More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

It's unlikely that you're reading this review without having developed an appreciation for the Wachowskis' imaginative trilogy. That said, I'll mention that unlike many sequels, the premise and concepts of this film may not be fully comprehended without first having enjoyed The Matrix. I'd also recommend viewing The Animatrix to absorb some of the back-stories that fill some obvious gaps. To summarize, we are all experiencing reality through the artificial stimulation of our senses by a vast complex of machines. We're immersed in fluid filled capsules, in a coma-like state, our biological needs tended to by machines that sap our energies to survive on a world shielded from the sun by an endless nuclear winter.

Some of mankind have escaped this deceptive fate and have organized; their warriors seek to free other imprisoned humans by exploiting holes in the fabric of our perceived modern technology. A new recruit to reality is Neo (Keanu Reeves); he is believed to be The One, he who was foretold in the prophecies to end the conflict and free humankind. No one believes in Neo more than Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), captain of the Nebuchadnezzar and an inspiration to the masses. No one loves Neo more than Trinity (Carrie- Anne Moss), a member of Morpheus's crew and a tireless warrior in the struggle against the machines. And no one hates Neo more than Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), a software construct of the machines who has made his pursuit of Neo within the matrix quite personal.

The last surviving humans are concentrated in an underground city named Zion. The Osiris, sister ship to the Nebuchadnezzar, has discovered that the machines are boring their way through the Earth directly above the complex. A quarter of a million sentinels wait to invade and destroy the remnants of mankind. The Osiris crew make the ultimate sacrifice to warn Zion. As Zion prepares to defend itself, Morpheus insists that he and his crew, particularly Neo, be allowed to seek the Oracle (Gloria Foster) for the critical guidance that should lead to the defeat of the machines. She guides Neo to The Keymaker (Randall Duk Kim), who holds the means to infiltrate the machine's hidden facility within the matrix. It is foretold that if The One makes his way into this dangerous center of power, mankind will be victorious.

Agent Smith is less than enthused. He pursues Neo with unbridled ferocity. He's new and improved; during their first confrontation since Smith was seemingly destroyed at the end of the first film, Neo detects that something's different, "Hmm, upgrades." One upgrade is the ability to transform human constructs within the matrix into replicas, causing Neo to fight dozens of Smiths simultaneously. The film is a relentless torrent of confrontations, including one of the most striking car chases ever captured on film (and features twin albino assassins who are terrible shots).

As with the first Matrix, in addition to remarkably choreographed martial arts, this film is punctuated with elaborate mysticism. Neo meets The Architect of the matrix (Helmut Bakaitis) and discovers disturbing truths about the nature of existence and of the prophecy. And Neo's meeting with The Oracle is equally disturbing, revealing her unexpected nature, her snacking on candies that bear a striking resemblance to the red pill, and presenting him with logical conundrums that do not have solutions. Neo's journey is one of choices; instinct will have to be his guide.

When the closing credits rolled, I was unaware that I had spent 138 minutes watching this film; I found myself totally involved. The visuals are dazzling and the concepts intriguing. I anxiously look forward to the resolution of a story that abruptly ends with the simple promise that it will be continued. Yet, I didn't find this remarkable production as satisfying as the original film. This is not a reaction to the unavoidable need to end the second act on a bleak note. It's a reaction to a lack of freshness. The novelty of martial arts on wires has worn off, as have bullet-time special effects. I very much enjoyed this film, but I think I would have appreciated shorter confrontations and a deeper exploration of the mysticism that underlies the story. Perhaps the creative and clever Wachowski Brothers are saving those details for the final chapter?

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. This is a reference quality transfer. The images are razor sharp without a hint of edge halos. Nothing but the feature film is present on disc one of this two-disc set, so the bit budget had to have been dedicated exclusively to the presentation - a Superbit-like philosophy. Having given up my Sony DVP-S7000 for a Denon DVD-9000 almost a year ago, I no longer have the means to display the bit rate, but judging by the quality of the images, I'd guess that it's well above the average DVD. Fine-grained textures and small object detail are outstanding. In fact, all the attributes worth mentioning are exceptional on this disc: shadow detail, color accuracy, chroma saturation, the lack of smearing, and the absence of both mosquito noise and macro-blocking. Watching it projected onto an eight-foot wide screen was truly a pleasure. This DVD earns a rare top rating for video quality.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The DVD's audio track is a superb Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. Surround channels are extremely active and benefit wonderfully from EX decoding. For example, bullet- time projectiles streaming past the viewer are placed with great precision within the entire 180 degrees of surround field. The disc's audio track decoded so perfectly with EX enabled that I was inspired to visit the Dolby website to confirm whether or not this was an official EX mix. Neither Reloaded nor Revolutions was on Dolby's list of upcoming or previously released EX-mixed films. The DVD's dialog seems to run about 3 dB below the typical disc, perhaps to provide additional headroom for dynamic range. That may explain why I could feel extremely deep bass; the fabric of my pants legs moved from the pressure waves, very impressive. Sound effects and gunfire are conveyed with brisk attack times, a visceral experience. The raucous orchestral score by Don Davis and the many source tracks pummel the listener, but in a nice way. The dialog runs distortion- free throughout. This excellent track is a perfect accompaniment to the exceptional transfer.

