This topic is realtive Matrix 2 & 3 making.Please look out "(*** Spoilers ***)" in the title.And all of news items are here.

From NewsWeek site



From NewsWeek The international Edition 30 Dec,2002/6 Jan.2003 issue

Matrix Reloaded,・which Keanu Reeves as Neo and Hugo Weaving as the relentless Agent Smith, arrives in theaters on May 15

The Matrix Makers

One year, two sequels—and a revolution in moviemaking. An exclusive look behind the scenes of 2003’s hottest flicks

Jan. 6 issue — The Warner Brothers studio lot in Burbank, Calif., is frenetic on most days, but on a Thursday in early November it was really humming. The company’s box-office Bigfoot for 2002, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” was set to open in eight days, and nearly every division of the studio was working furiously to get it ready. Until 2:30 p.m. That’s when everything stopped. For the next half hour, the boy wizard had to make way for “The Matrix.”

ALL MORNING, BUZZ had rippled through the lot that producer Joel Silver would be screening, for the first time, 20 minutes from the sci-fi smash hit’s two feverishly anticipated sequels, “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions,” both of which will hit theaters in 2003. In Hollywood, showing up late is standard practice. The theater that Silver reserved for his grand unveiling was juiced with 35 Warners executives—and one NEWSWEEK journalist—by 2:25. By 2:50, people were peeling their jaws off the floor.

The climax of “Reloaded” is a lengthy freeway chase that, like the original “Matrix” in 1999, will redefine action filmmaking and visual effects for years. Two familiar heroes, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), have captured a critical pawn in mankind’s struggle against the Machines: the Keymaker, a tiny Asian man who has access to all the doors into the Machine world. Now they must safely get the Keymaker out of the Matrix and back into the real world, and the only way to do that is through a hard telephone line. The closest one is a few miles down a nearby freeway. The trouble is, in the Matrix, a freeway is the last place you want to be. There are people everywhere, meaning the bad-guy Agents have an unlimited supply of bodies to jump into—each behind the wheel of a guided missile. “You always said never get on the freeway,” Trinity reminds Morpheus as they race up the entrance ramp. “You said it was suicide.” Morpheus grins. “Let us hope,” the rebellion’s Zen-calm leader says, “that I was wrong.” The ensuing sequence may be the most audaciously conceived, thrillingly executed car chase ever filmed. Sounds like hype, yeah. But you’ve gotta see this thing. The scene features two kung fu battles in speeding vehicles—one in the back seat of a Cadillac, the other on the roof of an 18-wheeler truck. There’s also a heart-stopping motorcycle chase through oncoming traffic and enough wrecked cars to keep a junkyard in business for years. Fans will go particularly bonkers over one shot of an agent leaping from atop a moving car onto the hood of another and, with his feet, crushing the entire thing into a pretzel. Says cinematographer Bill Pope: “It’s going to make ‘The Fast and the Furious’ look like ‘The Slow and the Dimwitted’.”

Four years ago “The Matrix” arrived out of nowhere and grossed $171 million in the United States alone—terrific for an R-rated film. But it accelerated into a phenomenon thanks to DVD, becoming the format’s first title to sell a million copies. Fans watch it again and again, each time discovering cool new bits, like how the phone conversation that opens the film foreshadows a key betrayal and how scenes inside the Matrix have a green tinge while scenes in the “real world” are blue. (Sorry, geeked out there for a second...) Critics, meanwhile, lauded writer-directors Larry and Andy Wachowski for bringing an elegance and choreography to American action films that had been missing since the days of Sam Peckinpah. On a basic level, though, “The Matrix” was simply good storytelling. “I’ve heard the ‘Star Wars’ people boast about shooting frames that are 97 percent digital, and lo and behold, the movies are soulless,” says John Gaeta, visual-effects supervisor for all three “Matrix” movies. “They traded the whole idea of depth in filmmaking for this supertechnological hype. It helped us focus our own philosophy: the story drives everything.”

