The Matrix series is full of unforgettable action scenes, amazing effects, and super
hot actors. As a result, these movies give us plenty of excuses to freeze the action
for a closer look, and we’ve collected the most paused moments from the Matrix series
right here.
While she was largely unknown before The Matrix, Carrie-Anne Moss won over audiences with her
portrayal of Trinity, the enigmatic hacker who guides Neo on his first steps towards
discovering the truth of his cyberpunk world. It's easy to see why, too: she's one of the
few characters in fiction who's cool enough to pull off sunglasses at night, and it doesn't
hurt that she's accessorizing with a walking arsenal.
She's also one of the first major characters we meet. She shows up in the opening scene
of the trilogy. She's on the run from the police, and it quickly becomes apparent that
the cops aren't the most dangerous things chasing her. It's during this showdown that
Trinity immediately became a fan favorite, thanks to her serious demeanor, the high-stakes
fight with the authorities, and those incredible martial arts moves. From the very first moments
of the film, she helps draw us into a world that's stranger and more complicated than
we ever imagined.
What makes this truly worth pausing for, though are the special effects. It's right here in
the opening that audiences, worldwide, were introduced to the groundbreaking, innovative
camera techniques of the Wachowski sisters' masterpiece trilogy. The use of multiple
cameras to capture a seamless, 360-degree view of the action changed cinema forever.
Today, the techniques that were showcased in this movie are used all across the world
of cinema and taught at film schools everywhere, and this is the moment that first showed us
what was possible. It's one of the greatest action movie openings ever, and well worth
taking some time to appreciate.
There's nothing like some good, old-fashioned body horror to get the blood pumping and to
stun viewers into hitting the pause button. Need proof? Okay, let's talk about one of
the most messed-up moments in sci-fi history.
Neo — played, of course, by the iconic and seemingly ageless Keanu Reeves — has delved
into the seedy underworld and the darkest corners of the dark web looking for the answer
to the question that keeps him up at night: What is the Matrix? He's almost ready to leave
his old life, one of boredom, isolation, wasted potential, and endless corporate servitude,
behind. And that's when the ominous and threatening Agent Smith comes calling, tracking Neo to
where he works and capturing him despite the intervention of Morpheus. And that's when
things get interesting.
"Tell me, Mr. Anderson: what good is a phone call if you're unable to speak?"
Based on what we've seen so far, we definitely expect Neo to refuse to give in when the Agents
attempt to intimidate him into compliance with whatever sinister plans they have for
him. What we don't expect is our first glimpse of just how powerful the agents can be. Without
even making a single gesture, the mysterious bad guys shut Neo up.... completely. Agent
Smith zips Neo's mouth closed faster than you can say "absolute nightmare," melting
his flesh together as Neo, powerless, tries and fails to scream.
On a pure horror level, It's the scariest thing that happens in the entire trilogy,
and we've got to pause it just to catch our breath.
The scene where Morpheus offers Neo the choice to learn the truth about his reality or go
back to his everyday life, symbolized by a red pill and a blue pill, instantly became
one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. It launched a thousand memes and sent conspiracy
theorists and philosophers alike ablaze with a million thoughts about what's really going
on in the world, and gave us one of the best visuals in a movie that's full of iconic shots.
Neo has finally come face to face with Morpheus, the spiritual leader and guide who will illuminate
the true nature of reality. After his first bizarre brushes with the agents, Neo is on
a dangerous path to enlightenment. This is the moment when his departure from society
and the world he has known will become absolute. But first ... he has a choice to make.
"Remember: All I'm offering is the truth, nothing more."
The scene doesn't really have any suspense to it. After all, there wouldn't be much of
a movie left if Neo decided to blue-pill his way back to his regular job, although some
weird version of Office Space that starts with Trinity doing anti-gravity karate does
sound like a pretty fun movie. The way it's presented, though, is absolutely thrilling,
and incredibly pausable. The reflection of Neo and the pills in those awesome mirror
shades, hiding Fishburne's eyes as his almost hypnotic voice leads Neo to his choice, is
both a beautifully shot bit of filmmaking and an incredible meditative image for those
times when you're making your own choices. Just remember to have a glass of water handy.
The concept of what we call "bullet time" had been around in filmmaking for a while
before The Matrix, and even showed up in a commercial for Smirnoff a few years before,
but no one ever pulled it off like the Wachowskis and their technical team. Setting up a ring
of cameras surrounding the actors against a green screen, the makers of The Matrix were
able to capture breathtaking moments the likes of which audiences had never seen.
Though this film technique appears a few times in the movie, including in the very first
scene, the most iconic moment comes near the end, during Neo's rooftop showdown with the
agents. Earlier in the film, Morpheus had hinted that someday Neo, once he accepts his
true potential, will be able to move faster than a speeding bullet. While this may be
classic superhero fare, when it's introduced in the movie, it feels revolutionary and breaks
into new territory ... and vast power.
