Matrix Revolutions, The (US - DVD R1)
Join the Revolution with Chris Gould...
After months of waiting the final instalment in the Wachowski’s fantastical trilogy is finally upon us in the form of a two-disc DVD set. Continuing the story of the rebel’s attempts to end the war between man and machine, The Matrix Revolutions strips away much of the intellectualising of the oft-maligned second instalment and attempts to pull together the various dangling threads to produce a satisfying conclusion to the series.
Feature
The Matrix Revolutions picks up right where the previous film—rather abruptly—left off. After inexplicably stopping a number of Sentinels, Neo (Keanu Reeves) has somehow separated his mind from his body and is trapped in a place that exists between the machine world and the Matrix. After a daring rescue attempt by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Seraph (Colin Chou), Neo pays a final visit to the Oracle (Mary Alice), who warns of impending doom at the hands of rogue program Smith (Hugo Weaving).
Back in the real world Zion’s inhabitants are preparing for the inevitable attack, with Captain Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) leading an army of mechanised warriors in a last-ditch attempt to stop the marauding machines. As Morpheus, Niobe and the crew of the Hammer race home under attack from swarms of Sentinels, Neo and Trinity head to the machine city in a desperate attempt to avert the annihilation of the human race.
While Reloaded was largely a roller-coaster ride through the artificial world of the Matrix, complete with stunning bullet time effects and extraordinary stunts, the events in Revolutions occur primarily in the real world. With Neo out of action, and Morpheus reeling from the revelations of the previous film, the focus shifts to Zion as the human race prepares to defend itself against the machine onslaught. This astounding set-piece is, without a doubt, the most visually impressive sequence in the entire trilogy. With literally thousands of Sentinels and dozens of APUs duking it out, the sheer scope of the battle is unrivalled by anything other than the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and perhaps Attack of the Clones). It’s just a pity that the film takes almost sixty minutes to build to this moment.
However, the attack on Zion isn’t the only impressive spectacle to be found. Just as Reloaded had its three big set pieces, Revolutions has its fair share of jaw-dropping action. Things start off small with the infiltration of the Merovingian’s ‘Club Hel’, in which gravity defying henchmen walk on the ceilings as our heroes fire off enough lead to sink a battleship (all to the tune of the latest Don Davis/Juno Reactor collaboration). This little bit of mayhem pales into insignificance when compared to the magnificence that is the ‘Super Burly Brawl’, the climactic, apocalyptic battle between Neo and Smith towards the end of the film. Suffice to say this is mind-blowing stuff.
Unfortunately the fact that the trilogy ends on an intellectual note rather than an emotional one has served to alienate a great deal of viewers, as has the reliance on a number of largely anonymous bit-players to carry some of the bigger scenes. This instalment also features the weakest acting in the trilogy, with the untimely passing of actress Gloria Foster having the biggest impact. It’s not that replacement Mary Alice is bad, but I was so used to the unique inflections used by Foster that I found the transition difficult to handle (not that the Wachowski’s handled it particularly well). While the loss of Foster was unavoidable, the casting of Tanveer Atwal (Sati) was not. I think the kindest thing I can say is that Atwal is not the most gifted of child actors—Jake ‘Mannequin Skywalker’ Lloyd is Robert De Niro in comparison. On the plus side Hugo Weaving is in fine form as the maniacal Smith, and I was also impressed with Nathaniel Lees’ turn as Mifune. Special mention must also go to Ian Bliss and his dead-on impersonation of Hugo Weaving. Regrettably the fantastic Laurence Fishburne is given a criminally small part in the film, taking a back seat to Jada Pinkett Smith’s tough, but no less annoying, Niobe.
One of the biggest criticisms levied at Reloaded related to its convoluted, often-impenetrable dialogue. Although seen as a weakness by the majority I was enthralled by these exchanges, primarily because I held fast to the belief that all would be revealed in the final instalment. I was wrong, and on my first viewing I will admit to being more than a little disappointed when the curtain fell. After a little thought I am now of the opinion that my discontent lay with the Wachowski’s daring decision to deliver something unexpected: an unhappy ending. Neo and Trinity, the central characters in the trilogy, are dead, and although the war is over the human race is still enslaved. It’s hardly a ‘Hollywood’ ending. However, after watching the film a number of times during the course of this review I’ve changed my opinion somewhat, and I now believe that this was the only possible conclusion to the series. What would have happened if Neo had single-handily beaten a city full of Smiths and released everyone from the Matrix? Mass starvation for a start!
Video
Continuing their recent trend of making reviewer’s lives miserable, Warner have delivered yet another stunning transfer that—dare I say it—actually surpasses the effort made for The Matrix Reloaded. Anamophically enhanced and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the transfer is once again incredibly sharp and detailed—you can practically make out each and every pore on the actor’s faces during the close-ups. As always the film features a muted, almost antiseptic palette that helps to give the forays into the Matrix that other-worldly feel. Thankfully colour rendition is wonderfully accurate throughout, as are contrast and shadow detail.
Both film and digital artefacts are conspicuous by their absence; if there is any aliasing, macro-blocking or edge enhancement it’s going to take someone with a bigger television and keener eyes than me to find it. The last time I saw a transfer as impressive as this (excluding the all-digital Finding Nemo) was on the Reloaded disc, and in recent memory only the Lord of the Rings films have come close to matching the overall quality of these releases.
Where Revolutions improves over its predecessor is in the visual effects department. A number of you may have read my Reloaded review in which I denied the disc top marks for video on account of some dubious use of CGI (the Burly Brawl looking more like a PlayStation game than a real fight for example). This time around there are fewer moments where suspension of disbelief becomes difficult—the digital doubles themselves seem to have been ‘upgraded’, and on the whole the special effects are astounding. Everything from Zion to the quasi-organic machine city is rendered in exquisite detail, and the CGI during the siege sets the standard by which all new films will be judged. I defy anyone not to be impressed by the ‘Hand of God’, a twisting, spiralling tornado of destruction composed of literally thousands of swarming Sentinels—simply magnificent.
Audio
The Matrix Revolutions arrives with Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in both English and French (some sites have reported EX encoding, but I am unable to test this). Yet again we’re treated to superb mix, which strikes the perfect balance between dialogue, score and effects. Aggressive use of the surrounds ensures that there’s always something happening, while the LFE channel pumps out enough bass to topple ornaments and scare small pets in submission. The siege sequence provides the greatest opportunity for the track to demonstrate its brilliance, placing gunfire and Sentinels around the soundstage to create an enveloping experience that fully immerses you in the battle. The ferocity of these scenes is countered by some wonderful ambient effects, the subtle nuances of which are difficult to articulate. For me Neo’s journey through the machine city, and the subsequent meeting with the Deus Ex Machina, are among the most aurally satisfying moments in the film. The Deus Ex Machina’s guttural, almost primal voice alone is, quite frankly, awe-inspiring.
As someone who raved about the awesome score that accompanied The Matrix Reloaded it comes as a great personal relief to discover that Don Davis has seen fit not only to continue, but to expand upon that magnificent work. This soundtrack contains more choral elements than the previous two, and is probably closer to what many of us would consider a ‘traditional’ score than either The Matrix or The Matrix Reloaded. The standout piece has to be the epic ‘Neodämmerung’, which accompanies the trilogy’s climactic battle between Neo and his arch-nemesis Smith. Best described as ‘apocalyptic’ in its tone, Sanskrit chanting sets the mood as the titanic battle rages above and below the city streets. In fact, I’d have to go as far as to say that this piece of music is as good as, if not better than, John Williams’ ‘Duel of the Fates’!
The electronic elements are still present, albeit severely toned down from the previous film. Most notable among them are the tracks ‘Tetsujin’, which accompanies the hero’s decent into ‘Club Hel’, and ‘Navras’, Juno Rector’s thumping remix of Davis’ ‘Neodämmerung’ that plays over the closing credits. So there you have it—yet another reference quality soundtrack.
Extras
While most of disc one is dedicated to the film, it does include a number of trailers. There are four in total: The Matrix teaser (0:54); The Matrix Reloaded teaser (1:13); The Animatrix teaser (0:59) and The Matrix Revolutions theatrical (2:20). The rest of the supplemental material is housed on the second disc.
First up on disc two we have ‘Revolutions Recalibrated’, a twenty-seven minute documentary that takes the viewer on a journey through the making of the film. The actors and filmmakers begin by discussing the experience of working on Revolutions, as well as their feelings towards the Matrix trilogy as whole. After six years it’s understandable that they should have mixed emotions, especially considering some of the tragedies that befell the productions. The documentary touches on this with tributes to Aaliyah and the incomparable Gloria Foster, before plunging headlong into the more technical aspects of production with plenty of behind the scenes footage and interesting technical details. For example: did you know that the CG for the siege sequence alone consumed over 100,000 gigabytes of storage space? Well, now you do! During the featurette our old friend the white rabbit, last seen on the original Matrix DVD, makes a fleeting return. Pressing enter while the icon is on screen will take you to another short featurette entitled ‘Neo Realism’ (12:22), which goes into even greater depth on the phenomenal effects sequences and the methods used to create them, particularly the revolutionary (excuse the pun) virtual cinematography.