The sequels appear to have only one serious drawback: you can’t see the first one for five months. “Reloaded,” which features every actor whose character survived the original, including Keanu Reeves as Neo and Hugo Weaving as the relentless Agent Smith, arrives in theaters on May 15. Then, in a potentially risky strategy, Warner Bros. will release “Revolutions” just six months later, in early November. “Our fans would be angry at us if we made them wait any longer,” producer Silver explains. ” ‘Reloaded’ ends, I promise you, at a moment of true filmus interruptus.”

The sequels were shot simultaneously in Australia over a 270-day stretch from 2001 to 2002. Combined, they cost more than $300 million—probably far more, but no one’s talking. The franchise’s first videogame, titled Enter the Matrix, will hit stores the same day that “Reloaded” opens in theaters. The Wachowskis are also spearheading a DVD project, due in June, called “The Animatrix,” a collection of nine animated short films with stories that fit like puzzle pieces into the movies’ mythology. Make a mental note: 2003 is going to be the year of “The Matrix.”

To date, the Wachowskis have worked meticulously to keep “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” shrouded in secrecy. Even its stars say they’ve seen just a few scraps of film. So how about we spill a few beans? The first “Matrix” told the story of a hacker named Neo, who learns that his reality is simply a computer simulation created by machines to enslave the human race. Once jolted from his lifelong slumber, Neo discovers that he’s a messianic figure known as the One, and that it’s his destiny to save the world. “Reloaded” begins right where the original left off. (If you want to enjoy the sequels blissfully uninformed, better skip the rest of this paragraph.) The machines have made a terrifying breakthrough: they’ve learned the location of Zion, the last human city, hidden near the Earth’s core. Their plan is to tunnel down to the city and use thousands of sentinels—the squidlike kamikazes from part one—to obliterate it. Tracking down the Keymaker is the humans’ only hope. But he’s being guarded by a pair of new villains known as the Twins, a dreadlocked duo who wield switchblades and can vanish and reappear like ghosts. Along the way, we’ll meet Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith), a former lover of Morpheus’, and Persephone (Monica Bellucci), a shady temptress who tries to seduce Neo. We’ll see that the Matrix is actually a megacity, more than 10 times the size of New York. We’ll discover that the machine world isn’t entirely evil, that there are powerful machines that have been surpassed by newer, more ruthless models—and aren’t happy about it. And, of course, we’ll catch up with our favorite machine, Agent Smith, who’s learned to replicate himself like a virus. In one bravura kung fu sequence, shown to NEWSWEEK in rough form, Neo faces off against one hundred Agent Smiths.

And that’s just the first sequel. (Come to think of it, better skip this paragraph, too.) The plot of “Revolutions” depends heavily on the outcome of “Reloaded,” so we can’t reveal much just yet. Suffice it to say that “Revolutions” is essentially, from start to finish, one all-out war between the humans and the machines. Unlike “Reloaded,” most of which is set inside the Matrix, “Revolutions” unfolds largely in the smoking ruins of the futuristic real world. Silver is promising a climactic battle like we’ve never seen before: a 17-minute sequence that alone cost about two thirds of the budget of the first “Matrix.” (That film, in case you’re wondering, cost $65 million.)

Silver has been deputized to speak for the brothers, and he’s a good choice. The producer, the Hollywood titan behind the “Lethal Weapon” series, is a world-champion talker, teased by his employees for his verbal uneconomy. He answered one NEWSWEEK question with a 1,840-word reply. (The question was, “Can you give me an example?” Never ask Joel Silver this.) But even he has trouble articulating how Larry and Andy, whom he calls “the boys,” are different. The cast and crew all insist that the brothers are not a two-headed monster. When pressed to elaborate, however, they all pause for a while and end up noting how eerie it is that the siblings never seem to disagree. Both men consume books like air, but Larry, it’s said, prefers philosophy while Andy reads science fiction. Larry likes wine; Andy likes beer. Andy is the more accommodating of the two; “Larry,” says Pope, “is like a jihad warrior."

Hollywood Sources Reveal Plot?

Rowan Peacock, a documentary cameraman, talked to the Illawarra Mercury about working on The Matrix sequels. Peacock has spent the past 11 months working as a cameraman on the official Matrix documentary crew.

