The clip comes from an old NBC news segment on the excitement surrounding the release of the first Matrix sequel. “We had a little fun with this tonight,” the anchor says before presenting a wonderful juxtaposition of footage showing a carefully choreographed fight scene from the movie next to two guys standing outside a theater grunting at one another as they act out some amateur hand-to-hand combat outside the theater.
These guys are more than enough on their own, but after the voiceover informs us that “some Atlanta fans are a little out of this world,” we’re given an extra treat. A row of dudes in sunglasses, leather jackets, and early ‘00s hairdos introduce themselves as Matrix characters, one-by-one. “Nigel, a runner. Noel Pointer, runner,” the first two announce. “Stevens, agent. Simon, a runner,” the next pair continues. It ends with something much more creative than these four, though, introducing us to “Freeman-713.”
“I am a sentinel,” he says in a robot voice before beginning to wiggle a length of aluminum duct with latex gloves attached to it and a slinky up and down.
Freeman-713 is the clear stand-out among these fans, but even the laziest costume from the roll call shows how far you can go with a set of old rectangular Oakleys, a lot of self-seriousness, and a love for the Wachowskis’ sci-fi universe.
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