Setting the stage for an unbelievably meta first act, the opening of "The Matrix Resurrections" mirrors the opening of 1999's "The Matrix" — but not everything is quite as it seems. For starters, Morpheus is decidedly different this time, played by the stylish Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Two new characters, hackers Bugs (Jessica Henwick) and Seq (Toby Onwumere), are also on the scene, and they, like the audience, know this scene, and know that something is off.
As we move to the introduction of Trinity, we see Bugs observing, but pause the moment and you'll realize early that this is not Carrie Ann Moss and this is very much not the opening of "The Matrix." Bugs realizes it out, too, but pause on an earlier frame and you'll be one step ahead of the game. This reveal leads to the scene branching and eventually revealing the entire intro takes place inside a modal inside the Matrix.
Inside the world of "The Matrix," a modal is a testing sandbox that exists isolated from a program while still using the code of that program. For example, the modal Neo creates in the film exists within the game he has created based on the original trilogy. Another bonus pause comes when Bugs must flee this voyeuristic revelation, and she crashes into a neon marquee marked "Anderson's," a dead giveaway that we are in a modal created by Neo himself, a fact that isn't revealed until a little bit later.