Most of the behind-the-scenes shots you've seen on TV shows like Entertainment Tonight were filmed by Peacock. He's also shooting footage for the inevitable "making of" documentary.

"I'm working separately compared to everyone else," Peacock says of the confidentiality deal.

"I'm one of about four people who is in a different category to everyone else in the entire production, in that it isn't so tight for me."

The Illawarra Mercury talked to Alex Sturman, a stand-in for Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith). Like everyone else, he couldn't reveal much in terms of the plot, but was able to share what it was like working on the films: Sturman got the job of extra on The Matrix sequels through his agent because he was between the required height of 1.8m to 1.85m the directors were looking for.

They also placed an ad in Sydney newspapers asking for more people of that height.

Sturman feels comfortable disclosing the information about the height requirements because of the ad. Otherwise he's very cautious as to what he reveals about the sequels.

"Basically, you can't disclose anything," Sturman admits.

About the only other thing he can say is you won't see his face in the movie- only his body.

While on set, Sturman got a bit of a promotion. He went from being just an extra to the stand-in for actor Hugo Weaving.

What that means is Sturman (who is the same height and build as Weaving) would stand in front of the cameras while they got the angles and lighting and whatever else right, and then Weaving would walk in and shoot the scene.

Working as the surrogate Hugo Weaving meant Sturman got to spend a fair bit of time with the genuine article, who is "very friendly".

"You're told not to approach the actors unless they approach you but he'd always have a chat if we were on set," Sturman says.

The movie's star, Keanu Reeves wasn't quite so chatty.

"He was very quiet, actually," Sturman says.

"He's just a very quiet bloke who likes to keep to himself - he likes to focus on the character."

Matrix Set To Be Magnificent, Says Keanu

December 18, 2002

Suave action hero Keanu Reeves has claimed the upcoming Matrix sequel is "the biggest project ever taken on by a film company".

The much-anticipated follow up to the 1999 film is set to be released next May and will contain even more dazzling special effects than the first ground-breaking movie.

Reeves says, "There were more action sequences and it was more sophisticated and demanding than the first film.

"Instead of fighting one-on-one, I fight one-on-many - and there's weapon stuff."

The Speed actor will be reprising his role of Neo alongside Othello star Laurence Fishburne and Memento'S Carrie-Anne Moss.

Reeves adds, "This movie sets new standards."

THE MATRIX RELOADED

Monica Bellucci, Collin Chou, Laurence Fishburne, Gloria Foster, Nona Gaye, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jada Pinkett, Adrian Rayment, Neil Rayment, Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving
written by Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
directed by Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
produced by Joel Silver
music Don Davis
cinematography Bill Pope
duration 000 minutes
country USA
year 2003

The Wachowski brothers want to revolutionise mainstream cinema - again - with the first of two sequels to their 1999 cyber-punk smash

It began as a three-day brainstorming session. A friend asked brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski to chew over some ideas for a new comic book series. Instead they came up with The Matrix: a radical sci-fi movie inspired by everything from cyberpunk and the Bible to kung-fu, Baudrillard and Japanese anime. With its pioneering 'bullet-time' visual effects and disturbing production design ­ courtesy of comic-book artist and the film's chief conceptualist Geof Darrow ­ The Matrix looked like nothing else and proved that Hollywood could be smart and make money.

The Matrix Reloaded is the second part of the Wachowski's futureshock head-wrecker, which was intended as a trilogy. Picking up the action six months after the original, it finds Neo (Keanu Reeves), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) continuing their fight against the machines while battling to save mankind's last sanctuary, the underground city of Zion.

As far as official plot details go, that's about it. Warner Bros are keeping schtum, but producer Joel Silver has confirmed that Reloaded is really the first half of one enormous movie, with the action taking place over 72 hours. Boasting a zinger of a cliff-hanger ("You're not going to want to wait for the next movie," claims Silver) the story will reach its conclusion a few months after Reloaded's Spring 2003 release when The Matrix Revolutions hits multiplexes (probably in October).

