Question on the ending of The Matrix
 

In the original Matrix, at the end of the movie you see the scrolling code and then you see a SYSTEM FAILURE popup. Then you see Neo on the phone talking to someone (presumably the Matrix) and then he hangs up and flies away. So, the question is, if there was a SYSTEM FAILURE did they simply reboot the Matrix? Does this have any significance that you can think of?

Just curious.

Steak

the system failure was just the trace program running to try and locate neo

I'd interpret it as an ending of sorts. Had the first film not been successful, there would not have been the sequels. Then, the ending in the audience's mind might have been that Neo had destroyed (or was about to destroy) the matrix.

could work that way if you didn't read what happens before the SYSTEM FAILURE screen comes on..........it's clearly a search program, just like the one in the beginning of the movie. the matrix uses mirrored chinese characters not numbers as it's code

I would agree. It seems like an ending that they left somewhat open just in case a sequel was warranted.

yea, i certainly agree with that, they did the first one with sequels in mind but not knowing how well it would do. so it had to have some kind of ending. even if it wasn't the BIG ending