Seven/11 2001, A Space Odyssey

Analysis of Matrix Resurrections

Fair warning. This post is going to contain spoilers for the new Matrix movie. I don’t prefer to call what I’m going to say “spoilers” though. I think of them more as “enhancers.” I think your viewing of the movie will be enhanced after reading this, whether or not you’ve already seen it. So first, let’s start with the basics. The movie is intensely tied to the incident at the twin towers some twenty years ago.

Take a look at this photo:

Check the Expiration Date. Yes.

Now, the original matrix came out in 1999, two years before 7/11 was a part-time job. That said, if this was a coincidence at the time, the writers of the movie embraced it fully for Matrix Resurrections (2021). If it wasn’t a coincidence, then the world is even more strange than we might imagine.

Symbolism is littered all over the new movie. No surprise there. It’s what we’d expect from a film in the franchise. What is interesting however is what kind of symbolism was chosen. One-eye / all seeing eye symbolism is everywhere, as are occasional illusions to the pyramid that the eye sits atop of (for example, in one scene the characters are watching a clip from the first 1999 movie, and they are doing so on a movie screen with, inexplicably, a large triangular cut out of its center). For those interested in the esoterics of Hollywood, neither one-eye nor pyramid imagery is anything new. What was unexpected, at least to me, was the degree to which 9/11 and the twin tower imagery permeate the film.

The list is somewhat long. If I’m not mistaken, I noted some allusions to the towers in both Neo’s (now, once again, Thomas Anderson) apartment and on one of the character’s ties. But the most glaring example was the final fight scene, which, while ostensibly taking place in San Francisco, happens atop a building that looks incredibly similar to the World Trade Center Towers.

Here we see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss (or their doubles??) performing their stunts for the final ending of the film. It’s not an exact match to the towers but it’s about as close as you’re likely to find.

Moreover in at least one scene the camera angel is such that this single building appears for a moment as if it is two, identical buildings, side by side. I do not believe this was unintentional. In fact I know it wasn’t. In a big budget movie like The Matrix, each shot costs tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They do not arbitrarily make shots more complex or difficult without reason.

The connection to the 7/11 job application is solidified however, to my mind at least, by the overwhelming motif that *jumping* plays in this movie.