Exactly what the Wachowskis have in store is anyone's guess. Principal photography on the back-to-back sequels wrapped in August 2002 but post-production should last until nearer the release date.

Tragedy struck the 18-month shoot when stars Aaliyah (cast as a Zion native, Zee) and Gloria Foster (returning as the Oracle) died unexpectedly. Nona Gaye (daughter of Marvin) replaced the late R&B singer but Foster's death from diabetes came after she'd finished work on Reloaded, so she will be in the film ­ although Revolutions will now feature the Oracle in a different form.

What is clear is that Reloaded will introduce plenty of cool new characters. British martial artists ­ and former handy-hunks on Carol Vordeman's 'Better Homes' DIY show ­ twins Neil and Adrien Rayment are set to kick serious ass as all-white, dread-locked viruses that have free reign in the Matrix. Italian siren Monica Bellucci is an evil temptress. We learn more about Morpheus with the addition of Jada Pinkett-Smith as his ex-girlfriend Niobe and high-kicking Hong Kong legend Collin Chou ups the bad guy ante as Seraph ­ a role originally earmarked for Jet Li (he bailed over a pay dispute). There's also a return for Hugo Weaving as the slow talking, fast punching Agent Smith who, in addition to sporting a slick pony tail, now has the ability to replicate himself.

However, the main question is, can The Matrix still thrill now that its influence is so widespread? With most of Reloaded taking place in the virtual world (Revolutions is set mainly in the scorched real world) it promises to be more action-packed than its sequel. Neo has superhero-like powers, the adrenaline-pumped trailer hints at a car chase to end all car chases and Silver has been talking up one 14-minute stretch as "the most complicated sequence ever put on film". Indeed, as a screw you to the legion of action hacks who will inevitably try to rip off Reloaded's FX work, Silver says that the bar has been raised so high that really "there is no bar" anymore.

Alistair Harkness

Weaving Re-Enters Matrix

Hugo Weaving, who reprises his role as Agent Smith in the upcoming sequel films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, told SCI FI Wire that the plots were supposed to be top secret. "I thought they were," Weaving said in an interview. "And then [producer] Joel Silver invited all of this press over to the set [in Australia] and gave away a few secrets."

Weaving, who also portrays Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, added, "Essentially, there is the journey of Neo [Keanu Reeves] into a greater understanding of himself and how this whole world came about. He has a very strong journey towards truth—his own truth and the truth of the Matrix and the creation of the Matrix. Then there is another strong storyline, which is the attack of Zion by the machines, Zion being the refuge for human beings. Those are the two very strong thrusts of the films, if you like. Smith has become liberated and is in some way pretty much the same character, except that his ego is expanded, and he is in the process of replicating himself. I think the idea was to move forward. There was a 20-minute compilation that we saw about halfway through the shoot of what we'd shot, and it was quite astounding what was put together. I think in terms of breaking new ground, technically certainly, it's moving ahead. The [Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the movies,] always thought, 'This is what we want. We can't achieve it. It's impossible to achieve it at this stage, so let's invent something so that we can achieve it.'" The Matrix Reloaded opens May 15, 2003, and The Matrix Revolutions opens Nov. 7, 2003.

Keanu is ducking and weaving

14dec02

WHEN The Matrix Reloaded hits our screens in May, look out for one fight scene between Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving, which took 27 days to film.

Reeves says he was in "intense" training for the two Matrix sequels but more specifically for this one scene.

"Basic training was about four months and then I worked with 12 stuntmen on one fight every day for about three weeks.

"It's a fight between Neo [Reeves] and Smith [Weaving]. It takes place in the second film, Reloaded, and it's basically Neo multi-fighting a bunch of different Smiths.

"It took about 27 shooting days for a camera, first unit and there was a bunch of other days we call motion capture, which will be integrated with some of the virtual camera stuff they are doing.

"When you're watching it, you're seeing people on wires, you're seeing some of the choreography and folks just trying to put a good fight together, a good fun fight," Reeves says in an interview with MTV.

Meanwhile, Weaving says his villainous character is just as nasty in the sequels as in the original. "He has more of a rampant ego."

