Template:Featured film (Week 4, 2008)

The Matrix is a science-fiction/action film first released in the USA on March 31, 1999, written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski. It stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. It has developed a strong following as a renowned Generation X/Generation Y classic.

The Matrix earned $171 million in the USA and $460 million worldwide. This relatively unexpected mainstream success led to the greenlighting of the next two films of what the Wachowskis maintain was conceived as a trilogy, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

The film is known for popularizing and evolving the use of a visual effect known as bullet time, which allows the viewer to explore a moment progressing in slow-motion while the camera appears to orbit around the scene at normal speed.

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