‘CG Revolution‘ (15:23) takes the viewer on a dizzying tour of the computer generated effects used throughout the movie. We learn how the animators breathe life into the massive APUs, how the astonishing ‘Hand of God’ was crafted from thousands of Sentinels, and how they were able to bring character to the most awe-inspiring machine of them all—the Deus Ex Machina. We’re also given a brief overview of the creation of the astonishing sets, and how the amalgamation of CGI and miniatures (now referred to as ‘bigatures’) helped to produce shots that would otherwise have been impossible. Speaking of miniatures, our old friend the white rabbit pops up here to transport you to a featurette called ‘Super Big Mini Models’, which goes into great detail about the various models built for use in the film.
The ‘Super Burly Brawl’ (6:17) is a multi-angle featurette that affords the viewer an alternate take on the climactic battle between Smith and Neo. At the beginning of the feature you’re presented with a choice of three feeds—storyboards, raw footage, and final composite—which are shown in three windows. The largest of these windows displays the currently selected feed, but you can switch feeds at any time by using angle button on your remote. Personally I found the raw footage the most interesting to watch, but the storyboards are also worth a look. The white rabbit makes not one, but two appearances during this featurette, allowing you to branch off and view material relevant to the current scene. The first time the rabbit appears, pressing enter transports you to a featurette entitled ‘Double Agent Smith’ (7:11), which deals with the process of creating a multitude of Hugo Weaving look-alikes to line the streets of the Mega City. The second time the rabbit pops up it is to reveal ‘Mind Over Matter’ (8:04), which details the work that Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving put into the fight sequences. We go behind the scenes for interviews, footage of the stunt players taking the falls deemed too dangerous for the actors, and the special rigs used to facilitate some of the amazing aerial battles. This is one of the most interesting featurettes on any of the Matrix DVDs.
‘Future Gamer: The Matrix Online‘ (10:59) in an introduction to the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) that continues the story of the Matrix beyond Revolutions. The events of the game are intended to evolve as players interact with one another, although the creators will maintain a significant amount of control over the proceedings by introducing new environments, characters and other assorted goodies. This is obviously an ambitious project, but it remains to be seen how the final product will deal with latency issues and other problems associated with online gaming. The first Matrix-inspired game, Enter the Matrix, was universally slated by reviewers and gamers alike, so it will be interesting to see how The Matrix Online fares in the coming months.
‘Before the Revolution’ is a text-based timeline that details the history of the Matrix up until the beginning of Revolutions. The majority of the text is accompanied by stills from the motion pictures, but every so often the viewer is treated to a brief video clip from one of the earlier instalments (including The Animatrix). There’s a fair amount of stuff to wade through, but thankfully the timeline is divided into clearly defined sections: Birth, Matrix, The One, Zion, and The Truth. The timeline makes for useful reading for those new to the trilogy, but there’s precious little information here that can’t be learned from the films themselves.
‘3-D Evolution’ is basically just a sill gallery, albeit a rather fancy one. Here you'll find concept art, storyboards, and final scenes. If you use the ‘Play All’ option it will take you around five minutes to sit through everything on offer here (although you can skip ahead with the chapter skip button on your remote). The final supplement, entitled Operator, offers direct access to all of the white rabbit featurettes, of which there are four in total: ‘Neo Realism’ (12:22), ‘Super Big Mini Models’ (8:47), ‘Double Agent Smith’ (7:11), and ‘Mind Over Matter’ (8:04).
The disc also includes a number of DVD-Rom features, accessed via the optional InterActual Player (complete with Matrix skin). ‘TheMatrix.com Preview Player’ gives you a brief sample of some of the content to be found at the official Matrix website. There’s little to be seen here, with only a few still images videos on offer. To be honest you’re better off visiting the real site via one of the included links…
Clicking on ‘The Matrix Comics’ opens a large PDF file (providing you have Adobe Reader or similar installed) that contains not only previews for the Matrix comics, but one complete story entitled ‘The Miller’s Tale’. The included ‘Tunnel Recon’ Flash game is straight from the Matrix website and has more than a little in common with Pac-Man. The game requires you to manoeuvre through a series of tunnels, collecting EMPs and energy ‘pills’ along the way, while avoiding the many Sentinels who are trying to destroy you. The controls aren’t the easiest I’ve ever used, but this sort of game that should keep you amused at work for a few minutes.
Overall
While not the earth-shattering finale that many hoped for, Revolutions does provide a satisfying, if flawed conclusion to the trilogy (although in true Matrix fashion the ending leaves viewers with almost as many questions as answers). As with its predecessors, repeated viewings lead to greater understanding and appreciation of the subtleties of the convoluted plot, and certainly there’s a lot more going on here than first meets the eye.
Whatever your opinion of the film there’s no denying the quality of the audio-visual presentation on offer here, which ranks among the best available on the format. Unfortunately, while better than those found in the Reloaded set, the quality of the supplemental features still isn’t up to scratch for a major release such as this. What this film—and the trilogy in general—are crying out for is a commentary by the only people who matter: the Wachowski brothers. Perhaps the inevitable release of a trilogy box set will bring this and more (and satisfy all the devoted Matrix fans who have helped to put the brothers where they are today).
All things told I’m inclined to recommend this package, but whether you decide to buy may depend largely on your attitude to the whole Matrix phenomenon. People looking for a new demo disc shouldn’t hesitate to pick this up regardless, as it’s clearly going to be up there as a contender for the technical achievement awards come the end of the year. For those of you who did enjoy the films this should be a ‘no-brainer’ purchase, and the prospect of sitting down to watch the entire six hour story of the Matrix unfold should be a most welcome one.
Feature
The Matrix Revolutions picks up right where the previous film—rather abruptly—left off. After inexplicably stopping a number of Sentinels, Neo (Keanu Reeves) has somehow separated his mind from his body and is trapped in a place that exists between the machine world and the Matrix. After a daring rescue attempt by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Seraph (Colin Chou), Neo pays a final visit to the Oracle (Mary Alice), who warns of impending doom at the hands of rogue program Smith (Hugo Weaving).
Back in the real world Zion’s inhabitants are preparing for the inevitable attack, with Captain Mifune (Nathaniel Lees) leading an army of mechanised warriors in a last-ditch attempt to stop the marauding machines. As Morpheus, Niobe and the crew of the Hammer race home under attack from swarms of Sentinels, Neo and Trinity head to the machine city in a desperate attempt to avert the annihilation of the human race.
While Reloaded was largely a roller-coaster ride through the artificial world of the Matrix, complete with stunning bullet time effects and extraordinary stunts, the events in Revolutions occur primarily in the real world. With Neo out of action, and Morpheus reeling from the revelations of the previous film, the focus shifts to Zion as the human race prepares to defend itself against the machine onslaught. This astounding set-piece is, without a doubt, the most visually impressive sequence in the entire trilogy. With literally thousands of Sentinels and dozens of APUs duking it out, the sheer scope of the battle is unrivalled by anything other than the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and perhaps Attack of the Clones). It’s just a pity that the film takes almost sixty minutes to build to this moment.
However, the attack on Zion isn’t the only impressive spectacle to be found. Just as Reloaded had its three big set pieces, Revolutions has its fair share of jaw-dropping action. Things start off small with the infiltration of the Merovingian’s ‘Club Hel’, in which gravity defying henchmen walk on the ceilings as our heroes fire off enough lead to sink a battleship (all to the tune of the latest Don Davis/Juno Reactor collaboration). This little bit of mayhem pales into insignificance when compared to the magnificence that is the ‘Super Burly Brawl’, the climactic, apocalyptic battle between Neo and Smith towards the end of the film. Suffice to say this is mind-blowing stuff.
Unfortunately the fact that the trilogy ends on an intellectual note rather than an emotional one has served to alienate a great deal of viewers, as has the reliance on a number of largely anonymous bit-players to carry some of the bigger scenes. This instalment also features the weakest acting in the trilogy, with the untimely passing of actress Gloria Foster having the biggest impact. It’s not that replacement Mary Alice is bad, but I was so used to the unique inflections used by Foster that I found the transition difficult to handle (not that the Wachowski’s handled it particularly well). While the loss of Foster was unavoidable, the casting of Tanveer Atwal (Sati) was not. I think the kindest thing I can say is that Atwal is not the most gifted of child actors—Jake ‘Mannequin Skywalker’ Lloyd is Robert De Niro in comparison. On the plus side Hugo Weaving is in fine form as the maniacal Smith, and I was also impressed with Nathaniel Lees’ turn as Mifune. Special mention must also go to Ian Bliss and his dead-on impersonation of Hugo Weaving. Regrettably the fantastic Laurence Fishburne is given a criminally small part in the film, taking a back seat to Jada Pinkett Smith’s tough, but no less annoying, Niobe.
