Matrix: the program of physics

The Matrix movie, directed by the Wachowski brothers, gives a fantastic view of how people endowed with special abilities can bend the rules of physics. Although the Matrix, which is a simulated recreation of 21st century Earth, enforces the same laws of physics very much like our own, there are few who were granted or have gained access to admin-like control over the program. This enlightenment, of sorts, offers abilities to move faster than bullets, jump incredible heights and distances, and even break through objects with ease. Because the Matrix is merely a program to simulate physical reality, it is not immune to the manipulation and exploitation of the program’s coding which results in the fantastically flashy abilities. As with many movies, directors use seemingly impossible feats to capture the audience’s interest. By convincing the audience of this alternate take on reality through the suspension of disbelief, the audience accepts the bent physics within the movie’s world as truth. It is a coy device that helps to move a story in a very interesting and enjoyable manner. But how much leeway to the movie’s bent physical laws should be allowed before the amazing movements and feats become an obvious director’s ploy to heighten a scene’s action? Although the audience is allowed to believe that the characters within the Matrix can bend the laws of physics, there are examples where the director shows an obvious favor of movie magic as opposed to holding some truth in the physically impossible.

There are many examples in The Matrix of how the main characters bend the laws of physics to their own needs. Even through the Matrix is a program intended to completely simulate our world, including the laws of physics, these characters are able to take what is seemingly intangible and make it a malleable force. Bullet time, the ability to perceive with a heightened sense of speed and move accordingly as such, allows the character to forego the body’s physical limitations of how fast a person can move. Laurence Fishburne’s character, Morpheus, describes this ability within the movie: “Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but air. Yet their strength and their speed are still based in a world that is built on rules. Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be.” A scene that highlights this ability, which is near the movie’s conclusion, involves the main character, Neo played by Keanu Reeves, in a shoot out with one of the main antagonists, Agent Jones.
Neo takes three seconds to fully unload his gun’s ammunition, but when shot upon, his heightened senses seemingly slows down time to the point where an Agent takes twenty full seconds to fire eight bullets upon Neo. Air resistance, which assists in the slowing out of object in the real world, is negligible when applied to Neo and the agent. Bullets shot at Neo are clearly affected by air resistance, as seen with the rippled trail in the air left behind by the bullets. Yet even though Neo’s body and arms are moving just as fast, if not faster than, the bullets shot at him, he does not leave a trail that is shown by the bullets. The physical truth presented in the Matrix is that very fast objects leave ripples in the air when affected by air resistance. This implies that air resistance is an insignificant factor in bullet time, or that the director chose to negate this factor to highlight the bullets path of action or to make sure that Neo’s movements can be clearly interpreted without any interference.

The falling dynamics are also skewed in an unbelievable manner to flourish the movie’s action. A specific scene involves Morpheus and Neo leaping great distances across building tops, with Neo falling off the building from an unsuccessful attempt.
There are many instances within this one scene where the director chooses to take artistic creativity and alter the physics within the scene. Specifically, the timing it takes Neo to fall from the building is wrong. For some background information of this scene, the setting is based off of Sydney’s downtown area, around the uniquely designed Met Centre building visibly seen in the shot. In reality, buildings adjacent to the Met Centre are approximately 40 stories tall, so it is safe to assume that Neo is jumping across 40 story tall buildings.


The movie shows Neo falling for 7 seconds from a 400 foot building, with 24 frames per second as the movie’s film speed. By inserting the measurements to find the appropriate distance traveled to the equation (distance in inches) = (1/3 in) * (number of frames) * (number of frames); we get 9408 inches = (1/3 in) * (24x7) * (24x7). In this equation, Neo would have traveled much farther than displayed on the movie; this is the time it takes to fall from about an 80 story building. To correct the equation, Neo would need to fall for approximately 5 seconds if he were to leap off a 40 story building; 4800 inches = (1/3 in) * (24x5) * (24x5). Although air resistance, the time it takes Neo to reach the apex of his jump before falling, and the position of his body as he falls all play a factor to how fast and how long he travels, the two seconds between the time is far too big of a factor when calculating those variables into the equation.

A very obvious play on the physical impossibility in the same scene, and repeated throughout the movie, is how acceleration is portrayed. Morpheus shows an absurdly even timing as he lifts off from the edge of the building and the even tempo carries onto the very end of his jump. According to real physics, Morpheus would slow into his jump’s apex and then slow out as he lands. But because of the even timing with his take off and landing, the jump seems much less convincing with its untextured timing. For Morpheus to jump as far, let alone as high as he did, he would need a massive net force to send him into the air.

To find the force of Morpheus’ jump, with a push height of six inches and a raising height of about 40 feet, averaging his weight to be 200 pounds, the measurements would fit into the calculation (jump force) = (jumper’s weight) * (jump height/push height); (jump force) = (200 lbs) * (40 feet/.5 feet). This would conclude that Morpheus has a capable jump force of 16,000 pounds per square foot. Conversely, an average male of 160 that can jump 18 inches would be (jump force) = (160 lbs) * (1.3 feet/.5 feet), which would be 416 pounds per square inch. With Morpheus having so much jump force, his acceleration would definitely not be as even as it was portrayed in the movie; rather, his take off would consist merely of a few frames at best. But because the directory must take into account the audience, movie magic must come into play so the viewer can easily see Morpheus’ path of action and to appreciate the amazing feat of such a leap.

Path of action is another target to the Matrix’s law-bending physics. The iconic lobby shoot out scene is an impressive depiction of editing, special effects, and stunts that all cumulates into an exciting fight scene. Of course movie magic plays a major role to heighten the amusement.

With all the flipping and jumping that the actors perform, there are two examples in this scene that pokes fun of path of action. The first is with Carrie-Ann Moss’ character Trinity, who runs along a wall and then happens to jump to the side without any forward momentum, 1:20 - 1:25. According to Newton’s Law of Inertia states that an object will continue to move in uniform motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Trinity needs enough momentum to gain stability and balance to run along a wall. Although she does skillfully avoid an onslaught of bullets, she also avoided Newton’s inertia law. Despite Trinity having evaded to her side, would still be traveling forward and to the side instead of only traveling perpendicular to the wall. Neo is not without blame in this scene as well, 2:47 – 2:52. Even though Neo obtains enough forward momentum towards the guard, he is able to descend perfectly vertically without having to trip over the fallen body. It is as if he had come to an invisible wall in front of him during his jump. It is quite obvious that the director intentionally skewed the appropriate arc paths to so highlight the actor’s performances.

The Matrix is a fun and exciting movie that allows the audience to view the world as an entire playground –filled with the possibilities to change and adapt at a whim. The director can convince select viewers of the whimsy and fanciful abilities that the actors portray. Through the suspension of disbelief, we can believe that in this Matrix world, these characters are able to defy the laws of physics, they are able to free their bodies and minds to physical limitations, and the powers they control transcend any mortal understanding. Yet even though these characters are breaking physical limitation, there are still many more laws that must be abided to make their powers realistically convincing. Despite this irking problem, the director did choose the best artistic direction to make this movie visually clear and entertaining.