WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Infinite, now streaming on Paramount+.
In Paramount+'s Infinite, the story of reincarnated warriors such as Mark Wahlberg's Treadway initially positions itself more along the lines of The Old Guard. Treadway's part of the Believers, who want to use centuries of knowledge to advance society, while Bathurst (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and the Nihilists aim to eradicate civilization and stop being reborn to suffer through mankind's failures. However, as the cycle keeps restarting for these two factions, it's obvious Infinite rips off The Matrix.
In The Matrix, the Wachowskis focused on Keanu Reeves' Neo as the One, a human meant to be the liberator of the digital construct they were all trapped in. Basically, his job was to break the illusion of the real world and show people what freedom really was by unplugging the masses, all with the help of Morpheus' team, who clearly inspire the Believers.
Neo's journey actually began with a rescue from an interrogation, and he's then hunted by Mr. Smith's crew. At the center of it was Trinity, who took him to Morpheus for enlightenment. Infinite follows this to a tee when Nora, one of Treadway's old associates, rescues him in her new form and takes him to their Hub for reawakening. She informs him of the reincarnated the same way Trinity would help Neo come to grips with the false reality he was ensconced in.
Plus, at the Hub, The Matrix similarities are even more apparent due to conditioning. Treadway uses a machine hooked up to his head to free his memories so they can scour info to find a bomb he stole from Bathurst, which helps him train for combat with the Believers. They want to level him up ASAP as he's their Chosen One, unlocking his mind and potential. It's very much what happened to Neo when Morpheus trained him with guns and showed him how to defy the laws of physics in a remarkable amount of time.
As a result, Treadway also gets his own "break the rules" moment in the finale when he's on Bathurst's plane. Air resistance should lop him off, but he harnesses energy after centuries of becoming one with nature and walks on the wing like an elemental. It's ridiculous, but it feels inspired by Neo's physics defying moments, like when he dodged bullets and froze them mid-air.
Neo's ultimate fate would also involve him having to remove Mr. Smith's digital essence totally by rewriting him to destroy him, which Treadway does to Bathurst as well. He stores Bathurst's essence as binary data via a special bullet after shooting him with the "dethroner," extracting and tossing the bullet away so his enemy's soul can't be reborn.
This leads to a Neo-like sacrifice, where Treadway dies too, and, just like Neo, he is reborn upon his death. In Infinite, Treadway is rebooted in another human iteration in Jakarta. This just feels way too unoriginal, as these characters are basically the same hero in different mortal vessels, except Neo spent more time fighting in code.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Infinite stars Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Rupert Friend, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Jason Mantzoukas, Toby Jones, Dylan O’Brien and Liz Carr. It's now available to stream on Paramount+.
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