One of the biggest criticisms levied at Reloaded related to its convoluted, often-impenetrable dialogue. Although seen as a weakness by the majority I was enthralled by these exchanges, primarily because I held fast to the belief that all would be revealed in the final instalment. I was wrong, and on my first viewing I will admit to being more than a little disappointed when the curtain fell. After a little thought I am now of the opinion that my discontent lay with the Wachowski’s daring decision to deliver something unexpected: an unhappy ending. Neo and Trinity, the central characters in the trilogy, are dead, and although the war is over the human race is still enslaved. It’s hardly a ‘Hollywood’ ending. However, after watching the film a number of times during the course of this review I’ve changed my opinion somewhat, and I now believe that this was the only possible conclusion to the series. What would have happened if Neo had single-handily beaten a city full of Smiths and released everyone from the Matrix? Mass starvation for a start!
Video
Continuing their recent trend of making reviewer’s lives miserable, Warner have delivered yet another stunning transfer that—dare I say it—actually surpasses the effort made for The Matrix Reloaded. Anamophically enhanced and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the transfer is once again incredibly sharp and detailed—you can practically make out each and every pore on the actor’s faces during the close-ups. As always the film features a muted, almost antiseptic palette that helps to give the forays into the Matrix that other-worldly feel. Thankfully colour rendition is wonderfully accurate throughout, as are contrast and shadow detail.
Both film and digital artefacts are conspicuous by their absence; if there is any aliasing, macro-blocking or edge enhancement it’s going to take someone with a bigger television and keener eyes than me to find it. The last time I saw a transfer as impressive as this (excluding the all-digital Finding Nemo) was on the Reloaded disc, and in recent memory only the Lord of the Rings films have come close to matching the overall quality of these releases.
Where Revolutions improves over its predecessor is in the visual effects department. A number of you may have read my Reloaded review in which I denied the disc top marks for video on account of some dubious use of CGI (the Burly Brawl looking more like a PlayStation game than a real fight for example). This time around there are fewer moments where suspension of disbelief becomes difficult—the digital doubles themselves seem to have been ‘upgraded’, and on the whole the special effects are astounding. Everything from Zion to the quasi-organic machine city is rendered in exquisite detail, and the CGI during the siege sets the standard by which all new films will be judged. I defy anyone not to be impressed by the ‘Hand of God’, a twisting, spiralling tornado of destruction composed of literally thousands of swarming Sentinels—simply magnificent.
Audio
The Matrix Revolutions arrives with Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in both English and French (some sites have reported EX encoding, but I am unable to test this). Yet again we’re treated to superb mix, which strikes the perfect balance between dialogue, score and effects. Aggressive use of the surrounds ensures that there’s always something happening, while the LFE channel pumps out enough bass to topple ornaments and scare small pets in submission. The siege sequence provides the greatest opportunity for the track to demonstrate its brilliance, placing gunfire and Sentinels around the soundstage to create an enveloping experience that fully immerses you in the battle. The ferocity of these scenes is countered by some wonderful ambient effects, the subtle nuances of which are difficult to articulate. For me Neo’s journey through the machine city, and the subsequent meeting with the Deus Ex Machina, are among the most aurally satisfying moments in the film. The Deus Ex Machina’s guttural, almost primal voice alone is, quite frankly, awe-inspiring.
As someone who raved about the awesome score that accompanied The Matrix Reloaded it comes as a great personal relief to discover that Don Davis has seen fit not only to continue, but to expand upon that magnificent work. This soundtrack contains more choral elements than the previous two, and is probably closer to what many of us would consider a ‘traditional’ score than either The Matrix or The Matrix Reloaded. The standout piece has to be the epic ‘Neodämmerung’, which accompanies the trilogy’s climactic battle between Neo and his arch-nemesis Smith. Best described as ‘apocalyptic’ in its tone, Sanskrit chanting sets the mood as the titanic battle rages above and below the city streets. In fact, I’d have to go as far as to say that this piece of music is as good as, if not better than, John Williams’ ‘Duel of the Fates’!
The electronic elements are still present, albeit severely toned down from the previous film. Most notable among them are the tracks ‘Tetsujin’, which accompanies the hero’s decent into ‘Club Hel’, and ‘Navras’, Juno Rector’s thumping remix of Davis’ ‘Neodämmerung’ that plays over the closing credits. So there you have it—yet another reference quality soundtrack.
Extras
While most of disc one is dedicated to the film, it does include a number of trailers. There are four in total: The Matrix teaser (0:54); The Matrix Reloaded teaser (1:13); The Animatrix teaser (0:59) and The Matrix Revolutions theatrical (2:20). The rest of the supplemental material is housed on the second disc.
First up on disc two we have ‘Revolutions Recalibrated’, a twenty-seven minute documentary that takes the viewer on a journey through the making of the film. The actors and filmmakers begin by discussing the experience of working on Revolutions, as well as their feelings towards the Matrix trilogy as whole. After six years it’s understandable that they should have mixed emotions, especially considering some of the tragedies that befell the productions. The documentary touches on this with tributes to Aaliyah and the incomparable Gloria Foster, before plunging headlong into the more technical aspects of production with plenty of behind the scenes footage and interesting technical details. For example: did you know that the CG for the siege sequence alone consumed over 100,000 gigabytes of storage space? Well, now you do! During the featurette our old friend the white rabbit, last seen on the original Matrix DVD, makes a fleeting return. Pressing enter while the icon is on screen will take you to another short featurette entitled ‘Neo Realism’ (12:22), which goes into even greater depth on the phenomenal effects sequences and the methods used to create them, particularly the revolutionary (excuse the pun) virtual cinematography.
‘CG Revolution‘ (15:23) takes the viewer on a dizzying tour of the computer generated effects used throughout the movie. We learn how the animators breathe life into the massive APUs, how the astonishing ‘Hand of God’ was crafted from thousands of Sentinels, and how they were able to bring character to the most awe-inspiring machine of them all—the Deus Ex Machina. We’re also given a brief overview of the creation of the astonishing sets, and how the amalgamation of CGI and miniatures (now referred to as ‘bigatures’) helped to produce shots that would otherwise have been impossible. Speaking of miniatures, our old friend the white rabbit pops up here to transport you to a featurette called ‘Super Big Mini Models’, which goes into great detail about the various models built for use in the film.
The ‘Super Burly Brawl’ (6:17) is a multi-angle featurette that affords the viewer an alternate take on the climactic battle between Smith and Neo. At the beginning of the feature you’re presented with a choice of three feeds—storyboards, raw footage, and final composite—which are shown in three windows. The largest of these windows displays the currently selected feed, but you can switch feeds at any time by using angle button on your remote. Personally I found the raw footage the most interesting to watch, but the storyboards are also worth a look. The white rabbit makes not one, but two appearances during this featurette, allowing you to branch off and view material relevant to the current scene. The first time the rabbit appears, pressing enter transports you to a featurette entitled ‘Double Agent Smith’ (7:11), which deals with the process of creating a multitude of Hugo Weaving look-alikes to line the streets of the Mega City. The second time the rabbit pops up it is to reveal ‘Mind Over Matter’ (8:04), which details the work that Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving put into the fight sequences. We go behind the scenes for interviews, footage of the stunt players taking the falls deemed too dangerous for the actors, and the special rigs used to facilitate some of the amazing aerial battles. This is one of the most interesting featurettes on any of the Matrix DVDs.
‘Future Gamer: The Matrix Online‘ (10:59) in an introduction to the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game) that continues the story of the Matrix beyond Revolutions. The events of the game are intended to evolve as players interact with one another, although the creators will maintain a significant amount of control over the proceedings by introducing new environments, characters and other assorted goodies. This is obviously an ambitious project, but it remains to be seen how the final product will deal with latency issues and other problems associated with online gaming. The first Matrix-inspired game, Enter the Matrix, was universally slated by reviewers and gamers alike, so it will be interesting to see how The Matrix Online fares in the coming months.
‘Before the Revolution’ is a text-based timeline that details the history of the Matrix up until the beginning of Revolutions. The majority of the text is accompanied by stills from the motion pictures, but every so often the viewer is treated to a brief video clip from one of the earlier instalments (including The Animatrix). There’s a fair amount of stuff to wade through, but thankfully the timeline is divided into clearly defined sections: Birth, Matrix, The One, Zion, and The Truth. The timeline makes for useful reading for those new to the trilogy, but there’s precious little information here that can’t be learned from the films themselves.
