Red Pill, Blue Pill, and the Last Great Original Blockbuster

The Matrix opened on March 31, 1999, and immediately became the most referenced, quoted, and aesthetically copied film of the next decade. The premise — that reality is a computer simulation and humanity is enslaved by machines — landed with the force of a philosophical freight train on a culture that was already suspicious of everything. Bullet time became the most imitated visual effect in history. "Red pill" entered the lexicon (and would later be co-opted by communities the Wachowskis absolutely did not intend to inspire). Keanu Reeves became a god. The film grossed $463 million on a $63 million budget, proved that smart science fiction could be commercially massive, and for one brief moment suggested that Hollywood might invest in original ideas. It did not. The sequels arrived, diminished the magic, and the industry learned the wrong lesson entirely. But for one film, in one year, at the turn of the millennium, someone made something genuinely new and the whole world paid attention.