The former North Shore school boy also says that in preparing for the role, he didn't want Agent Smith to be robotic.

"But I didn't want him to be human either. He's a balance between the two."

Confidential hopes this means his on-screen accent will also be a little more . . . "balanced".

The two sequels, Reloaded and Revolutions, partly shot in Australia, will both come out next year, with Revolutions, set for a November release.

Click here to send us your feedback

Pals party for Denzel

USA Today
Tuesday, December 10, 2002

BEVERLY HILLS -- The evening was anything but ordinary for actor Denzel Washington as he was feted by the American Cinematheque at the Beverly Hilton.

"In all my wildest dreams and desires, I never imagined a night like this," Washington said after accepting the organization's 17th annual award for his contributions to the art of the motion picture. "This is amazing. I'm so nervous. I feel like (I'm having) a Halle Berry moment."

Washington didn't lose his composure like Berry did at the Oscars, but he was clearly uncomfortable beforehand as he sipped a beverage on a patio before entering the ballroom.

"Oh, I've got to go to the bathroom so bad," Washington said onstage. "There's no time to get up and go. The camera is on you."

"Let's name 2002 the year of Denzel Washington," said his Philadelphia co-star Tom Hanks, who presented Washington the award.

"Denzel, I love you," said Berry. "Your inspiration has guided me to work harder and to strive for more."

Both Berry and Washington took home Oscars in March.

Others who took the stage and gushed about Washington: host Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Keanu Reeves, Bruce Willis, Ice Cube, Steve Harvey and Ethan Hawke.

Keanu Reeves Reloaded - MTV

Date:05-Dec-2002
From:MTV
(The detail is here)

He who plays Neo — Keanu Reeves — gives the inside scoop on "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions." The hotly-anticipated sequels are both set for 2003 release.

MTV: What was it like shooting "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" together?

Reeves: It was great. There was a nice continuity between the two films. It didn't really feel like two films, it kind of felt like one film.

MTV: What can people expect from "Reloaded" and "Revolutions"?

Reeves: Our hope, our ambition is to create something that is extraordinary. It's not just about novelty or spectacle; for the directors and everyone involved it's really about telling this story.

[They have] a virtual camera, so it's [using] the camera and moving the camera in ways that a physical camera can't, just changes of perspectives, etc. It's exciting to be a part of that. Hopefully, people will enjoy everyone trying to create. It's been an extraordinary experience to be a part of something [in which] so many creative people are having the opportunity to go as far as they can. The [Wachowski] brothers (the directors) have written scripts as dense, if not more dense, in terms of ideas and emotions, than the first "Matrix." Hopefully, people will like it.

MTV: How much stunt work is actually you?

Reeves: [Stunts are] important to the piece in terms of how you relate to the characters. I know it was one of the hopes of the directors that the actors would be doing as much as they could so they don't have to cut away, so you're really watching these people do what they're doing. For me, it's important to try to do as much [of my own stunts] as I could. There's some things that were beyond my skill, so that was a little dangerous, but I got to do as much as I could. It was quite thrilling to try and do some of the wires, some of the fighting combinations and stuff. My character, Neo, gets to use some weapons, so I got to taste using weapons. That's even a little more intense, because a punch is one thing, but a sword, if you don't duck in time, it's not good.

MTV: How intense was your training for "The Matrix" sequels?

Reeves: It's pretty intense. Basic training was about four months and then I worked with 12 stunt men on one fight every day for about three weeks.

MTV: What happens in that fight scene?

Reeves: It's a fight between Neo and Smith. It takes place in the second film, "Reloaded," and it's basically Neo multi-fighting a bunch of different Smiths. It took about 27 shooting days for a camera, first unit and there was a bunch of other days we call motion capture, which will be integrated with some of the virtual camera stuff that they are doing. When you're watching it, you're seeing people on wires, you're seeing some of the choreography, and folks just trying to put a good fight together, a good fun fight.

MTV: The sequels also have a dance sequence. Describe that process.