‘3-D Evolution’ is basically just a sill gallery, albeit a rather fancy one. Here you'll find concept art, storyboards, and final scenes. If you use the ‘Play All’ option it will take you around five minutes to sit through everything on offer here (although you can skip ahead with the chapter skip button on your remote). The final supplement, entitled Operator, offers direct access to all of the white rabbit featurettes, of which there are four in total: ‘Neo Realism’ (12:22), ‘Super Big Mini Models’ (8:47), ‘Double Agent Smith’ (7:11), and ‘Mind Over Matter’ (8:04).
The disc also includes a number of DVD-Rom features, accessed via the optional InterActual Player (complete with Matrix skin). ‘TheMatrix.com Preview Player’ gives you a brief sample of some of the content to be found at the official Matrix website. There’s little to be seen here, with only a few still images videos on offer. To be honest you’re better off visiting the real site via one of the included links…
Clicking on ‘The Matrix Comics’ opens a large PDF file (providing you have Adobe Reader or similar installed) that contains not only previews for the Matrix comics, but one complete story entitled ‘The Miller’s Tale’. The included ‘Tunnel Recon’ Flash game is straight from the Matrix website and has more than a little in common with Pac-Man. The game requires you to manoeuvre through a series of tunnels, collecting EMPs and energy ‘pills’ along the way, while avoiding the many Sentinels who are trying to destroy you. The controls aren’t the easiest I’ve ever used, but this sort of game that should keep you amused at work for a few minutes.
Overall
While not the earth-shattering finale that many hoped for, Revolutions does provide a satisfying, if flawed conclusion to the trilogy (although in true Matrix fashion the ending leaves viewers with almost as many questions as answers). As with its predecessors, repeated viewings lead to greater understanding and appreciation of the subtleties of the convoluted plot, and certainly there’s a lot more going on here than first meets the eye.
Whatever your opinion of the film there’s no denying the quality of the audio-visual presentation on offer here, which ranks among the best available on the format. Unfortunately, while better than those found in the Reloaded set, the quality of the supplemental features still isn’t up to scratch for a major release such as this. What this film—and the trilogy in general—are crying out for is a commentary by the only people who matter: the Wachowski brothers. Perhaps the inevitable release of a trilogy box set will bring this and more (and satisfy all the devoted Matrix fans who have helped to put the brothers where they are today).
All things told I’m inclined to recommend this package, but whether you decide to buy may depend largely on your attitude to the whole Matrix phenomenon. People looking for a new demo disc shouldn’t hesitate to pick this up regardless, as it’s clearly going to be up there as a contender for the technical achievement awards come the end of the year. For those of you who did enjoy the films this should be a ‘no-brainer’ purchase, and the prospect of sitting down to watch the entire six hour story of the Matrix unfold should be a most welcome one.
Review by Chris Gould
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Can you translate that for me?
Overall its a good watch not a great movie.
reason:
We are left with too many misleading questions that end up not been answered. More fighting actions would have made it beta on the action rater. consequently the same style was followed by X-MEN: which doesn't show the extent damage of the other main characters that we see in the last fight with that girl( whats her faces name ?) don't cake.'
Distress Out
reason:
We are left with too many misleading questions that end up not been answered. More fighting actions would have made it beta on the action rater. consequently the same style was followed by X-MEN: which doesn't show the extent damage of the other main characters that we see in the last fight with that girl( whats her faces name ?) don't cake.'
Distress Out
My review of this film:
This movie has an extremely misleading title: the word "revolution," suggests that there would be some sort of change. However, this film features absolutely nothing we have not seen in the previous two installments. Many people would say that at least the action in this film was awesome. Wrong. It was awesome in the first movie. Now, while watching it, you are left, not in amazement, but rather, thinking, "Oh, this tired old sh*t again."
The plot is a predictable, overlong mess that results in something that may qualify as a film. Every single event in that film took much longer than it needed to. Trust me, I like long movies. But, this just failed completely. It managed to evoke no emotion from me but anger and frustration. The action was incredibly boring, and lasted way too long. Why is it that I am commenting more on the action than the plot? Well, that, good master or madame, would be because the film seems to feature no plot to comment on. While watching this, you are incredibly aware that you are watching a movie--there is absolutely no way to connect with those soulless, monotonous drones they pass of as characters, not to mention the acting is terrible.
Now, this movie puts a bunch of special effects on the screen to try and win over the viewer with all the nice-looking robots and the creative designs of areas. The result is an impossible to follow sh*tfest with tons of annoying sound effects, and seizure-inducing lights. Even with the action and special effects that the Watchowski brothers thought me may consider a movie, this was not, in the slightest bit entertaining. As a matter of fact, the most interesting part of the film was when the DVD began to skip a bit, and I was desperately hoping it would end up skipping straight to the credits. After watching this, you will be left wondering, "Am I a horrible person for actually taking the time to watch this sh*t?"
And the answer is yes. Yes you are.
1/10
This movie has an extremely misleading title: the word "revolution," suggests that there would be some sort of change. However, this film features absolutely nothing we have not seen in the previous two installments. Many people would say that at least the action in this film was awesome. Wrong. It was awesome in the first movie. Now, while watching it, you are left, not in amazement, but rather, thinking, "Oh, this tired old sh*t again."
The plot is a predictable, overlong mess that results in something that may qualify as a film. Every single event in that film took much longer than it needed to. Trust me, I like long movies. But, this just failed completely. It managed to evoke no emotion from me but anger and frustration. The action was incredibly boring, and lasted way too long. Why is it that I am commenting more on the action than the plot? Well, that, good master or madame, would be because the film seems to feature no plot to comment on. While watching this, you are incredibly aware that you are watching a movie--there is absolutely no way to connect with those soulless, monotonous drones they pass of as characters, not to mention the acting is terrible.
Now, this movie puts a bunch of special effects on the screen to try and win over the viewer with all the nice-looking robots and the creative designs of areas. The result is an impossible to follow sh*tfest with tons of annoying sound effects, and seizure-inducing lights. Even with the action and special effects that the Watchowski brothers thought me may consider a movie, this was not, in the slightest bit entertaining. As a matter of fact, the most interesting part of the film was when the DVD began to skip a bit, and I was desperately hoping it would end up skipping straight to the credits. After watching this, you will be left wondering, "Am I a horrible person for actually taking the time to watch this sh*t?"
And the answer is yes. Yes you are.
1/10
true
Armand Mohammed wrote: true.... here: why did many people consider reloaded to be better than revolutions? lol there hope you can understand it.
B'coz ppl want to see more of wat Neo can Do in Reloaded than the obvious in Enter The Matrix. In revolution, Well.... Every1 Knowz wat He can do
B'coz ppl want to see more of wat Neo can Do in Reloaded than the obvious in Enter The Matrix. In revolution, Well.... Every1 Knowz wat He can do
The Matrix - A Retrospective
The Matrix - A Retrospective
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
"Oh, man - you've just gotta see it."
F uck that, I thought. I've got exams coming up and there's no way I can afford to take time out to watch some lo-jack Keanu flick.
"Sure thing, dude. I'll make it down to the cinema this Friday."
Uh-huh...
And so it goes that I missed what could have been one of the most innovative cinema-going moments of my life. When it came out on VHS and DVD, that same friend who couldn't stop talking about this blasted movie kept bugging me to borrow his video. I took it, and it lay on my window ledge for over a month.
He then asked me if I'd seen the film. I replied that I hadn't got around to it. He said he wanted it back and so I gladly lifted the buren off my shoulders. That day I gave it back to him, and he asked my teacher during art-class if he could play it in class - my teacher was cool like that. Draw him a pic of Spidey and he'd orgasm and give you an 'A'. And he loved to keep movies running whilst we compiled our critical studies. Being the busy bee that I was, my attention was utterly focussed on my work, and the ambient noise of the classroom drowned out the sound from the movie.
"Dude, look! Look!"
He hadn't put on the film until about thirty minutes into the half-hour lesson, and the lesson was damn-near over. So I figure "what the heck - I'll just pretend to be interested for a few minutes and I'll pack my s hit and leave."
The next thing I see is some dude covered in slime, looking out of a pink pod at billions of other people encased inside similar pink pods. As far as the eye could see, there were pink pods down the sides of vast, Giger-esque towers (I was especially aware of this influence because I was researching Giger at the time...needless to say, my critical studies were about to take a whole new form...) with huge bolts of electrical lightning roaring between them and within them, human beings lying dormant.
As the amaceated skin-head gets 'flushed' out of his pod, the teacher starts dismissing us and I'm like "whoa, wait... wait..."
I turn around to see my friend standing there, grinning.
