Cinema Science Cracking the Code of The Matrix
The Matrix (Lana & Lilly Wachowski, 1999) remains a rare 1990s blockbuster to have aged well. In an era of franchise films and intimidating special-effects budgets, the spark of originality that ignited the cyberpunk classic has endured where its contemporaries have largely slid into obscurity. The Matrix – filmed largely in Sydney – is well crafted, distinctive and engaging throughout, filled with compelling ideas and exciting action. Though its sequels aren’t quite of the same pedigree, it’s been durable enough to warrant a continuation, still filming at the time of writing.1
The film’s also jam-packed with intriguing scientific ideas, falling neatly in the middle ground between ‘hard’ science fiction – a subgenre driven by near-academic obsession with scientific accuracy – and the more accessible end of the genre. Sure, the Wachowskis’ screenplay dabbles in ideas about how neural pathways and computers could program human memory … but, in practice, that means that Keanu Reeves now knows kung-fu.
With all that scientific goodness in its marrow and lowbrow thrills on the surface, can be leveraged as a compelling hook for a secondary Science lesson. I don’t know that I’d recommend screening the entirety of the film in the classroom, mind you. Its duration exceeds two hours, cutting into necessary curriculum time. Furthermore, some of its scenes of gun
