Morpheus is trying to save humanity.
Unfortunately, he’s reached the interview stage.
This week’s video takes the famous Matrix conversation and sends a succession of familiar film and television characters into the chair opposite him.
You know the setup. Leather coats, tiny sunglasses, ominous room. Morpheus explains that everything you understand about reality is wrong, then offers you a pharmaceutical solution.
A fairly punchy first meeting.
Steven Seagal, naturally, has his own thoughts about how the universe works. Being summoned to hear another man’s explanation was always going to be difficult for him.
Al Bundy hears that he’s been living in a prison and assumes Morpheus has met his wife.
Axel Foley responds to the red-pill offer by producing his Detroit police badge. Suddenly, the mysterious man distributing unidentified tablets has some explaining to do.
What makes it work is Morpheus’s commitment to the occasion. He’s attempting to deliver a revelation of world-changing significance. The person opposite him has arrived from another franchise with quite different priorities.
Anyone who’s interviewed a negotiator who spends twenty minutes explaining how they’d run the branch will recognise the gradual erosion of hope.
It’s a lovely use of AI, too. Take a scene everyone knows, make some ridiculous casting decisions and let those characters collide. The idea is immediately understandable; the humour comes from knowing who these people are.
Under two minutes, and a very agreeable way to spend them.
Suddenly, that recruitment consultant’s fee looks quite reasonable.