With a sheepish-looking face, I ask "hey...uh...?"
"yeah, go for it."
And so I took the video home and watched it from start to finish.
I was kicking myself.
Taking the Red Pill:
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Whilst my fandom of The Matrix wouldn't start for another four years upon the release of the simply stunning second installment of what the Wachowskis maintain was envisaged as a trilogy-worth of metaphysical mayhem, the first movie was still in a league of its own when compared to its Hollywood contemporaries and predecessors.
Having been a huge fan of animé since the age of 13 and having been introduced to my first cyberpunk work at the age of 14, I was very aware of where this new neo-noir was coming from. What's more, this was the kind of movie that I'd already seen in my head long before I'd seen it on screen. It was a rush to see my mind be put so well on my TV screen that I certainly wasn't in any hurry to hand my friend's copy of the film back to him. It was smart, fun, furious and disorienting - all the things I felt defined me as a teenager.
In this way, as with the protagonist of the movie, The Matrix was a wonderfully liberating experience.
However, what I began noticing after my second or third viewing of the movie were some of the potential flaws and set-backs. For example, minimal time had been spent on expressing any convincing connection outside of superficiality between Neo and the main love interest, Trinity. There were some painfully childish lines of dialogue where they literally tell you what's going to happen next ("we can't use [the EMP] until [Neo] is out"
.
Gee. Thanks, Trin.
And then there were the plot holes. How in the world can the system not locate a cookie-baking granny stationed in a sh itty ghetto apartment? And why the Hel is she not unplugged? And if she is unplugged, how come she's able to stay in that one location in both the Matrix and on whichever ship she's from?
And it wasn't just oddities about the Oracle, either.
There was a lot of stuff about Morpheus, too.
"No need to hope, Trinity. I know it!"
If I didn't know better, I'd say this guy was near-desperate. Underneath that sleek apprearance and behind those armless round shades is a man who seems more like a Jehovah's Witness with subsequently dangerous, fanatical tendancies. Surely this guy can't be as 'good' as we think he is.
There were also personal pet-niggles that developled rather quickly - I hated how the machines had been demonised. I mean, s hit, we'd already seen this in the Terminator movies (among countless others) and it might have been neat to see something a bit more fresh. And one thing that always got to me...the ending. I mean, the whole story was not even a story. It was 90 minutes of "is he or isn't he", albeit, very well executed in terms of technique. But it was all kind of cliché with a bit of a one-dimensional "happy ever after" ending with the good guy flying off. I couldn't harbour a seething hatred for it, because it was so stylishly done. But for a film that come out of the minds of some obviously capable directors, I couldn't help but feel that the movie was a little bit too much of...dare I say it...emptiness in a cool outfit. A hollow shell, at least compared to what it could have been. Ironically, the movie became an emboddiment of its central Baudrillardian conceit - a lack of meaning and definition beyond the surface appearance.
It was just like any other movie, only with substantially more style over an above-average but ultimately inconclusive substance.
Walking through the door...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
The Morpheus of the shooting script was slightly different from the Morpheus of the final cut of the movie.
Fishburne's dogmatic freedom fighter seemed more "dogmatic" and less "freedom" oriented in the Wachowskis script. Neo being but one in a string of potentials who - like himself - had been made to believe in their false messianism, and were left dead after confrontations with Agents bearing striking similarity to that which Neo faced in the movie's climax. They, however, weren't so lucky as to be resurrected as a 'Master of the Matrix' à la Neo, and were but forgotten.
However, with Morpheus effectively being 'the exposition guy' throughout the movie, the Brothers probably decided that it would taint his credibility if Morpheus were seen to be that..well...utterly insane.
There were hints of that left, both in the passage I quoted in the previous section and in the Oracle revealing how even she could not pierce through Morpheus' powerful obtuseness; but now it could simply be alternative as Morpheus being the 'good Christian', the 'steadfast believer'.
In effect, he retains his now-popular dubbing as the John The Baptist figure of the piece.
This is one of many place in which The Matrix Reloaded exceeded, my expectations.
No longer viewing the Wachowskis world as filtered through the eyes of Morpheus and his ship, we are brought into the greater context. We are brought into Zion. Here, we see that Morpheus' opinion - whilst popular with many - is never to far away from the Cypher-like scepticism that seemed like such a gross perspective to have in the first film.
He is met with hostility for his views by superiors and peers alike. BUt it is that same unwavering, charasmatic power and belief that jerked Neo out of his slumber that works its magic throughout the people of Zion. In the Enter The Matrix game footage, co-scpetic lovers Locke and Niobe talk of Morpheus power over Zion, and the fact that .35 million sentinals inching their way towards the gates of Zion rendered everyone petrified.
Everyone but Morpheus.
As Niobe says, "you need him".
But, the Wachowskis being indifferent to the concept of religious subscription, wouldn't have Morpheus' faith be unshakeable. Morpheus personal extrapolation of and absolute resolution with the prophecy becomes his downfall.
Rewatching The Matrix after Reloaded and Revolutions (as I did today, which is what inspired this article) Morpheus comes across as an almost tragic figure. Seeing that child-like glee flash over his eyes in the first installment every time Neo does something out of the ordinary or when he responds to Neo's enquiry of the Oracle's revelation to him by saying "[she said] I would find the One" with a confident smile across his face...Morpheus elicits a sense of immense pathos that we might associate with those following the strict laws of many of the world religions.
Morpheus is disillusioned, trapped within his own 'Matrix'.
Unlike Neo, however, Morpheus doesn't just throw up and get over it...throughout Revolutions he is a broken man who seems to have abandoned his gift for inspired speech, but never stops trying to find some light in the darkness that has so suddenly and violently destroyed his entire sense of life. When Morpheus is asked why he wants to search the Matrix for Neo without a head-jack into the system, he can but implore Captain Roland of the Mjolnir with an uncharacteristically timid-yet-sincere "please...for me".
In many ways, this is what makes Morpheus last declarative speech of the trilogy one of the greatest. Whilst the pre-Architect summoning Morpheus gives in his "we are soldiers" speech of Reloaded tingles the spine and spurs the heart, it is the soul-shattering bleakness of his proclamation that keeps you hanging on to the end of Revolutions after an exhausting Zion seige.
For the first time in the trilogy, the lexical compostion of his speech is full of "don't know"s...which makes the final "I know" all the more powerful.
"Neo is doing what he believes he must do.
I don't know if what he's doing is right, and I don't know if he'll reach the machine city...and if he does, I don't know what he can do to save us.
But I do know that as long as there is a single breath in his body...he will not give up.
And neither can we."
~Morpheus~
Morpheus is coming to terms with Neo's potential to save both man and machine-kind as being a real sacrifice, and not just some sleek, airy-fairy surgical procedure. This is also where the stylitic departure of Revolutions from Reloaded takes its cue. Neo's journey is no longer one of super-coolness, arrogance and blind brute (pun not intended). It has instead become a journey through "the desert of the real" wrought with pain, death, suffering and clasping onto the smallest strain of hope ("the quintessential human delusion", as the Architect would have it) in order to acheive a state of enlightenment that Buddha would be proud of.
Built of light...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Throughout human history we have been dependent on machines to survive.
Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
~Morpheus~
Morpheus gives us a highly summarised outline of transpired events that reshaped the face of the planet. It was pretty obvious that the one-dimensionality of the first movie that was predicated upon the basis that a relatively unreliable Morpheus was our guide through this world would extend to every facet of said story.
One such facet was the viewers opinion of the machines as dictated by Morpheus.
Despite Morpheus' confession that the Earth's sky was destroyed by men and not machines, the movie seems to propagate this sense of 'good' versus 'bad' throughout the entire thing. There is no compromise.
As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free.
~Morpheus~
Like I said; no compromise.
What's interesting is that Neo seems more open to change than the guy who believes beyond any doubt that he will kick the machines' collective a ss. Neo levels with Morpheus about what he's found out about the systematic manufacturing of the prophecy and the One with a straight-but-solemn face. He's bummed, sure. But it's Morpheus whose life-long illusion would be shatered.
In the kind of symmetry whose opportunity on which only the Wachowskis could capitalise, Neo echoes the words of his ex-mentor right back at him from way back when he first introduced Neo to the nightmare of his CG dream: "I didn't say it would be easy - I just said it would be the truth".
But Neo's relative open-mindedness compared to Morpheus was something that was evident ever since the end of the first movie. That final speech (in the script version) is actually much more moderate in tone, wording and central ideal than what Morpheus has been yelling at us for the last 90 minutes. But - with confused and underwhelmed test-audiences damanding something more along the lines of a George Bush declaration of war, the Brothers made Neo's final speech more overtly empowering to humans, Morpheus' cause and himself.
In other words, Neo's final words in the first film are coming from a place of egocentric power.
