25 years on, Keanu Reeves pays heartfelt tribute to The Matrix

Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Keanu Reeves as Neo in The Matrix
(Image credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Keanu Reeves has paid heartfelt tribute to The Matrix after the movie turned 25 earlier this year.

"The Matrix changed my life and then, over these years, it's changed so many other people's lives in really positive and great ways," Reeves said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. "As an artist, you hope for that when you get to do a film or tell a story. And so when you say these years, and the amount of people I’ve met who have said to me and been touched by The Matrix in such a positive way… It’s the best."

Released in 1999 and directed by the Wachowskis, The Matrix stars Reeves as Thomas Anderson, AKA Neo, a computer programmer and hacker who discovers that life as he knows it is a simulation created by sentient machines. The movie also stars Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, and Hugo Weaving.  

Reeves went on to star in three sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003, and 2021's The Matrix Resurrections. A new Matrix movie is currently in the works at Warner Bros., directed by The Cabin in the Woods helmer Drew Goddard – the first film in the franchise that won't be directed by one of the Wachowski sisters (although Lana is on board as an executive producer). 

Next up for Reeves is Sonic the Hedgehog 3, in which he's set to voice Shadow the Hedgehog. The next installment in the video game adaptation franchise hits theaters on December 20. In the meantime, check out our guide to the rest of this year's movie release dates at a glance. 

CATEGORIES
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism. 

Read more
Shadow (Keanu Reeves) in Sonic 3
Sonic 3 director says Keanu Reeves nailed the most important part of playing Shadow: "It was very clear to him what the Maria relationship meant"
Men in Black
26 years after he turned down The Matrix, Will Smith teases an upcoming reboot where he will star as Neo: "Wake up, Will"
John Wick
Keanu Reeves has a very blunt reaction to if he'd return for another John Wick movie: "The character's dead"
Hard Target
The 35 greatest '90s action movies
Interstellar
On its 10th anniversary, Christopher Nolan reflects on Interstellar's continued popularity after watching it for the first time in a decade: "It was a very special thing to see"
Cyberpunk 2077
Idris Elba wants him and Keanu Reeves to make a Cyberpunk 2077 movie a reality: "Let's speak that into existence"
Latest in Sci-Fi Movies
Giancarlo Esposito in The Electric State
The Electric State star Giancarlo Esposito explains why adapting the bleak novel into a family friendly adventure was the right decision: "I'm going to bring my children with me"
Giancarlo Esposito in The Electric State
The Electric State may be the Russo brothers' most challenging VFX project yet, but stars Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito say it's one of the easiest films they’ve ever done
Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci in The Electric State
Stars Stanley Tucci and Giancarlo Esposito say their new dystopian sci-fi movie The Electric State is more like our own reality than we might realize
Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, and Ke Huy Quan in The Electric State
$320 million in the hole, the Russo brothers' new Netflix movie debuts to their worst Rotten Tomatoes score even though it's one of the most expensive films ever made
Zoe Saldaña in Avatar
James Cameron had "too many great ideas" for Avatar: The Way of Water, so the cut content became Avatar 3 which "will actually be a little bit longer" than its 3-hour predecessor
Robert Pattinson in Mickey 17
Director Bong Joon Ho explains his new sci-fi film Mickey 17's surprise end title card: "It's a coming-of-age-story"
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2