10 Terrible Movies Trailers... Then The Film Rocked

4. The Matrix

John Wick Keanu Reeves
Warner Bros.

It cannot be overstated just how much of an impact The Wachowskis' 1999 sci-fi outing by the name of The Matrix had on the movie-making business.

Meshing a gripping tale of humanity finding itself somehow trapped inside of a virtual reality with some of the most jaw-dropping and out of this world visual effects ever to grace the big-screen, Neo's quest to topple the machines is about as iconic as they come.

Yet, the mind-blowing action and consistently engaging story that unfolds over the course of 136 minutes of brilliance was largely sold short when it came to the film's trailers, it must be said.

In fact, one particular piece of marketing material spent around two minutes seemingly talking film fans out of the idea of taking a chance on the Keanu Reeves-starring action thriller, with much of the early look getting far too bogged down in exposition and unintentionally hilarious taglines like "You live... AS A SLAVE!"

It's only in the final moments when the genuinely compelling action that would ultimately go on to immortalise The Matrix is finally given a moment to shine. Though you likely nodded off long before Keanu let out his legendary "Woah."

Contributor
Contributor

Lifts rubber and metal. Watches people flip in spandex and pretends to be other individuals from time to time...