I Watched The Matrix with My Mom

Y'all wanna guess where I was this Valentine's Day? Seriously, go on. Do it.

It wasn't at no fancy restaurant. I didn't book a moonlit gondola ride, or a hot air balloon voyage around the city. But I did have dinner with a beautiful woman, though ...

It was my mom. At her house. Very exciting, I know.

Before you guys start mocking me, lemme ask you a question ... when was the last time YOU called your mothers, huh? HUH???

Yeah, that's what I thought. Pipe down.

Anyway, afterwards we're deciding what to watch, and instead of a sappy romcom, or even Love Actually (who cares that it's a Christmas movie?? You can watch it anytime in our house!), we settled on an all-time classic: The Matrix.

Hey, there's a romance subplot involved! And a huge kiss at the end! Yeah, that's right, I said it: The Matrix is a Valentine's Day movie.

Because what's more romantic than saving the world from killer oppressive robots??

While I'm only partially kidding, I do feel like this movie needs to be revisited often, because frankly, there's a lot that can be learned from it. In fact, I was reminded of quite a few things on this very go-round.

Starting with:

1) A TRULY UNIQUE CONCEPT IS WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD

I've gone on record many times saying that any story can be great with the right execution (and yes, I still believe that). But it's also undeniable that some concepts are better than others.

I read dozens of loglines a month. Especially when we're in Film and TV contest judging season. And I'll be honest, most loglines are just ... bleh. They're fine. They do an adequate job of summarizing the story and what you're about to read. But 98% of them don't pop. Like, at all.

The Matrix doesn't have that problem. In fact, I'd dare to say that it has one of the best concepts ever conceived. It basically goes something like this:

"The world we live in isn't real. Everything you see, smell, taste, and touch is a computer simulation, created by hyper-intelligent robots to keep humans under control. And there's a band of renegade heroes working in the shadows to free us all."

What a killer freaking idea. (Note to my editor: notice how I didn't curse there, Jeanne?? I'm growing!!)

What makes this premise so good is the fact that literally everyone can relate to it. It takes something that everyone is familiar with (the "real" world) and puts a unique spin on it. While it might not seem that groundbreaking in 2025, I promise you that when this movie was released, this was The Sixth Sense level original. NOBODY had thought of our world in this way before. And that's what made this stand out.

The concept was flat-out undeniable. And that's part of what made it such a big hit with audiences.

There were other aspects too, for sure … New technology (bullet time), great acting and directing, and a visual style that just slays. But the concept all but assured that this was going to be something special. At the end of the day, concept really is king.

Now does that mean if you don't have a killer concept that your project is dead in the water? Of course not. There's only so many "smack-you-in-the-face-with-its-awesomeness" ideas out there. But it does go to show how writers can create more dynamic projects in the future.

Take something that a large swath of the population is familiar with. Ask yourself "what if?" over and over and over again. Try to think about something benign and average in a different way. Find that unique angle that nobody has ever thought of before. This is what will get you attention in the crowded Hollywood landscape.

However, none of this would have been possible without a top-tier screenplay to go along with that killer idea. And while watching this movie again, one thing really stood out to me about this script's construction ...

2) EVERY CHARACTER (NOT JUST THE PROTAGONIST) HAS A GOAL

One of my favorite topics in these articles (and when giving feedback in the Script Pipeline Workshop) is hammering home how important it is for protagonists in films to have clear goals. It's unequivocally essential for your plot to function at a high level. There's no way around it. It's one of the primary topics I talk about (seriously, you can look at a litany of other articles I've written to read more about it).

However, because I so often am required to go over the fundamental basics of narrative storytelling, I rarely get a chance to go deeper. And believe you me ... there is more to a story than just what your protagonist wants.

EVERY character should have a goal they want to achieve. Yes, each and every one (aside from the pizza delivery boy whose only there for one scene ... he doesn't count).

If you've ever gotten a note that says, "your ensemble feels flat," I'd be willing to bet this is part of the problem. Because to have realistic and well-rounded characters, they all need to have dreams and ambitions they are working towards.

And that's true to life, right? Everyone you pass on the street, or in the mall, or at your school, or in your gym ... they all want something. Whether it's to find love, get a good grade, buy that cool pair of Nikes, start a business, or become a damn astronaut. Different things are important to different people, and the more you can bring out those desires on the page, the more dynamic your story is going to be.

The Matrix does this to perfection. Literally everyone in this story has a goal. Every last person. And that's one of the reasons why it's so good.

Before I go further, though, let's cover another facet of narrative goal setting. It's imperative that characters have a goal ... but it's also totally okay for that goal to change as the story progresses. AS LONG AS the new goal is somehow tied to the original one, you're A-OK Jose. And this happens in the first Matrix movie, multiple times.

What ISN'T okay is if a character has a problem on page 30, his goal is to solve it, and he achieves that on page 35. Then for the rest of the script he has nothing to do. That's just boring. If a character gets what he wants at some point in the story, then he/she MUST find a new goal.  

Must, must, must.

Neo, is the perfect example of this, as he has a different goal in each act. In Act One, his goal is clear: figure out what The Matrix is. He's been longing for that answer for a while, and ends up going to the goth bar, meeting with Trinity, and she takes him to see Morpheus. Who promptly pulls him out of the Matrix, brings him into the real world, and shows him the truth of things.