Isn't it wonderful, then, that after six months of "show[ing] these people what [the machines] don't want them to see", Neo is sitting in the Neb mess hall confused about what the Hel he's supposed to do next? "Surely this can't be what I'm here to do", he's thinking. And sure enough, the machine army that's just perched itself of Zion's front lawn catalyses the events that follow, and Neo continues his journey within this web of illusions. It is his uniquely questioning nature, however, that allows him to ascend come Revolutions. He's willing to make changes that no One before him ever did.
Seeking out the Oracle:
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
It never ceases to amaze me how - as more and more of the deceptions are stripped away - just how differently we view the Oracle in each film.
In the first movie, we know only what we're told: she's old, she's wise, and "she can help you to find the path".
There are no questions. There are no 'if's or 'but's. Morpheus insists that one not view the Oracle's words as correct or incorrect. Which is effectively asking one to make that same leap of dogmatic faith as Morpheus because it overlooks one of the core practices of all philosophy: critical reason.
It is this critical reason that the second film borders on. She challenges Neo with two choices "acceptance" or "rejection".
In other words, you either trust her or you don't.
In Reloaded, we find out a number of facts that suddenly fill up the gaping holes left in the first film. Facts that suddenly shift your perspective of all that has transpired so far in Reloaded and the 90 minutes of the first film that preceded that.
The Oracle is not 'human'. She is a computer program. In other words, she's from the same place as the relentless Smith program that we so fear throughout the trilogy. This suddenly puts the Oracle of the first film into a different light. Furthermore, it challenges our view on those oh-so-evil machines. I still remember how my face went from a confused crumple into a childish grin as I heard Neo utter the words "you're not human, are you" in response to the Oracle's intent to "get the obvious stuff out of the way". What was even more great was the reply, "it's tough to get any more obvious than that".
Totally. Friggin'. Human.
The fact that it makes perfect sense is what makes it even more disturbing to the viewers who took Morpheus' words in the first movie as law. For me, I just couldn't stop smiling. The toughest part was trying to quieten all the thoughts now racing through my head as I listened to the rest of what the Oracle had to say.
Finally, almost half-way through the second film of the trilogy, the Wachowskis had begun the journey of breaking out of the Matrix...
Quintessentially human...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Pompous, arrogant, logical and menacing...the Architect emboddies the concept of mathematical malevolence.
Whilst the Architect differs in his approach to the idea, he seems to concur with his 'bastard son', Smith, that life is relatively purposeless. At the end of the movie, Smith lists all the "vagaries of human perception" he could imagine that might be motivating Neo to continue to defy his logic. Interestingly, one of those "delusions" is love - and Smith specifically states how "only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love".
And yet, Rama-Kandra, Kamala, Sati...even the Oracle seem to deem love as an important and essential factor. And they're not even 'human'.
But what is this term, 'human'? We use it to describe our species, yes. But we also use terms like "inhuman" and "humanitarian", both derivatives of the word "human". The semantic implication of the word "human" is one of morals, decency and love - things that we human beings take for granted as being our sole domain of function. And yet, here we stand, confronted with computer programs who are expressing those same "temporary constructs". As with Project #3501 in Ghost In The Shell, sentient life that has been allowed to evolve is expressing traits that we previously considered to be applicable only to us.
This is why Sati really is so important.
As Smith says, they are all "as artificial as the Matrix itself". Our own, self-created Matrices; like Morpheus being trapped within his construct of the prophecy, or Neo trying desperately to figure out what the next step in his journey must be, or even Trinity who is willing to go wherever Neo goes without ever looking back to ask "why". Are they are all "trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose"?
Perhaps.
But this seems to be what we're all after from birth till death.
We live our lives punctuated by the constant attempt to define it, to label it.
And that's what Neo learns at the end of the film. That to break free of that simulacrum of obsession with the 'surface of self' and to truly break free, he must realise the one universal concept that fuels all sources of liberation:
There is no spoon.
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
"Oh, man - you've just gotta see it."
F uck that, I thought. I've got exams coming up and there's no way I can afford to take time out to watch some lo-jack Keanu flick.
"Sure thing, dude. I'll make it down to the cinema this Friday."
Uh-huh...
And so it goes that I missed what could have been one of the most innovative cinema-going moments of my life. When it came out on VHS and DVD, that same friend who couldn't stop talking about this blasted movie kept bugging me to borrow his video. I took it, and it lay on my window ledge for over a month.
He then asked me if I'd seen the film. I replied that I hadn't got around to it. He said he wanted it back and so I gladly lifted the buren off my shoulders. That day I gave it back to him, and he asked my teacher during art-class if he could play it in class - my teacher was cool like that. Draw him a pic of Spidey and he'd orgasm and give you an 'A'. And he loved to keep movies running whilst we compiled our critical studies. Being the busy bee that I was, my attention was utterly focussed on my work, and the ambient noise of the classroom drowned out the sound from the movie.
"Dude, look! Look!"
He hadn't put on the film until about thirty minutes into the half-hour lesson, and the lesson was damn-near over. So I figure "what the heck - I'll just pretend to be interested for a few minutes and I'll pack my s hit and leave."
The next thing I see is some dude covered in slime, looking out of a pink pod at billions of other people encased inside similar pink pods. As far as the eye could see, there were pink pods down the sides of vast, Giger-esque towers (I was especially aware of this influence because I was researching Giger at the time...needless to say, my critical studies were about to take a whole new form...) with huge bolts of electrical lightning roaring between them and within them, human beings lying dormant.
As the amaceated skin-head gets 'flushed' out of his pod, the teacher starts dismissing us and I'm like "whoa, wait... wait..."
I turn around to see my friend standing there, grinning.
With a sheepish-looking face, I ask "hey...uh...?"
"yeah, go for it."
And so I took the video home and watched it from start to finish.
I was kicking myself.
Taking the Red Pill:
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Whilst my fandom of The Matrix wouldn't start for another four years upon the release of the simply stunning second installment of what the Wachowskis maintain was envisaged as a trilogy-worth of metaphysical mayhem, the first movie was still in a league of its own when compared to its Hollywood contemporaries and predecessors.
Having been a huge fan of animé since the age of 13 and having been introduced to my first cyberpunk work at the age of 14, I was very aware of where this new neo-noir was coming from. What's more, this was the kind of movie that I'd already seen in my head long before I'd seen it on screen. It was a rush to see my mind be put so well on my TV screen that I certainly wasn't in any hurry to hand my friend's copy of the film back to him. It was smart, fun, furious and disorienting - all the things I felt defined me as a teenager.
In this way, as with the protagonist of the movie, The Matrix was a wonderfully liberating experience.
However, what I began noticing after my second or third viewing of the movie were some of the potential flaws and set-backs. For example, minimal time had been spent on expressing any convincing connection outside of superficiality between Neo and the main love interest, Trinity. There were some painfully childish lines of dialogue where they literally tell you what's going to happen next ("we can't use [the EMP] until [Neo] is out"
.Gee. Thanks, Trin.
And then there were the plot holes. How in the world can the system not locate a cookie-baking granny stationed in a sh itty ghetto apartment? And why the Hel is she not unplugged? And if she is unplugged, how come she's able to stay in that one location in both the Matrix and on whichever ship she's from?
And it wasn't just oddities about the Oracle, either.
There was a lot of stuff about Morpheus, too.
"No need to hope, Trinity. I know it!"
If I didn't know better, I'd say this guy was near-desperate. Underneath that sleek apprearance and behind those armless round shades is a man who seems more like a Jehovah's Witness with subsequently dangerous, fanatical tendancies. Surely this guy can't be as 'good' as we think he is.
There were also personal pet-niggles that developled rather quickly - I hated how the machines had been demonised. I mean, s hit, we'd already seen this in the Terminator movies (among countless others) and it might have been neat to see something a bit more fresh. And one thing that always got to me...the ending. I mean, the whole story was not even a story. It was 90 minutes of "is he or isn't he", albeit, very well executed in terms of technique. But it was all kind of cliché with a bit of a one-dimensional "happy ever after" ending with the good guy flying off. I couldn't harbour a seething hatred for it, because it was so stylishly done. But for a film that come out of the minds of some obviously capable directors, I couldn't help but feel that the movie was a little bit too much of...dare I say it...emptiness in a cool outfit. A hollow shell, at least compared to what it could have been. Ironically, the movie became an emboddiment of its central Baudrillardian conceit - a lack of meaning and definition beyond the surface appearance.
It was just like any other movie, only with substantially more style over an above-average but ultimately inconclusive substance.
Walking through the door...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
The Morpheus of the shooting script was slightly different from the Morpheus of the final cut of the movie.
