10 Best Fight Scenes In The Matrix Franchise
4. Morpheus Buys The Others Time - The Matrix
When the first Matrix landed, all bets were off as to who was going to make it out alive. Our trio of main heroes had not been established yet, and Morpheus fitted the profile perfectly as the devoted, self-sacrificing mentor who would die so that Neo would live.
It certainly looked to be the case at least, when at the peak of the film's second act, the team are betrayed by Cipher, and Agents and SWAT descend on the resistance. Morpheus sacrifices himself to save Neo, and engages in a fight with Agent Smith that is both impressively choreographed, and viciously brutal to watch.
As Agent Smith demonstrates just how powerful and unbeatable he is as a tireless, fast-punching and immovable being, Morpheus gradually weakens under the countering blows to the point where he is a defeated mess on a bathroom floor.
Perhaps amongst all of the kicking and punching and wheezing, the most chilling part of this incredible fight scene are those little flickers of a smile coming from Smith. Foreshadowing just what kind of enemy he would become; we are seeing the glimpses of a program that actively enjoys harming and dominating the humans he thwarts.
It's an amazing sequence that elevates the stakes - revealing that no matter how much knowledge and "training" the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar have, they are no match for the plain-speaking Agents that stalk the Matrix.