10 Movie Characters Who Discovered That Their Universe Didn’t Exist

Yeah, you knew it was coming. It was as unavoidable as the sunglasses the characters refuse to take off; maybe they keep them on because of all of the neon flooding the scenes? Now I know I’ve knocked The Matrix a few times already, but it really is a well-executed movie. Coming out within two weeks of The Thirteenth Floor, the similarities are uncanny. However, The Matrix’s action-packed scenes, deeply philosophical exposition and engaging story about a war against machines à la The Terminator earned it a much higher turnout than our prior entry. What can we say? People want action and gunfights. Those sell the tickets, sirs and ladies! Am I right?

For the five of you who haven’t seen the masterpiece of the Wachowskis, The Matrix features an office worker/hacker whose name no one remembers because he renames himself the much-cooler sounding Neo. He’s approached by Laurence Fishburne – I mean, MORPHEUS! – who explains that after a war between humans and machines, most of humanity was plugged into a virtual world to be used as an energy source for the robots. But Morpheus just so happens to be able to pull Neo out of this matrix because he believes that Neo is a prophesied messiah who can defeat the machines and free humanity!

While the sequels were nowhere near capable of meeting the sheer brilliance of the first installment, the original film dove into deep topics more akin to free will and determinism, the question of whether or not you make your own choices or if they’re chosen for you. The sequel is much more heavy-handed with this topic and the third one… well, let’s not talk about that. But if you want a healthy dose of action and freshmen philosophy while wondering how you can download your studies right into your head, then this is the movie for you! Just don’t ask yourself why everything tastes like chicken.