“The Matrix” and Spitting Out the Hook

Neo is confronted with Agent Smith and his men and initially responds in defense; you

can tell this by his facial expression. In the clip, at the 51 second mark, we see Neo gritting his

teeth and glaring at his opponent. Neo is on the hook. He has given his energy over to his

enemy, he is no longer in control of the situation. Neo is presumably dead, and we see Trinity

enter the scene. She is calm and loving. She is displaying the Aikido way in her reaction to Neo,

she communicates she’s not afraid. Trinity expresses love and peace to Neo. In this scene we are

seeing a blending of energies, the heart of Aikido. Her belief and display of love, empowered

Neo. She kisses Neo, passing her energy into Neo, and now we see Neo emerge with a

completely different approach. He is now entered, and he has spit out the hook. He no longer is

a slave to his opponent, but he is now free to control and transform the energy being

presented.

We see a display of a centered self when the agents start to fire at the resurrected Neo

and time seems to stand still. The bullets are stopped by Neo in midair and he is controlling the

actions of the agents attacking him, effortlessly. He has regained control taking back the power

he initially gave away. After Neo realizes he’s in control we see his ability to look beyond the

situation in front of him. He beings to see the coding, the language of the computer comes into

focus, he can now see clearly. Neo is no longer operating from a place of fear, but instead is

operating from a place of understanding. His ability to predict the movements of Agent Smith

become effortless and resemble more of a dance, instead of a fight. Now that Neo can see from

the perspective of Agent Smith and his men, now that he can see the language of the computer,
he is able to easily transform the situation and diffuse the hostility. Neo goes a step further and

absorbs himself into Agent Smith to eliminate, or transform, his enemy.

This clip is a wonderful metaphor to demonstrate the Aikido way, as well as show how

spitting out the hook can transform conflict. Neo centers himself after he’s resurrected in

preparation for conflict. We then see him welcome the energy when the bullets are fired. He

blends by physically placing himself inside the body of his opponent and then leads the conflict

where he wants it to go, removing the conflict all together.