As an agent fires bullets at our hero, Neo pulls a gravity defying dodge that looks like
he's going for maximum style points at a limbo competition. Fans hit pause time and again
to marvel at the tense moment and the wonderful filmmaking of this scene, and whatever the
idea was called before, it was "bullet time" forever after that.
In The Matrix Reloaded, Agent Smith returns, having seemingly gone rogue with a power that's
never been seen in the simulated world before. Much like the way that Neo destroyed his body
from the inside out in the first film, Smith is now able to replicate himself like a virus,
taking over other agents and forming an army dedicated to one purpose: tracking down and
eliminating Neo and his friends.
"Thank you."
"My pleasure."
When Smith eventually tracks Neo down, our hero finds himself face to face… to face
to face to face with his worst enemy. it seems like the kung fu messiah has bitten off way
more than he can chew. And then the movie kicks off the wildest, most video-game style
brawl in the entire franchise.
Pausing this scene is like a fun game of stunt guy eye spy. Trying to identify all of the
different stuntmen can be pretty fulfilling, especially when the practical effects team
did such a great job at making it look like each and every one of the baddies trying to
punch Neo into oblivion is an exact replica of Agent Smith. Granted, there's some bad
CGI lurking in there, but spotting that a different kind of fun. Overall, this fight
is one of the ultimate Matrix pause moments.
From Neo's flowing duster to Trinity's vinyl tank top, most of the iconic Matrix costumes
are the standard basic black. The one that Persephone wears when she shows up in The
Matrix Reloaded, however, is very different. It's one of the best looks in all of cinema
history, especially since the person sporting it is one of the most beautiful women ever
to grace this world. Italian actress Monica Bellucci.
Her partner, the Merovingian, is a black market dealer, trafficking in all kinds of things
that regular humans and programs within the Matrix don't have access to. Persephone is
his disillusioned wife. She becomes instrumental to leading Neo and friends to meet the Keymaker
and, ultimately, the resolution of the trilogy. As critical a role as she is in the plot,
though, we're not going to lie: most of the time, all we remember is that jaw-droppingly
gorgeous latex cocktail dress.
On the real world side of things, it was probably pretty sweaty to wear around under the hot
lights of a film set. In the movie, though, she just looks amazing, reminding us once
again that one of the greatest superpowers on display in the Matrix trilogy is the ability
to look incredible in outfits in which the rest of us would just look ridiculous.
While most of the visual effects in the Matrix series still hold up years later, a few of
the CGI moments just have not aged that well. If you need an example, just look at the Twins.
In the story, they're rogue programs who've essentially malfunctioned and now must live
in the dark underbelly of computer society. However, they can do things and behave in
ways that other programs can't, which in their case means turning translucent and getting
really pointy teeth.
Let's be real, though. While the effect might be a little too reminiscent of Ghostbusters
for its own good, it still looks pretty cool, even if it doesn't even come close to being
believable.
"We are getting aggravated."
“Yes, we are.”
They also have a big role in the movie's best sequence, in a car chase where they're pitted
against Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity. It's one of the most thrilling highlights in the entire
action-packed series, and has fans pausing to catch their breath and take a closer look.
A fast-paced, big-budget scene where every second is full of tense energy more than makes
up for that weird hair.
The scene where Neo meets the Architect is easily one of the most pausable moments in
The Matrix. In fact, smashing that pause button is the only way to see everything that's going
on. .
If you need a refresher, Neo has finally made it to the nerve center of the Matrix itself,
and finds himself surrounded by walls of screens, each one reflecting his own image back at
him. That's when he finally meets the Architect, the program that he seemingly holds all the
answers to the questions Neo has been asking his whole life. Neo has questions, and so
does the audience, and boy oh boy does the Architect have answers.
In this notoriously dense scene, straightforward answers are hard to come by, which is mirrored
by the images shown on the screens behind Neo. His whole life — and most of the first
movie — literally flashes before his eyes, and it's jam-packed with fun Matrix Easter
eggs for those quick to hit pause.
The ultimate confrontation in the Matrix trilogy wasn't the one that many moviegoers expected.
It isn't Neo against the heart of the machines, the controlling consciousness that's sought
to subjugate and to enslave humanity for hundreds of years. Instead, The Matrix Revolutions
ends with a callback to the same fight that finished the first film. Neo takes on the
rogue program created by the Matrix itself, Agent Smith, one last time, with the fate
of humanity hanging in the balance. It's peak Matrix in just about every way. Everything
is green, we're in a city that could be anywhere and nowhere, and the atmosphere is heavy,
oppressive, and ominous.
Jam-packed with blazing fast action and very cool special effects, any frame of this scene
is worth pausing and scrutinizing. Having already fought legions of Smith's viral duplicates,
who have taken over the minds and bodies of all of the inhabitants of the Matrix, Neo
faces the prime Agent Smith, now inhabiting the body of the Oracle. And this battle between
two god-like entities is full of the building-smashing, gravity-defying, hard-punching action that
fans of the series love. The breathtaking tension of the story makes it worth watching,
but the incredible effects and stunning fight choreography make it worth savoring every
single frame.
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