Reeves: That was a remarkable few days. We shot that out in Oakland, California with, I think it was like 900 or 1,200 kids, people out dancing. ... There was a wonderful feeling coming from the people who were participating in it, just an excitement. There was drum circles and people doing impromptu concerts and singing. I'm sure a couple people are getting married after those couple of days. It was really quite a rave aspect to it, which was great. I know the brothers were really excited by the enthusiasm shown by the people involved, so it was cool.

MTV: What can we expect from Neo in "The Matrix: Reloaded" and "The Matrix: Revolutions"?

Reeves: Neo's journey is a journey continuing on discovery and his responsibilities as The One. [There will be] a little bit more romance. Love, lots of love.

MTV: What is it like to have the two sequels coming out the same year?

Reeves: I haven't seen them yet, but I was there for a lot of what was being done and it's very exciting. It's neat to be a part of something where my friends and peers and people that I know are excited about going to the movies to see these films. I feel very fortunate and lucky to be a part of something like that and something that I'm excited about as well.

MTV: How does it feel to be a part of the trilogy, something people will look back on?

Reeves: I'm going to look back on the experience of making these films as some of my greatest days, I'm sure.

"The Matrix and Philosophy" by William Irwin, ed.

Philosophers tackle the mind-bending questions posed by the science-fiction hit "The Matrix," and come up with some surprisingly deep thoughts.

Dec. 4, 2002 | Apparently, when the Wachowski brothers' film "The Matrix" was released in 1999, it set more than the minds of a few million video-game-stoked teenage boys a-whirring. Philosophers, who are quicker on the self-promotional uptake than they're given credit for, seized on the film as a way to illustrate various key principles of their discipline, and in "The Matrix and Philosophy" William Irwin has collected an array of their responses. The movie is, he says, "a philosopher's Rorschach inkblot test" where thinkers detect the ideas of whatever school they like best: "existentialism, Marxism, feminism, Buddhism, nihilism, postmodernism" and more.

Irwin has also put together anthologies of philosophical essays on "Seinfeld" and "The Simpsons," after which scaring up pieces on the much more metaphysically minded "The Matrix" must have seemed like a cakewalk. Although the Brothers W are described by Irwin himself as "college dropout comic book artists," they're also the kind of smarty-pants pop autodidacts who conspicuously feature a copy of the French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard's "Simulations and Simulacra" on the shelf of their hero, who is soon to learn that his entire world is, like, totally bogus. (Not only that, but the book itself is fake, a hollow receptacle where Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, hides contraband data.) Even those contributors to the anthology who ought to be experts at tracking pop culture seem like slow, lumbering, herbivorous dinosaurs compared to the nimble, carnivorous and slightly terrifying Wachowskis. In fact, it's the more traditionally minded essays that feel the most rewarding in "The Matrix and Philosophy."

For those few souls who haven't seen it, "The Matrix" describes the travails of Neo, a young programmer whose vague sense that there is "something wrong with the world ... a splinter in the mind" comes to fruition when he meets the unspeakably cool Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne). He takes a pill Morpheus offers, and after a few trippy effects, discovers that his late-20th-century urban life is merely a virtual reality simulation (the Matrix). He and almost all of the rest of humanity are actually kept in womb-like cells, where they supply energy to a vast computerized artificial intelligence, while their minds are occupied with a completely fake "existence."

Morpheus is the leader of that small band of rebels that always turns up in such stories, and Neo joins them in their fight to free humanity; he may even be "the One," a prophesized liberator. (Aside: It's really time for a moratorium on all cinematic and televisual prophecies, folks.) Defeating the Matrix will, naturally, involve many large guns, black leather trench coats and walking up the walls until one flips over -- and, of course, an encyclopedic mastery of kung fu that can be downloaded into Neo's head in a trice.

