The Wachowskis "The Matrix", a science fiction action film, in 1999. The movie stars Keanu Reeves as Neo, a hacker recruited by a rebellion to aid them in the fight against machines who have taken over the world and placed humanity inside a simulated reality called "the Matrix". Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano also star. The movie was a critical and commercial hit for Warner Bros. It won four Academy Awards, including for "Best Visual Effects" for popularizing the bullet time visual effect. "The Matrix" came to be a major influence for action movies and has appeared in
Keanu Reeves to play the lead character in two 2008 films, "Street Kings" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still". In February 2009 he starred in director Rebecca Miller's film "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee", which premiered at Berlinale. Beginning in 2008, Reeves began pre-production on his directorial debut, "Man of Tai Chi". The film is a multilingual narrative, partly inspired by the life of his friend, stuntman Tiger Chen. Filming occurred on mainland China and Hong Kong. During "Man of Tai Chi's" five years of scripting and production, Reeves acted in several B movies with lead roles as Henry in