Fishburne's dogmatic freedom fighter seemed more "dogmatic" and less "freedom" oriented in the Wachowskis script. Neo being but one in a string of potentials who - like himself - had been made to believe in their false messianism, and were left dead after confrontations with Agents bearing striking similarity to that which Neo faced in the movie's climax. They, however, weren't so lucky as to be resurrected as a 'Master of the Matrix' à la Neo, and were but forgotten.
However, with Morpheus effectively being 'the exposition guy' throughout the movie, the Brothers probably decided that it would taint his credibility if Morpheus were seen to be that..well...utterly insane.
There were hints of that left, both in the passage I quoted in the previous section and in the Oracle revealing how even she could not pierce through Morpheus' powerful obtuseness; but now it could simply be alternative as Morpheus being the 'good Christian', the 'steadfast believer'.
In effect, he retains his now-popular dubbing as the John The Baptist figure of the piece.
This is one of many place in which The Matrix Reloaded exceeded, my expectations.
No longer viewing the Wachowskis world as filtered through the eyes of Morpheus and his ship, we are brought into the greater context. We are brought into Zion. Here, we see that Morpheus' opinion - whilst popular with many - is never to far away from the Cypher-like scepticism that seemed like such a gross perspective to have in the first film.
He is met with hostility for his views by superiors and peers alike. BUt it is that same unwavering, charasmatic power and belief that jerked Neo out of his slumber that works its magic throughout the people of Zion. In the Enter The Matrix game footage, co-scpetic lovers Locke and Niobe talk of Morpheus power over Zion, and the fact that .35 million sentinals inching their way towards the gates of Zion rendered everyone petrified.
Everyone but Morpheus.
As Niobe says, "you need him".
But, the Wachowskis being indifferent to the concept of religious subscription, wouldn't have Morpheus' faith be unshakeable. Morpheus personal extrapolation of and absolute resolution with the prophecy becomes his downfall.
Rewatching The Matrix after Reloaded and Revolutions (as I did today, which is what inspired this article) Morpheus comes across as an almost tragic figure. Seeing that child-like glee flash over his eyes in the first installment every time Neo does something out of the ordinary or when he responds to Neo's enquiry of the Oracle's revelation to him by saying "[she said] I would find the One" with a confident smile across his face...Morpheus elicits a sense of immense pathos that we might associate with those following the strict laws of many of the world religions.
Morpheus is disillusioned, trapped within his own 'Matrix'.
Unlike Neo, however, Morpheus doesn't just throw up and get over it...throughout Revolutions he is a broken man who seems to have abandoned his gift for inspired speech, but never stops trying to find some light in the darkness that has so suddenly and violently destroyed his entire sense of life. When Morpheus is asked why he wants to search the Matrix for Neo without a head-jack into the system, he can but implore Captain Roland of the Mjolnir with an uncharacteristically timid-yet-sincere "please...for me".
In many ways, this is what makes Morpheus last declarative speech of the trilogy one of the greatest. Whilst the pre-Architect summoning Morpheus gives in his "we are soldiers" speech of Reloaded tingles the spine and spurs the heart, it is the soul-shattering bleakness of his proclamation that keeps you hanging on to the end of Revolutions after an exhausting Zion seige.
For the first time in the trilogy, the lexical compostion of his speech is full of "don't know"s...which makes the final "I know" all the more powerful.
"Neo is doing what he believes he must do.
I don't know if what he's doing is right, and I don't know if he'll reach the machine city...and if he does, I don't know what he can do to save us.
But I do know that as long as there is a single breath in his body...he will not give up.
And neither can we."
~Morpheus~
Morpheus is coming to terms with Neo's potential to save both man and machine-kind as being a real sacrifice, and not just some sleek, airy-fairy surgical procedure. This is also where the stylitic departure of Revolutions from Reloaded takes its cue. Neo's journey is no longer one of super-coolness, arrogance and blind brute (pun not intended). It has instead become a journey through "the desert of the real" wrought with pain, death, suffering and clasping onto the smallest strain of hope ("the quintessential human delusion", as the Architect would have it) in order to acheive a state of enlightenment that Buddha would be proud of.
Built of light...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Throughout human history we have been dependent on machines to survive.
Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
~Morpheus~
Morpheus gives us a highly summarised outline of transpired events that reshaped the face of the planet. It was pretty obvious that the one-dimensionality of the first movie that was predicated upon the basis that a relatively unreliable Morpheus was our guide through this world would extend to every facet of said story.
One such facet was the viewers opinion of the machines as dictated by Morpheus.
Despite Morpheus' confession that the Earth's sky was destroyed by men and not machines, the movie seems to propagate this sense of 'good' versus 'bad' throughout the entire thing. There is no compromise.
As long as the Matrix exists, the human race will never be free.
~Morpheus~
Like I said; no compromise.
What's interesting is that Neo seems more open to change than the guy who believes beyond any doubt that he will kick the machines' collective a ss. Neo levels with Morpheus about what he's found out about the systematic manufacturing of the prophecy and the One with a straight-but-solemn face. He's bummed, sure. But it's Morpheus whose life-long illusion would be shatered.
In the kind of symmetry whose opportunity on which only the Wachowskis could capitalise, Neo echoes the words of his ex-mentor right back at him from way back when he first introduced Neo to the nightmare of his CG dream: "I didn't say it would be easy - I just said it would be the truth".
But Neo's relative open-mindedness compared to Morpheus was something that was evident ever since the end of the first movie. That final speech (in the script version) is actually much more moderate in tone, wording and central ideal than what Morpheus has been yelling at us for the last 90 minutes. But - with confused and underwhelmed test-audiences damanding something more along the lines of a George Bush declaration of war, the Brothers made Neo's final speech more overtly empowering to humans, Morpheus' cause and himself.
In other words, Neo's final words in the first film are coming from a place of egocentric power.
Isn't it wonderful, then, that after six months of "show[ing] these people what [the machines] don't want them to see", Neo is sitting in the Neb mess hall confused about what the Hel he's supposed to do next? "Surely this can't be what I'm here to do", he's thinking. And sure enough, the machine army that's just perched itself of Zion's front lawn catalyses the events that follow, and Neo continues his journey within this web of illusions. It is his uniquely questioning nature, however, that allows him to ascend come Revolutions. He's willing to make changes that no One before him ever did.
Seeking out the Oracle:
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
It never ceases to amaze me how - as more and more of the deceptions are stripped away - just how differently we view the Oracle in each film.
In the first movie, we know only what we're told: she's old, she's wise, and "she can help you to find the path".
There are no questions. There are no 'if's or 'but's. Morpheus insists that one not view the Oracle's words as correct or incorrect. Which is effectively asking one to make that same leap of dogmatic faith as Morpheus because it overlooks one of the core practices of all philosophy: critical reason.
It is this critical reason that the second film borders on. She challenges Neo with two choices "acceptance" or "rejection".
In other words, you either trust her or you don't.
In Reloaded, we find out a number of facts that suddenly fill up the gaping holes left in the first film. Facts that suddenly shift your perspective of all that has transpired so far in Reloaded and the 90 minutes of the first film that preceded that.
The Oracle is not 'human'. She is a computer program. In other words, she's from the same place as the relentless Smith program that we so fear throughout the trilogy. This suddenly puts the Oracle of the first film into a different light. Furthermore, it challenges our view on those oh-so-evil machines. I still remember how my face went from a confused crumple into a childish grin as I heard Neo utter the words "you're not human, are you" in response to the Oracle's intent to "get the obvious stuff out of the way". What was even more great was the reply, "it's tough to get any more obvious than that".
Totally. Friggin'. Human.
The fact that it makes perfect sense is what makes it even more disturbing to the viewers who took Morpheus' words in the first movie as law. For me, I just couldn't stop smiling. The toughest part was trying to quieten all the thoughts now racing through my head as I listened to the rest of what the Oracle had to say.
Finally, almost half-way through the second film of the trilogy, the Wachowskis had begun the journey of breaking out of the Matrix...
Quintessentially human...
Removed image as it was screwing up the layout
Pompous, arrogant, logical and menacing...the Architect emboddies the concept of mathematical malevolence.
Whilst the Architect differs in his approach to the idea, he seems to concur with his 'bastard son', Smith, that life is relatively purposeless. At the end of the movie, Smith lists all the "vagaries of human perception" he could imagine that might be motivating Neo to continue to defy his logic. Interestingly, one of those "delusions" is love - and Smith specifically states how "only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love".
And yet, Rama-Kandra, Kamala, Sati...even the Oracle seem to deem love as an important and essential factor. And they're not even 'human'.
But what is this term, 'human'? We use it to describe our species, yes. But we also use terms like "inhuman" and "humanitarian", both derivatives of the word "human". The semantic implication of the word "human" is one of morals, decency and love - things that we human beings take for granted as being our sole domain of function. And yet, here we stand, confronted with computer programs who are expressing those same "temporary constructs". As with Project #3501 in Ghost In The Shell, sentient life that has been allowed to evolve is expressing traits that we previously considered to be applicable only to us.
