In The Matrix, Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, a computer programmer with a sideline as a hacker, who gets mysterious messages that lead him to Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), leader of a ragtag group that lives aboard a rocket-style craft. It turns out that it’s not 1999 but about 100 years into the future. All of humanity has been turned into a source of energy to keep machines “alive.” The Matrix is a massive computer program that has the humans believing that they are still living in a world that has actually been destroyed. Special agents, led by Smith (Hugo Weaving), seek out Morpheus and his followers to destroy them.

The second film, The Matrix Reloaded, has no refreshers to bring us back into the world of the original Matrix, as it literally starts with a bang as a woman in black breaks into some sort of secure facility and fights off the guards. And just like that, we’re back in a world where the machines use humans for fuel, lulling people into thinking that they’re living mundane lives so that they won’t realize that they’re merely an energy source. Only a few humans know the truth, and Morpheus and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) believe that one of them, Neo, is “the One” who’s destined to defeat the machines. The action shifts back and forth between Zion, the city where the humans who resist the machines live, and the illusory “city” maintained by the Matrix.

The third installment, Matrix Revolutions, focuses on two storylines. First, Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) has to pilot a ship through some very tricky situations while guys in huge robots fight off hordes of cool flying octopus-like machines. Meanwhile, Neo and Trinity, on another ship, are heading straight for a city occupied by the machines for a Dorothy-and-the-wizard-in-Emerald City-style confrontation. There’s a brief encounter with the Frenchman and Persephone (Monica Belluci) in a nightclub that appears to be occupied with writhing bondage-and-discipline freaks. Neo visits the Oracle (now played by Mary Alice, replacing the late Gloria Foster) in her cozy kitchen and has a strange conversation about love and karma in an antiseptic train station.

Inspired by a variety of sources such as Japanese anime, The Matrix Trilogy is a one of a kind series way ahead of its time. There’s something in the films for everyone, even if you’re just watching them for pure enjoyment. The trilogy was directed and written by Andy and Larry Wachowski. It gives a visionary mixture of technology, puts philosophy to its extremes, and combines it all with thrilling action. It’s nearly impossible to summarize the depth and symbolism found in the films’ plots, as they make you think deeply about our society.