The Top Ten Most Quotable Movies of All Time Number Five The Matrix

"I know kung-fu."

"Show me."

The Matrix almost makes the list of the Top Ten Most Quotable Movies of All Time just on the strength of that last line alone, given how many times its been quoted by every programming geek on Earth. If the people who write source code for computers for a living have a "heroic and futuristic" movie, The Matrix is it.

One possible reason this movie was so popular with geeks in particular was its depiction of the standard "high-tech workplace" contrasted with the colorful world of the truly talented people who worked there. Neo's discussion with his boss about being "at his desk at 9AM sharp" must have rung in the ears of every programmer in this movie's considerable audience. One thing programmers get that managers don't is that real computer programming has not, does not and will never take place at nine o'clock AM.

The combination of mystical dialogue, action, excellent acting and great performances by Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus and Hugo Weaving as the nefarious Agent Smith gave geeks enough to analyze discuss and disagree over for years after the film's release. The addition of the anachronistic technology combined with the extraordinarily futuristic setting was also a particularly interesting element. The rotary-dial phone, Philco-esque television "set" and the 1960s interior color schemes were all so out of place that they fit perfectly.

The Matrix is also yet another film where the quality of the film's quotes benefitted greatly from talent of the actors. It is difficult to imagine anyone other than Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus. His lines spoken any differently or his role played by another actor might not have produced as high an achievement. The same goes for Hugo Weaving. His silky, venomous delivery of Agent Smith's lines made them all the more quotable, and made the character that much more interesting and important to the story.