This is why Sati really is so important.
As Smith says, they are all "as artificial as the Matrix itself". Our own, self-created Matrices; like Morpheus being trapped within his construct of the prophecy, or Neo trying desperately to figure out what the next step in his journey must be, or even Trinity who is willing to go wherever Neo goes without ever looking back to ask "why". Are they are all "trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose"?
Perhaps.
But this seems to be what we're all after from birth till death.
We live our lives punctuated by the constant attempt to define it, to label it.
And that's what Neo learns at the end of the film. That to break free of that simulacrum of obsession with the 'surface of self' and to truly break free, he must realise the one universal concept that fuels all sources of liberation:
There is no spoon.
o ok
lol well i also felt that the loss of Gloria Foster damaged Revolutions. She seemed perfect for the role. Well, thanks for replying.
Well now I know which film you're talking about it's a bit easier! Reloaded was the better film because it had better set-pieces and set up some fantastic possibilities for the third instalment. Unfortunately Revolutions didn't really deliver. Also, I personally felt that the loss of Gloria Foster really damaged Revolutions.
true
true.... here: why did many people consider reloaded to be better than revolutions? lol there hope you can understand it.
Still doesn't make grammatical sense!
here
let me put it in another way, an easier way. Why did Many people like RELOADED than REVOLUTIONS?
lol ferget it
Eh?
hey...
why did many people like matrix reloaded better than matrix revolutions... sure revolutions had more action but people said it didn't make sense... maybe its just me because my genre is action/adventure not romance
I have to admit I'm basing the EX comment on a couple of reviews I read prior to receiving the disc. The film is also listed as having an EX mix on Dolby's site. Unfortunately I can't confirm or deny as I’m not EX equipped. I should really have put this in the body of the review, so I’ll amend it when I have a chance. As for the white rabbit features, they were listed in the R2 and R4 press release, but not the R1. As far as I know they are available on all regions, but they are superfluous as you can access all of the material from the menus anyway—totally pointless if you ask me...
Hey Chris,
How come region 1 is EX encoded?
Was that the same case for Reloaded?
Also, I'm positive the white rabbit features don not work on region 4 (PAL)
Please Reply
How come region 1 is EX encoded?
Was that the same case for Reloaded?
Also, I'm positive the white rabbit features don not work on region 4 (PAL)
Please Reply
Quote: Originally posted by Josh Simons
How come the NTSC version actually has the white rabbit featurette?
-Josh Simons
It's present on all regions, although a little superfluous as the white rabbit segments are also accessible through a regular menu.
How come the NTSC version actually has the white rabbit featurette?
-Josh Simons
It's present on all regions, although a little superfluous as the white rabbit segments are also accessible through a regular menu.
Quote: Originally posted by Mcnasty .
When is the Matrix Trilogy supposed to come out again ?
No firm date as of yet I'm afraid. I'm on the lookout for more info on th extras.
When is the Matrix Trilogy supposed to come out again ?
No firm date as of yet I'm afraid. I'm on the lookout for more info on th extras.
you can get it before april 6th!
I have the matrix revolutions for region 1 by the way not a bad movie. You can get it at some retail stores around the price of $22.99. Hopefully you can find a store.. (i got it at a rental store lol)
awesome review Chris. I'm so pumped, I can't wait for April 6th.
How come the NTSC version actually has the white rabbit featurette?
-Josh Simons
-Josh Simons
When is the Matrix Trilogy supposed to come out again ?
Was I laughing at you?
...
Don't ask me why but you know the picture where the guy is laughing (or have a huge smile?)
For some reason it reminded me of Chris Gould ..
LoL!
For some reason it reminded me of Chris Gould ..
LoL!
Quote: Originally posted by Steve Bland
I'm just generalizing here, but with the two different overall ratings, you'll steer some people away from the R1 and while the R4 is exactly the same, more people would be interested in it because it's "better" than R1. That's kinda what I've been trying to say all along.
It still doesn't make any sense. The two releases aren't exactly the same anyway; one is PAL, the other NTSC.
I'm just generalizing here, but with the two different overall ratings, you'll steer some people away from the R1 and while the R4 is exactly the same, more people would be interested in it because it's "better" than R1. That's kinda what I've been trying to say all along.
It still doesn't make any sense. The two releases aren't exactly the same anyway; one is PAL, the other NTSC.
All three of these movies stink. I wanted to walk of out Revolutions, but wasn't the one who drove to the theater. Two hours of Keanu Reeves is two hours to long, plus the movie was very anti-climactic.
I'm just generalizing here, but with the two different overall ratings, you'll steer some people away from the R1 and while the R4 is exactly the same, more people would be interested in it because it's "better" than R1. That's kinda what I've been trying to say all along.
Quote: Originally posted by Steve BlandI know people's opinion on the movie will differ. But the video/audio/extras is the exact same on each region. I'm just saying I think there should be more consistency in stuff like that.[/b]
On the contrary. The extras especially are still up to the reviewer's opinion when it comes to discussing their merits. What may be an interesting piece to one writer may be boring old crap to another. We're just here to tell you what's there and help guide you to what we think are the good features of the disc. Video and audio are the same pretty much, though obviously there aren't going to be big discrepancies between reviews, which there aren't in this case.
On the contrary. The extras especially are still up to the reviewer's opinion when it comes to discussing their merits. What may be an interesting piece to one writer may be boring old crap to another. We're just here to tell you what's there and help guide you to what we think are the good features of the disc. Video and audio are the same pretty much, though obviously there aren't going to be big discrepancies between reviews, which there aren't in this case.
Quote: Originally posted by Chris Gould
It makes perfect sense, for the very reason you mentioned. Pete has his views on what constitutes a good film (or video/audio/extras), and I have mine.
I know people's opinion on the movie will differ. But the video/audio/extras is the exact same on each region. I'm just saying I think there should be more consistency in stuff like that.
It makes perfect sense, for the very reason you mentioned. Pete has his views on what constitutes a good film (or video/audio/extras), and I have mine.
I know people's opinion on the movie will differ. But the video/audio/extras is the exact same on each region. I'm just saying I think there should be more consistency in stuff like that.
good review, im buying it no matter what
I have the first 2 Matrix DVDs and i'll get the 3rd one as well. I have to Animatrix too, which is also very impressive, if you understand a lot of technological aspects of things related to the "Matrix Universe".
I personally thought Revolutions was way better than Reloaded. The funny thing is, despite not doing well at the box office Revolutions will sell pretty well when it comes out on Tuesday the 6th. I work at a video store and we only got 35 copies on DVD, 3 on VHS. People will be mad when they find out we're out of it. And my only comment will be, "We'll it didn't do great at the theaters, so why should we order a ton of rentals for people, who thought the movie sucked. In one word "hypocrites".
I personally thought Revolutions was way better than Reloaded. The funny thing is, despite not doing well at the box office Revolutions will sell pretty well when it comes out on Tuesday the 6th. I work at a video store and we only got 35 copies on DVD, 3 on VHS. People will be mad when they find out we're out of it. And my only comment will be, "We'll it didn't do great at the theaters, so why should we order a ton of rentals for people, who thought the movie sucked. In one word "hypocrites".
It makes perfect sense, for the very reason you mentioned. Pete has his views on what constitutes a good film (or video/audio/extras), and I have mine.
Nice review...
But how can the same movie, same DVD , get different scores because the region is different? I understand different people reviewed it, but it doesn't make much sense to me.
Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian
Disc Details
Release Date:
6th April 2004
Discs:
2
Disc Type:
Single side, dual layer
RCE:
No
Video:
NTSC
Aspect:
2.35:1
Anamorphic:
Yes
Colour:
Yes
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 English, Dolby Digital 5.1 French
Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French
Extras:
Matrix Recalibrated Documentary, Neo Realism: The Evolution of Bullet Time, CG Revolution Documentary, Super Big Mini-Models Segment, Super Burly Brawl Featurette, Double Agent Smith Segment, Mind Over Matter: The Physicality of The Matrix, Before the Revolution 3D Timeline, Future Gamer: The Matrix Online Feature, Multidimensional Stills Gallery, Matrix Revolutions Theatrical Trailer, DVD-ROM Features: Weblink & Matrix Test
Easter Egg:
No
Feature Details
Director:
The Wachowski Brothers
Cast:
Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Mary Alice, Harold Perrineau Jr., Jada Pinkett Smith, Lambert Wilson, Monica Bellucci, Helmut Bakaitis, Collin Chou, Anthony Wong, Nona M. Gaye
Genre:
Action and Sci-Fi
Length:
129 minutes
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