The Matrix

Corrected entry: In the rooftop shootout the agent has lightning reactions which enable him to dodge Neo's bullets. However, despite having the entire time that it takes Trinity to say "Dodge this", he is unable to react quickly enough to escape being shot. (01:42:20)

Correction: The agents can dodge bullets because the bullets have to follow a pre-set pattern, being programs within the Matrix, so the agents can predict them. Human actions (punches, kicks, sword strikes, etc.) can't be predicted, so the agents, being limited by their programming, can't necessarily react fast enough.

Corrected entry: When Neo is in his cube and the fedex guy brings him his cell phone, neo is busy working on his computer. However you can clearly see that the computer is turned off.

Correction: He's not actually working at his computer. He's not typing or using the mouse. It looks like he's contemplating what his boss just told him.

Corrected entry: Tank brings up a schematic on a computer screen that says "eleventh floor," but the Agents trace Morpheus' call and say that they are on the eighth floor.

Correction: Tank's looking for information about the building and is trying to find the 'main wet wall' as Morpheus has asked. As this wall runs up the entire building it's immaterial which level's floor plan he looks at to get the information.

Corrected entry: Those pillars that got shot up when Neo and Trinity get into a shootout in the government building where Morpheus is held sure heal fast - they're fine when they show the elevator crashing to the ground later and flames pour out around pillars that are brand new.

Correction: When the doors of the elevator are closing, three pillars on the right side are not damaged. This are the pillars you can see during the explosion. The pillars on the left also can be seen, but they are damaged correctly.

Corrected entry: Security building scene - as Neo runs he is shown from a side view and the columns are shatering with bullet holes but there isn't one single bullet impact on the wall behind him. The wall is crystal clear.

Correction: There are various holes and chips out of the back wall, generally behind Neo - it's just hard to tell because of all the dust.

Corrected entry: When Neo is in the ship and they are all at the table eating, the food is described to him as a "single-celled protein..." This is a nonsense statement, single-celled is not an applicable description of a protein.

Correction: Actually, "single cell protein" (which is what I hear them saying on the soundtrack) is a perfectly legitimate nutritional term. It refers to protein extracted from single-celled life, usually yeast grown in vats. The protein itself is not much different from any other dietary protein, but growing it in a vat may make it cheap or convenient, especially on a spacecraft or in a similar futuristic setting. Right now it's mostly used for animal feed.

Corrected entry: When they strap Neo into the chair for the first time to send him to the loading program, they strap his feet down with metal cuffs. When he bolts out of the chair, he is not held down by the cuffs.

Correction: They seem to be foot clips rather than major restraints, to prevent casual slippage. When he comes out of the construct and the brain spike's removed, there's another metal clunking noise which could be him kicking his way out of the clips.

Corrected entry: When Neo is pinwheeling his arms to avoid hitting the passing subway train, frame advance reveals the train to be completely devoid of passengers. But when the train stops and Agent Smith emerges from the back door, several people can be clearly seen sitting in the train.

Correction: Frame advance reveals the train to be completely devoid of passengers in the first couple of cars, yes. The passenger-filled cars are near the end of the subway train, which hadn't arrived in the station yet. By the time the train actually stops, the cars that are actually in the station area are the ones that have passengers in them. In other words, the empty cars in the "pinwheeling" shot are not the same ones that are stopped in the station when Agent Smith exits the train.

Correction: The only clear shot we get of the phone booth is just before Neo's running/jumping multi-kick to Smith's chest, and there's a clear bullet hole through the glass.

Corrected entry: During the shooting scene in the federal building, the camera cuts to a view right behind some guards legs. Neo comes cartwheeling around a pillar and starts shooting. If you slow it down, one of the guards starts falling as if he was shot before Neo even starts shooting at them.

Correction: Before the gun comes into shot, there's a flash offscreen - we can assume he's firing almost as soon as he grabs the gun.

Corrected entry: In the scene when the gang are in the bathroom wall, the soldier enters it and the toilet seat is down, then in the next shot it's up.

Correction: The first policemen is on the upper floor, where there's the hole in the wall (through which they climbed into the wall). The second shot shows a different policemen on a floor below. So the toilet seat is different.

Corrected entry: When Trinity removes the bug from Neo, you can see that the bug is still in its "activated" form and that it is covered in flesh and blood. Trinity immediately throws the bug out the window - the bug is now in its "deactivated" mode and completely clean. (00:24:51)

Correction: The bug only seems to be "alive" to Neo, but is in fact steel and glass. The Matrix makes him see it as a living creature, but once it is out of his sight and out onto the pavement, the bug takes its true form - steel and glass.

