Down the Rabbit HoleLists that explore the cyperpunk sci-fi action media series that inspired us all to buy black trenchcoats and question ~everything~. The Matrix Resurrections is due in theaters December 22, 2021.
Vote up the most sleep-inducing 'Matrix' trilogy monologues.
When you’re “The One,” there are a few things you can expect - having to fight a thousand secret agents at once, getting offed and immediately resurrected, and being told you're not actually the savior. What you probably won’t expect are all the boring monologues you’ll have to sit through. Across The Matrix trilogy, there is a staggering amount of characters who stop the action completely to give Neo a philosophy 101 lecture - it’s shocking that The One doesn’t fall asleep in the middle of any of these boring speeches.
The Architect is perhaps one of the most egregious offenders: In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo is literally running towards the climax of the film when he suddenly finds himself in a room with a man who rambles to no end. While his speech is necessary to the plot and themes of the series, it's hardly as thrilling as watching Neo save Trinity as she falls backwards out of a building while firing twin .45s at an agent. Here we'll analyze how the savior of the Matrix manages to stay awake throughout lengthy conversations about such riveting topics as causality, destiny, and faith.
He Chooses To Listen To The Architect Rambling About Not Having Free Will
What's Being Interrupted: Neo is on a mad dash to save Trinity from being shot by agents as she falls out of a window. This moment has haunted his dreams, and yet the Architect chooses this very moment to derail him with a lengthy conversation.
What They're Rambling About: The Architect reveals that Neo has experienced the Matrix several times before with only slight variations, and everything the hero does is preordained as part of his programming. Neo has to choose a few people to help restart the human race and the Matrix all over again.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: Luckily, Neo has a few things to keep his focus so he doesn't start counting sheep. First, there’s a bank of television sets surrounding him that are playing his past lives. Second, he's probably worried about his girlfriend falling to her demise.
Bane Gives Monologues About Agent Smith's 'Forever Fight' With Neo
What's Being Interrupted: While on course for the robot city to convince its citizens to help stop Agent Smith, Bane - who is actually Smith in disguise - takes Trinity hostage so he can give a monologue about his long-running rivalry with Neo.
What They're Rambling About:Bane goes on about how Neo acts the same in the Matrix as he does in the real world and how Neo wants to fight him but can’t because he doesn’t have his Matrix powers. While holding Trinity at knife point, Bane drones on about how Smith and Neo have the same fight over and over again. Even after he tosses Trinity away, Bane continues to talk at Neo rather than do anything exciting.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: Neo is understandably stressed about Trinity being held at knife point, but if she weren’t at risk, he would probably curl up on the floor of his hovership and get some Zs.
Smith Follows Up The Oracle's Philosophical Blathering With His Own Verbosity
What's Being Interrupted: Neo just emerged from a boring, one-sided conversation with the Oracle, and he’s raging on her bits of red candy when he's approached by Agent Smith.
What They're Rambling About: Most of Agent Smith's speech is philosophical drivel about either understanding the rules of the Matrix or not obeying them. The speech basically serves as Smith's "we're not so different, you and I" moment. All he needs to say is, “I’m not working for the Matrix anymore, I’ve gone rogue,” but instead, he babbles on about purpose and how he’s finally found it thanks to the time he offed Neo.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: In the middle of Smith's speech, Neo dons a pair of sunglasses, so he may have caught a couple of Zs. If so, he is definitely awoken when a horde of Smith clones start popping up to help with the agent's monologue.
The Oracle Tells Neo He Was Predestined To Stop And Listen To Her
What's Being Interrupted: Neo’s on a mission to stop the machines from striking Zion, and he knows that with the help of a set of rogue programs, he can stop the machines without lifting a finger. His detective work leads him to the Oracle, who gives him yet another drawn-out speech.
What They're Rambling About: The new, startling information that there are programs - and pieces of the machine community at large - that like humans and don’t want to wipe them out. The Oracle walks Neo through the concept of free will and how she’s fascinated by people who refuse to follow their destiny, even though they know it’s best for them.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: Throughout the Oracle's speech, she hands Neo pieces of candy. Even if he’s The One, that kind of sugar high can’t be beat.
Councillor Hamann Explains The Infrastructure Of Zion In The Middle Of The Night
What's Being Interrupted: Neo keeps having dreams about Trinity’s demise. To clear his head, he goes for a walk and encounters Councillor Hamann, who decides that the middle of the night is the perfect time to explain his love of Zion’s engineering level.
What They're Rambling About: Hamann and Neo discuss the way people only care about how a machine works when it breaks, and how even though the people of Zion are fighting machines, they’re still dependent on them. He then embarks on a tangent about control, even admitting there’s no point to his rambling speech.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: Despite Hamann's speech taking place in the middle of the night, the bang and clang of the machines definitely aren’t conducive to a good night’s sleep, and neither is the heat of the engineering level.
What's Being Interrupted: Neo has just spent 10 hours learning martial arts with Tank, who tells Morpheus that Neo is “a machine.” Before Neo and Morpheus can spar in a digital kung-fu match, however, Morpheus grinds everything to a halt.
What They're Rambling About: Morpheus takes a few minutes of everyone’s time to explain the concept of a sparring program, which is - shockingly - a program that lets people practice sparring.
How Neo Is Able To Stay Awake: After 10 hours of martial arts practice, Neo should be exhausted. However, his head is probably aching from being jacked in, and he has to be nervous about getting his face punched in by his boss.
