Film Review - Structures - The Matrix

 The Matrix is a sci-fi film released in 1999 directed by the Wachowski Brothers. This film seems to align more with the three-act structure and not the five-act structure.

Act 1

The film begins with Neo leading a seemingly ordinary life, unknowingly inside of the Matrix. The Matrix is a virtual reality created by robots where most of the humans left on earth now reside. This first act of the film exposes the real world and the falsehood of the reality he thought was real originally. The first incidents to be incited are when Neo starts to notice things are a bit unusual, as he starts noticing more and more glitches in the Matrix. Eventually Neo comes across Morpheus who presents him with the choice of the red pill or the blue pill. The blue pill causes him to remain in the false reality, and the red pill will awaken him to his true surroundings. This is the point in the film where everything changes as Neo has to make this difficult decision. Morpheus believes that Neo is the chosen one and the only person capable of saving humanity. So when Neo decides to take the red pill is when the adventure begins. The character's world is shaken up and reality is no longer real.

Act 2

Act 2 begins from the moment Neo takes the red pill and has a sudden awakening to the real world. From here on Neo begins to learn about the matrix and how humans are farmed for energy by robots. Morpheus as the mentor in this story teaches Neo how to fight in the matrix and tries to teach him how to understand the matrix, for if he can fully understand it, as the chosen one he will be able to control the matrix and warp it for himself. Through learning this you can see Neo's confusion, and as the audience we also share this experience of confusion as it is a hard concept to wrap your head around. Neo is given martial arts training through the press of the button and programming it into him, so that when he enters the matrix he automatically knows how to fight. He goes on to learn that if he dies in the Matrix, he will die in the real world. While Neo is learning all of this we learn that Cypher (another human in the real world) is conspiring with Agent Smith to undermine the others. This is the first sign that Cypher will end up double-crossing the rest of the humans. After all of his training, Neo eventually goes to meet 'The Oracle'. From here on the story starts to move rapidly as more is revealed and the characters are put into danger when they enter the matrix. And when they escape the matrix into the real world they have to deal with Cypher who is trying to betray them. The point when Cypher murders some of the crew and attempts to murder the rest can be seen as the second plot point where stories develop from.

Act 3

The point when Neo tries to save Morpheus who is stuck in the matrix can be seen as the beginning of the third act. Tensions begin to increase as there is only more action. Intense chase and fight scenes follow, but as the others manage to get out of the matrix, Agent Smith destroys the phone box that Neo was about to use to escape. This leads to an intense fight scene in a subway station beteen Neo and Agent Smith. While all of this is going on in the matrix, the robots known as sentinels are threatening to destroy Morpheus' ship. The only way to stop the robots is with an electromagnetic pulse blast that would destroy all technology, but this would also kill Neo who is still stuck in the matrix, so they have to do their best to hold off from the sentinels while Neo tries to escape. Eventually Neo comes to believe that he is in fact the chosen one, and takes control of the matrix. This twist in the story allows Neo to triumph over Agent Smith which once seemed an impossible task.