The Matrix

Factual error: When Trinity is being arrested, you hear the cops all burst into the room and cock the hammers on their Glocks. The Glock doesn't have an external hammer. To load the weapon, you have to pull the slide back and release it. (00:01:50)

Factual error: When Neo is shooting thousands of bullets out of the Gatling Minigun from the helicopter, there is a shot of "cases" and links falling from the machine gun onto the helicopter floor. Only those "cases" are complete rounds, bullet and all (or possibly blanks) instead of just empty, spent cases. (01:43:45)

Factual error: During the lobby shootout, Neo pulls out a pair of VZ-61 Skorpion machine pistols and runs down the lobby blowing away the guards. While he is running, we see the blank shells falling to the ground beneath him. However, the shells are 5.56mm NATO, which is a cartridge that is too long to fit in this gun. (01:42:45)

Factual error: When Agent Brown shoots at Neo on the skyscraper, the last shot scrapes Neo in the knee and on his shoulder. This would cause both shots to be vertical when standing up. However, when Neo stands up and indicates to the scrape, the shoulder scrape is horizontal - not possible given the trajectory Agent Brown is firing from. (01:46:30)

Factual error: In the subway scene, Trinity answers the phone, and the hobo becomes agent Smith. Smith shoots at Trinity, but the bullet hits the phone, which explodes to the right. Considering the bullets direction, the phone should explode to the left. (01:54:05)

Factual error: When Neo was getting shot outside room 303, Smith fires 10 rounds into him. More if you count every time Neo is shaking in the seat as additional shots. The Desert Eagles in the movie are chambered for .50 AE. You can tell this because the barrel isn't fluted. This means it has a 7 round magazine. Agent Smith runs out of ammo in the subway, so it's not like he can hack his gun because of his software.

Factual error: In the "Deja Vu" sequence, when Mouse opens the box containing his Auto Shotguns, they are stored with a few belts of .50-caliber BMG ammunition, which would be useless in a shotgun. Also, despite firing about 20 or more 12-gauge shotgun blasts at the SWATs, he fails to hit anyone, even though that equates to about 240 flying lead pellets.

Factual error: After securing the rooftop with the helicopter, Trinity calls Tank and says, "I need a pilot program for a B212 helicopter." Tank's screen shows the silhouette of a Bell 206 helicopter. (01:47:25)

The Matrix mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When Neo is going to open the door to enter the Oracle's house, you can clearly see a camera on the doorknob. There's a sheet over it painted to look like the wall behind it, with a representation of Morpheus' tie too, because he's blocked by the camera. (01:07:40)

More mistakes in The Matrix

Morpheus: You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

More quotes from The Matrix

Trivia: Due to the popularity of the film, Carrie-Ann Moss stated that it is impossible for her to go out wearing sunglasses because she is so easily recognizable - her character Trinity constantly wears sunglasses in the film.

Allister Cooper, 2011

More trivia for The Matrix

Question: I get that people in the matrix, who have not been freed, are not ready to be freed, and I know at one point when Morpheus is explaining the matrix to Neo (I believe during the woman in the red dress test) he says something along the lines of: The matrix is a system, that system is our enemy. The matrix is filled with minds we are trying to save, but until we do they are still part of that system and that makes them our enemies. Many of them are so dependent on that system they will fight to defend it.- I am paraphrasing, but it is something like that. As I'm sure everyone knows he also says "The body cannot live without the mind." And therefore if you die in the matrix you die in the 'real' world. My question is, do they ever address the ethical questions that could arise from the fact that they kill mind after mind of police officers, SWAT teams, security guards, innocent humans just doing their jobs? I understand that sometimes it may be necessary, and that Neo doesn't have much choice but to fight agents and kill their hosts at times. But things like Mouse, knowing he is going to die so he grabs machine guns and takes out as many people as he can. Or when Neo and Trinity, on their way to save Morpheus, cover them selves in guns and take out that whole building of guards and pretty much end up with one gun each. The guards were completely prepared to let them enter the building freely if they passed the metal detector, could they not have went empty handed and just taken out two guards later, and used their weapons? It just seems like a pretty bad way to go about a mission to save people. Unless perhaps I missed a speech about sacrificing some minds for the cause or the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few type deal. Just wondering if that is ever addressed.

six56

Chosen answer: No, they don't address it, other than Morpheus' speech during the test. It's not something that they have any realistic choice about, so they just have to accept it and do what they need to do. Mouse, yes, he chooses to defend himself when cornered, but who wouldn't? These may be innocent victims of the Matrix he's shooting at, but they're still there to kill him - he's hardly going to stand there and accept his fate meekly. There's also no indication that the guards were "completely prepared" to let Neo and Trinity into what's clearly a high security building, undoubtedly they would have been asked for identification, what their purpose was there and so forth and turned away if, as seems likely, their answers weren't satisfactory. Shooting their way in from the start is likely their only option. Yes, it's absolutely ethically unfortunate, but if they're going to resist the machines successfully, it's not something they have any choice about. A necessary evil.

Tailkinker

More questions & answers from The Matrix

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.