The alternative language is in French, also presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Subtitles are available in French, Spanish, and English, for which Closed Captions are included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Warner Home Video has not included commentaries or the white rabbit feature found on The Matrix DVD, but instead provides a fine array of comprehensive extras on a second disc. Preload - Get Behind The Scenes (22:10) may at first seem like the usual puff piece to stimulate ticket sales, it does in fact reveal many of the behind the scenes details of the shoot. Wire work, computer animation, motion capture, combat training, set design, costume design, and more are touched upon. The stars and the producer are prominently featured to offer insights and anecdotes. Our education is subliminal, without being explicitly lectured.

The Matrix Unfolds - A Look at the Matrix Phenomenon (5:21) traces the evolution of the Matrix multimedia experience. Highlighted are the video game and The Animatrix. While this sequence can be considered a marketing tool and promotion piece, as I pointed out in my review of the collection of Matrix related Anime, The Animatrix is a very worthwhile addition to the canon. It fills unavoidable gaps in the Matrix Universe left behind by the motion pictures.

The Freeway Chase - How They Did It (30:46) documents in great detail the remarkable chase scene. Anyone who may have followed the pre- production publicity for this film already knows that the filmmakers constructed their own highway in California for the shoot. With the freedom to do what ever they wanted for as long as they wanted, the filmmakers allowed their imaginations to run free as they designed this sequence. I was particularly amused by the cameras and hardware the filmmakers auditioned and used for the sequence, everything from miniature, radio controlled helicopters to vast rigs designed for one shot, the bike jump from the truck top to the road surface. We're taken through the process of conceptualizing, story boarding, modeling, creating animatics, and choreographing each gag. Some actors - all of whom underwent strenuous training for their fight sequences - were sent through high performance movie driving training; Carrie-Anne Moss in particular seems to have developed impressive skills with car and bike. We then come to understand how CGI was applied to create effects, integrate the scenes, and provide camera points of view that are breathtaking but, in hindsight, physically impossible.

Get Me An Exit - Inspired Design and Advertising (9:48) is an extension of the shameless but necessary product placement found in the film and doubles as a forum for Matrix-related commercials. I'll not play into the commercialism by citing the products and manufactures that must have paid small fortunes to be prominently visible, but I will mention that in a bizarre twist, a cell phone conceived by the film's production designers was transformed into a viable commercial product.

At first blush, dedicating over twenty-eight minutes to a featurette that describes a video game seems excessive, but I was not prepared for the surprising complexity of the production effort that went into the featured game's creation. In Enter The Matrix: Making The Game (28:15), we learn that a fourth Matrix film had been shot. The filmmakers wrote and filmed an hour-long feature involving the same crew and equipment used for Reloaded. The plot begins two days prior to the events of Matrix Reloaded, encompasses the Osiris Anime episode from The Animatrix, and merges into the plot of the second feature film, offering action from other characters' points of view. Niobe and Ghost are the dominant characters in the game. The level of detail and effort is truly extraordinary. Six months were dedicated to motion capture, including fine-grained facial movements. Whether you're a videogame fan or not, this little documentary is fascinating stuff.

The MTV Movie Awards Reloaded (9:40) is a clever parody promoting the award show. Co-hosts Justin Timberlake and Seann William Scott and other performers are cleverly integrated into footage from Matrix Reloaded in the style of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Very droll.

The supplement disc also includes a trailer for The Animatrix. A trailer for The Matrix Revolutions may be found as chapter 36 on the feature film disc. The 138-minute feature is organized into thirty-five chapters. It may be significant that this Warner release is not packaged in a snapper case; it's packaged in a two-disc keepcase.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

After the Warner skin loads atop your InterActual player, you'll have a host of options to explore. Visiting the Matrix website provides twelve choices. Among them are text screens and multimedia screens. Quicktime version 6 is required to enjoy a large selection of trailers that range from a modest 320x172 pixels to a 1000x540 pixel presentation contained in a whopping 9.4 Megabyte file. Also included are additional cast and crew interviews plus an extensive still gallery with photos and artwork. Information about The Animatrix, video games, and comics can all be found here. It's a wealth of online info.

Special Events takes you to the Warner DVD Events page. Latest DVDs is a hot link that connects to the Warner Home Video site. WB Online takes you to the Warner Bros. home page. And Sign Up for Movie Mail is a link to an invitation to put your name on a Warner e-mail distribution list.

Parting Thoughts