The philosophers contributing to "The Matrix and Philosophy" are not too interested in the guns and wall-walking, but they do find the implied and explicit ontological questions posed by the film intriguing. "What is real? How do you define real?" Morpheus asks Neo at one point. "If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain." The Matrix, or rather the AI that runs it, recalls Descartes' First Meditation, the hypothesis that what we perceive as the world might be a comprehensive illusion, perhaps created by a "malicious demon." (Hilary Putnam revamped this notion in the 1980s with his "brain in a vat" scenario.) Since the senses have been known to lie, since when we're dreaming we often do not realize that we are dreaming (and therefore are having an "unreal" experience we mistakenly consider real), the ordinary sensory evidence we rely on to tell us what is true cannot necessarily be trusted. Can we really be sure that any of it is authentic?

The real world that Neo emerges into is pretty dire. It's a ruined, lonely, gloomy landscape where the rebels ride around in grungy ships eating bad food and dodging their robotic enemies. When they venture back into the Matrix, they're hunted by agents, or "sentient computer programs" that look like the Men in Black of ufology lore and are capable of killing you so thoroughly in the Matrix that you die in reality as well. A member of Morpheus' crew, Cypher, decides he's had enough and betrays his leader in exchange for being reabsorbed into the Matrix with his memory of reality erased and a new virtual life as a wealthy actor. "After nine years, do you know what I realize?" he tells one of the agents. "Ignorance is bliss."

The nature of reality and the validity of Cypher's choice are the two substantive philosophical questions the movie poses. There are the obvious religious parallels to Neo's messiah-like role, but that mostly comes across as your basic Joseph Campbell hero shtick, and some vaguely Eastern mumbo jumbo about bending a spoon that one contributor memorably characterizes as "loose comments about body and mind" and "blatant hooey, uttered with faux-Zen opacity." But you can find that stuff anywhere these days. (Though to the partisan, perhaps, good press is always welcome; the Zen guy in this book, Michael Brannigan, thinks the cheesy spoon scene is "Neo's most important lesson.")

The first few essays in the anthology are lucid, readable summaries of classic responses to Cartesian skepticism, exactly what the armchair amateur is looking for. Particularly good is David Mitsuo Nixon, who argues, from the epistemology called Holism, that "the Matrix possibility" is conceptually impossible. If the only reality Neo knows is entirely false, then the only criterion he has with which to judge the authenticity of the "real" world he has been pulled into by Morpheus is therefore also false, since it's based on false evidence. Jason Holt mounts a quixotic defense of materialism and the possibility of an artificial mind (kind of a tangent, but fun).

Daniel Barwick shoots materialism down and in the process floats the idea that the "prison for your mind" represented by the Matrix may be "morally neutral with respect to those who are imprisoned." Theodore Schick untangles the film's depiction of fate and free will (more sophisticated than it seems). Cypher's choice gets the once-over from Charles Griswold and James Lawler, who, like many of the contributors, crack open the simple pop assertion that a difficult reality is better than a pleasant unreality (theme of a dozen "Star Trek" episodes), and find its kernel of truth. There are existential and "nihilistic" takes, as well as a more literary-critical examination of "The Matrix" as genre fiction.

Less pleasing are the entries from Christian and Buddhist thinkers, the latter of whom (Brannigan) solemnly observes that the film's "scenes of excessive violence seem to contradict Buddhist teachings regarding nonviolence" (no kidding) and makes the interesting suggestion that, if the agents are in fact sentient, then, even if they are homicidal computer programs, they merit respect for their "Buddha-nature." The most disappointing essays come from the postmodernist, feminist and Marxist critics -- there need to be stronger signs of intellectual rigor here, particularly if you're going to call your piece "Penetrating Keanu: New Holes, but the Same Old Shit," which borders on self-parody. Finally, the theory star of the anthology, Slavoj Zizek, delivers a piece that, while intermittently comprehensible, studded with fetching observations and more pop-culturally literate than anyone else's, is still pretty hard to follow whenever Lacan comes up.

The sequel to "The Matrix" approaches, and one of Zizek's zingier suggestions is that it will contain a moment when the drab, scary "real world" of the film will be revealed as yet another construct. If that's the case, most of the audience will probably whisper "Whoa!" as minds are blown for $10 a pop nationwide. Some of us, though, will not be surprised, and in the late-night gab sessions that such movies are created to inspire, we will be way ahead of the rest of you.