BAM. By page 40ish of this script, Neo has gotten what he wanted. He now knows what the Matrix is. But does he just sit on his hands for the next 70 pages doing diddly-squat all? No! His goal changes, because Morpheus tells him that he is "The One."

Neo's goal then becomes, "I have to learn the ways of the Matrix in order to complete my destiny." The second act is all about this journey ... he learns Jiu Jitsu by having a program downloaded into his brain, learns about the agents and how powerful they are, tries (and fails) the jump program, and goes to see the Oracle. Throughout the entire middle of the narrative, Neo is struggling to get what he wants.

SIDE NOTE: As someone who actively trains jiu-jitsu, you have no idea how much I wish it could just be downloaded into my brain. I would give up so much money for this power.

Back to the point though, in the third act his goal changes yet again! Because Morpheus gets captured by the agents. So, his goal then shifts to, "I need to rescue Morpheus."

Throughout this entire story, Neo is active. He's not always active towards the same thing, but he's constantly doing something. And that's one of the reasons he's such a good hero.

Ahhh, but we've only covered one person here. The layers of this film go so much deeper than that. Because we have more people in this cast than just Neo. There's also ...

MORPHEUS: His goal is to save humanity from the machines. And this manifests in his pursuit to find "The One." He literally says he's dedicated his life to this. And once he finds Neo and successfully pulls him out, his goal becomes, "I need to train The One."

TRINITY (but really, all the characters on Morpheus' crew): I'm lumping all these people together because they play the same role ... they're supporting characters. And they all support Morpheus in his pursuit of The One. However, Trinity has some depth to her, too. Once Morpheus gets captured, her goal shifts to supporting Neo in getting him back.

CYPHER: Ah, the dastardly Cypher. He wants something different than the rest of the gang. He wants to get put back into the Matrix. He's tired of grinding it out on the Nebuchadnezzar and taking order from Morpheus. He wants the illusion again. And his actions in this story support that desire.

He meets with Agent Smith in secret to fill him in on Morpheus' plan and betrays his boss by leading the bad guys right to their location. While he certainly fails in his goal, that's okay. He still had one, and that's what makes him memorable.

THE AGENTS: Agent Smith takes on the role as the face of the antagonists here, but this could really apply to any of them. Their goal is to squash the human resistance and destroy Zion to ensure machine domination over the human race. This objective takes the form of ‘capture Morpheus.’ And once they've done that, their goal shifts: extract the codes to Zion's mainframe from Morpheus' mind.

As you can see, the Wachowskis expertly wove multiple dreams and desires into their cast here and elevated the entire product because of it. The depth of character is second-to-none in this film, and that's why it remains the best of the franchise.

3) THE THEME LEADS THE WAY (AND IS DONE AMAZINGLY WELL)

One of my favorite articles I've written for this website was on the topic of theme (and Godzilla ... he was there, too). And the first Matrix movie is an excellent example of how integrating a theme makes your story infinitely more dynamic.

Before I go on, let me ask this: what is the theme of The Matrix?

Literally, stop reading for a second and think. Even write it down if you want to. Because this next step is what separates the contenders from the pretenders.

It is, essentially, a faith-based film.

This is a movie about the second coming of Christ.

Are you surprised by that? I would imagine most people are. Because the name "Jesus" isn't uttered once by a single character in the entire two hour and sixteen-minute runtime.

But make no mistake, faith, salvation, and the son of God are all over this movie. Expertly woven into the fabric of the narrative.

At the end of the first act, Morpheus sits with Neo, just after the iconic scene where Keanu Reeves learns what the Matrix is. Morpheus explains the concept of "The One," how long ago there was a man in the Matrix who was different than all the rest. He "had the power to change whatever he wanted," and he "freed the first of us." He was the beginning of the human resistance against the machines, and the Oracle prophesized his return.

Morpheus is talking about Jesus. The man who turned water into wine, walked across a raging ocean, and brought people back from the dead. In this universe, Jesus is a man who could see the code of the Matrix and manipulate it.

Neo, as Morpheus describes it, is Christ reborn. He is the second coming.

The biblical references don't end there, though. Morpheus' ship is named "Nebuchadnezzar" a king who appeared in the Book of Daniel. And the human stronghold is a city called Zion, which is the name of a mountain that appears over 150 times in the good book.

Hell, Neo even dies in the third act and comes back to life. Do you know who else achieved that exact same feat?

That's right. Jesus.

The creators of this film knew that if they outright made this movie about faith or Jesus or anything biblical, that it would have been much harder to get made. So, they buried that idea deeply into the screenplay. So deeply that it might take multiple viewings to see it. But the fact that it's there ... that everything in this story has a deeper meaning ... makes it so much better, in my opinion.

The days of blockbuster movies having a theme are mostly gone now. Now, studio productions are usually mindless entertainment. But the reason that The Matrix lives on today is due in no small part to the fact that is has a theme. This allows the story to stick in people's minds forever.

Now, I know that was a lot of information for one article. And I apologize for that. I wish you all could just download it straight into your brains. Sadly, our technology is still catching up in that regard.

But you know who y'all can catch up with? Your mothers. So, call them, right now. You'll be happy you did.

And don't forget to tell them how The Matrix is secretly a Valentine's Day movie. ;)

Godspeed y'all, and happy writing.