ACTION HERO'S

Analysing The Lobby Fight Scene From "The Matrix"

Note: I will start analysing the scene 57 seconds into it. That way, there is exactly two minutes to analyse.

The 'lobby fight' from 'The Matrix' is one of my favourite scenes of all time, and 'The Matrix' is one of my favourite films. 57 seconds in, which is were this analysis will start, we see multiple pairs of legs running in the direction of the camera. This is a slight spectacle and looks quite cool. They are wearing boots, so we assume they are some sort of a SWAT team, which is then confirmed in the next shots. There are about three more shots after this, where we see the team getting into position, along with the sound of multiple guns being loaded and cocked. This indicates that there is about to be a lot of shooting, and that whoever they are about to shoot at, is in trouble. One of the team then shouts "Freeze!", which only puts the protagonists in even more jeopardy, as if they move, they will be shot.

We then see, that our hero's, Trinity on the left, and Neo on the right, don't really care what the man from the SWAT team has to say, so they just look at each other as if to confirm that they are about to do the most brave/stupid thing ever, and then they run their separate ways whilst they pull out some guns to defend themselves. This is closely followed by an over-the-shoulder shot of a SWAT soldier shooting at Neo, who we then see making his way to the wall, and then rolling on the floor in order to go back the way he came, and then taking cover behind a pillar. This is inter-cut with short, sharp shots of the SWAT team trying to kill him. This is mostly in slow motion which gives the viewer even more time to look at the spectacle that is occurring on screen. There is also a lot of action and motion, but then again, the whole scene has a fair share of action and motion. You can also hear the sound of gunfire and bullet ricochets and debris flying all over the place, so that you almost feel like you are standing in the middle of the lobby with them.

He then changes weapons, to some more handguns, whilst Trinity decides to do a cartwheel off of a wall, to avoid being shot by the angry SWAT team. This is all in slow motion, so looks epic, especially considering the fact that the film is 14 years old. Halfway through her physics-defying stunt, the shot changes to a shot from behind. We can see a SWAT member just in front of her, who is shooting at her, and therefore shooting at the camera. It is a miracle that she doesn't get hit, and creates suspense. She then adjusts her sunglasses to show that doing a cartwheel off a wall, whilst getting shot at, isn't really a big deal to her.

Afterwards, we see another SWAT guy shooting his assault rife, and we see Trinity come out of cover, where she successfully disarms and knocks out/kills the SWAT guy. She kicks the gun out of his hand, then kicks him in the chest, and then kicks him in the face. A fresh shot is used for each movement, which makes each kick feel sharper and more sudden. We hear a whooshing sound with every movement that she makes, and we hear a whacking sound as her foot makes contact with his gun/chest/face. She then gets shot at again, so runs away.

Meanwhile, Neo is still happily crouching behind a pillar which is being completely demolished around him. This shows us that the SWAT team are incredibly close to hitting him, and therefore killing him. We then see a close-up shot of his face as he gets up to face the enemy and engage in combat once again. He runs forwards in slow-motion, (which we see again in close up) shooting his guns everywhere. We see a shot of his feet, and all the shell casings landing on the floor around them. we hear his slow-motion gunshots and hear the shell casings on the floor. This gives the impression that Neo is very aware of what is happening around him, and it also looks and sounds cool, (more spectacle). We see some more shots of him running, and some SWAT people dying, and so on for the next 8 seconds.

Next we see another SWAT guy with a shotgun, and then we see a close up of Trinity turning her head and noticing him, so she goes up behind him and somehow manages to get his gun off of him, without him turning around, and then she shoots him in the back. This looks extremely impressive.

After that, she shoots a few more people, and a few more people shoot back, debris flying all over the place the whole time. Next we see a dolly shot of Neo running in slow motion. We see him disapeare behind each pillar as he runs behind it. The pillars are getting shot out and there are chunks of debri constantly flying at the camera. We then see another slow motion shot of him running, but this time looking at his front  instead of his side. This is intercut with some more aggressive looking SWAT people shooting their guns, but then we return to the side-on dolly shot of Neo. He does a very spectacular cartwheel, whilst everybody still shoots at him. They miss of course, but the jeopardy is still there. We then cut to a close up of his hand picking up a gun on the floor, and then we see some other angles (still in slow motion) of Neo gunning down half of the SWAT team, whilst doing a cartwheel. We here a deep whooshing sound for the duration of the cartwheel, which makes it seem as if he is whooshing past us.

We then see him kill another SWAT member in the strangely boring way of just shooting him. Afterwards, we see another slow motion shot of him jumping up into the air as he runs at the last bad-guy. His feet become level with the last remaining SWAT guy's head. We quickly cut to a closer-up shot of Neo kicking the bad-guys head, and then we cut back out again, and see Neo land, as the SWAT guy falls to the ground. The techo-soundtrack finishes, and so does the scene.