Elevate December 2021 | Air Serbia

Kijanu Rivs nije bio prvi izbor za ulogu Nea. Najpre je ponuđena Bredu Pitu, pa Nikolasu Kejdžu, Džoniju Depu, Tomu Kruzu, Leonardu Dikapriju, Juanu Megregoru i Vilu Smitu

Keanu Reeves wasn’t the first choice to play Neo. The role was initially offered to Brad Pitt, Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ewan McGregor and Will Smith

THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS Red or blue pill?

The world, together with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, will return to that old dilemma and consider whether an attractive lie is better than an ugly truth in the fourth instalment of the story of the Matrix, which arrives in cinemas this December

T he year 1999 was, in many ways, revolution- ary for the film world. Bruce Willis achieved his career-best success with Sixth Sense, one of the all-time most beloved fran- chises returned to our lives with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, and Julia Roberts smashed the pay ceiling and dominated the world of roman- tic comedy with the films Notting Hill and Runa- way Bride... However, perhaps most importantly of all, Keanu Reeves returned to our screens with great style and prompted the whole world to pon- der a philosophical question - red pill or blue pill? It was then that the Wachowskis introduced us to The Matrix. This film marked a ground-breaking advance in the use and quality of special effects, but also proved to be much more than just an expensive project made to entertain audiences with a bucket of popcorn. Apart from its huge commercial suc- cess, which generated returns of $465 million (on a $63 million budget), it also won four Oscars. Four years later, the film received two sequels: The Ma- trix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which came out six months apart and received slightly poorer critical reviews (especially the third part). However, back then it was difficult to predict the cult that the Matrix would spawn. And what actually is the Matrix? The previous three films provided some answers to that ques- tion, but it largely remains a mystery. We were

told in the first film that humanity lost a war against the machines that it created, and that we are actually liv- ing two centuries ahead of the time that we think we’re in. The Matrix served as a metaphor for the almost-programmed lives that we live in most countries, as slaves to habit and routine, while everything that we see is vir- tual reality. Of course, as in every other dystopian film, there are outcasts who are striving to uncover the truth. In the first trilogy, those characters are Morpheus, inspired by the Greek god of dreams and portrayed by Laurence Fishburne, and Trini- ty (Carrie-Anne Moss). In his quest to find ‘The One’ who will bring down the Matrix, Morpheus reveals to Neo that the world he experiences: “…is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.” What follows is certainly one of the most striking movie scenes ever shot, depicting the mo- ment when Neo must choose between taking a blue pill or a red one. If he takes the blue pill, he’ll for- get everything he’s heard and return to life in the comfort zone (the simulation), but if he takes the red one, he’ll discover the truth. Neo chooses to learn the truth and the rest is history. But now, finally, after an 18-year break from the Matrix universe (at least on the big screen, with Neo’s story having continued through vid- eo games and comics), Lana Wachowski (former- ly Larry) returns this Christmas with a new pro- ject: The Matrix Resurrections.

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