, or perhaps a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus the answer was stumbled upon by another - an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother. Neo: The Oracle.
Architect: Please. As I was saying, she stumbled upon a solution whereby nearly 99% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly, that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster. Neo: This is about Zion.
Architect: You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed - its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated. Neo: Bullshit. TV Neos: Bullshit! Architect: Denial is the most predictable of all human responses, but rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it. Architect: The function of the One is now to return to the Source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which, you will be required to select from the Matrix 23 individuals - 16 female, 7 male - to rebuild Zion. Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash, killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which, coupled with the extermination of Zion, will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.
Architect: Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed, and the anomaly revealed as both beginning and end. There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the Source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to your left leads back to the Matrix, to her and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the problem is choice. But we already know what you are going to do, don't we? Already, I can see the chain reaction - the chemical precursors that signal the onset of an emotion, designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason - an emotion that is already blinding you from the simple and obvious truth. She is going to die, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
Architect: Hope. It is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength and your greatest weakness. Neo: If I were you, I would hope that we don't meet again. Architect: We won't.
Dali
WARNER BROS ANDY WACHOWSKI LARRY WACHOWSKI