Corrected entry: According to the explanations given to us in the movie, the matrix is a computer generated world that is fed to a person's brain. This also means that anything you think or do, is processed by The Matrix, and the appropriate response is fed to your brain. This opens up a whole can of worms. If Morpheus and his team, are jacked into the Matrix, then they must rely on The Matrix to feed them whatever they see and feel, thus The Matrix must know exactly where they are at any given moment, what they are doing and what they are feeling, in order to provide every person with the correct feed. If this is true, then why does it need Agents to look for intruders, when it so obviously already knows where they are? On the same subject, why would the Agents need to interrogate Neo or Morpheus? They are already jacked into the Matrix so the Matrix already knows everything they know. Yet another Buick sized plot hole, if you ask me...

Correction: The matrix probably knows everything, but the matrix is just a program run by the machines. Thus the agents need to interrogate Morpheus, since they are not part of the matrix, but machines "jacked in", just like Neo and Morpheus. Also, Neo and Morpheus didn't "enter" the Matrix, they hacked into it, using the computer on their ship. Therefore, the agents could only find them if and when they are spotted, doing something unusual, like shooting up the guards. This is similar to real hacking - no-one can spot a hacker, unless he actually does something, usually illegal. Note also, that agents had those little devices they attached to their ear - this was how they tapped into the Matrix computer, similar to the plugs that the main characters had to insert in the back of their heads.

Correction: Because Neo's the One, so can control the gun accurately enough.

Correction: Cypher makes the deal with Agent Smith while the rest of the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar are asleep - this is fairly obvious since the previous scene ends with Cypher wishing Neo 'sweet dreams'. The directors have said that when Neo disturbs Cypher (and Cypher suspiciously switches off most of the monitors) he's setting up an automated system to jack him in and out of the matrix. We don't know exactly how that would work, but then again we don't have to...

Corrected entry: In the beginning, when Neo is dodging the agents by running through the cubicles into an empty bathroom, he runs into/by a guy at the copy machine. How come the agents didn't "see" Neo through the copy machine guy?

Correction: They weren't looking. They didn't think he would be able to hide so there was no reason to look through others.

Corrected entry: I like how in the movie the agents continue to use one hand to shoot .50AE desert eagles and there being very little recoil. I shot one of these guns before at a gun range and I'm no weak guy even with two hands the gun had a wicked recoil.

Correction: The agents know they are within the matrix and are able to "bend" the rules. Note the super-human strength and agility. A little thing like the recoil of a handgun is not going to bother them.

Corrected entry: In the scene where Neo receives the mobile phone in the Fed Ex package, the phone that slides out is a Nokia 8110. When the phone rings he holds it to his ear and presses the button to extend the flap, this feature is on the Nokia 7110 only. The 8110 cover flap does slide down but only manually.

Correction: It is possible to get one that extends automatically - whether a new cover or an adjustment, I don't know.

Corrected entry: If an Agent can be anyone still attatched to the Matrix, why do they always appear as the same individuals? Why not just take on the form of someone else and sneak on their prey?

Correction: There's no point as they can be detected as agents regardless of their "digital self". In the opening scene Trinity asks Morpheus if there are any agents, he replies "Yes."

Corrected entry: If you look carefully at the scene where Neo bursts in room 303 and gets shot by the agent, you can see that there is already blood on the wall before Neo bumps against it.

Correction: It's caused by the exit wound from the first shot.

The Matrix mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Agent Smith is interrogating Neo, after Smith has sealed Neo's mouth shut and he is backed into the corner, when the camera cuts back to Smith you can clearly see a reflection in his glasses of Neo still sitting down in the chair. (00:19:50)

More mistakes in The Matrix

Morpheus: You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

More quotes from The Matrix

Trivia: It's been said that Neo is an anagram for "one". I think it's more important to realise that Neo means "new". His real name is Thomas Anderson. He is called Thomas at the beginning of the movie, when he doubts the truth -- that the world as he knows it is not real. Thomas is the "doubting" disciple in the Bible. Moreover, Anderson means "son of man". Hence, Neo Anderson is the New Son of Man. The biblical references go on and on... Trinity, Nebucadnezzar (the name of the ship -- in fact, the name plate on the ship makes reference to a verse in Mark chapter 3), Zion... So not only is Neo "the One", he has gone from being the doubter to the new son of man.

More trivia for The Matrix

Question: How did Neo know about the existence of the Matrix if he was stuck in the Matrix for most of his life?

Answer: He doesn't know that he's plugged into a giant computer and that most of humanity is a power source for robots. He's merely aware that there is something wrong with life in general, something odd that he can't quite explain.

Gary O'Reilly

More questions & answers from The Matrix

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