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We lie coma- like in our technological cocoons, providing a renewable power source to the machines that have occupied the surface of an Earth caught in perpetual nuclear winter. Our minds are artificially stimulated by vast and complex computers, deceiving us, causing us to believe that we're living our familiar lives in the twenty-first century. Some have escaped that fate, freedom fighters working on our behalf. Their numbers have grown and the machines feel threatened.  

During the abrupt climax of The Matrix Reloaded, Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Bane (Ian Bliss) survived a confrontation with sentinels. As The Matrix Revolutions opens, both are unconscious. Neo had stopped the machines with powers that should have been available to him only in the matrix. We learn that Neo's effort has left him in a coma, an odd coma that manifests brainwave patterns of someone who is jacked in. From Neo's point of view, he's in a Purgatory, an irrationally dimensioned place between reality and matrix. It resembles a train station from which program constructs escape their cybernetic servitude to escape into the matrix for a more pleasant, if not completely artificial, existence. The station is controlled by Merovingian (Lambert Wilson) - the Frenchman - through his minion, the Trainman (Bruce Spence). It will fall to Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), guided by the Oracle (Mary Alice), to rescue Neo. And rescue him they must, for the machines are drilling down through the Earth's crust to reach humankind's last refuge, the subterranean city of Zion. A quarter of a million sentinels are poised to swarm through huge boreholes to destroy the rebellious people who've escaped captivity.  

The defenders of Zion have not been idle. They prepare for the invasion, arming their fighting machines and setting up a primary line of defense within the point of entry, the vast dock that accepts the city's hoverships. What the city needs is an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) device to fry the machine invaders' circuits, but all EMPs are out on the hoverships. Captain Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) with Morpheus at her side races back to Zion, hundreds of sentinels closing on her fast, in a frantic bid to save the city. Neo has decided that he must undertake an even more desperate voyage, one that he believes is the only hope for the survival of humankind. What no one has yet to realize is that - as we saw in the previous film - Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) has infiltrated reality and now controls Bane's conscious actions.
 
Smith is the wildcard. The agent's ability to transform any construct within the artificial reality of the matrix isn't the only "upgrade" it's achieved. Smith has become independent of the machines, able to transform the fabric of the false reality of the matrix and influence events within the true reality of Neo's world. He's become an independent sentient program, more powerful than its machine creators ever intended. Smith's unbridled hatred of Neo drives the construct onward, as unrelenting as the original Terminator, but with much more malevolent intent. Not only is it obsessed with Neo's destruction, it is transforming the matrix into an Earthly hell.  

When the drilling machines break through into the docking area, we experience one of the most complex and visually stunning battles yet caught on film. Dozens of combat machines pour thousands of rounds into the holes created by the boring machines. But no amount of firepower can stop the uncountable sentinels. They swarm into the dock like schools of fish, unleashing death with mindless abandon. Writers-directors Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski have created a very dark world in every sense of the words. It isn't clear whether mankind can survive, so the story is compelling, and yet...

The underlying elaborate structure has become inconsistent. How does a computer program, an artificial construct of the matrix world manifest itself in the real world? How does a human who's learned to enhance his powers in the artificial matrix world manifest some of those powers in the real world? And what of Matrix Reloaded's tantalizing questions left unanswered? Did Neo's choice condemn mankind to annihilation? Was the Architect lying? Perhaps. The Architect is a sentient that claims to be incapable of lying, which itself then must be considered a lie. And what is the significance of the Oracle's habit of snacking little red pills? We now know from Matrix Reloaded that the Oracle is a computer program. Another independent sentient? The architect of revolution? Or just a facilitator?  

I can accept those open plot points and the negligence of the Wachowski Brothers' letting them slide, but I'm still left a bit dissatisfied. The first film is an ingenious concept of an alternate reality. It offered remarkable visions of unexpected creativity. The fusion of martial arts, Eastern philosophies, science fiction, and social commentary was executed with fascinating skill. But with each succeeding film, action assumed an increasing priority. I was looking forward to ingeniously unpredictable resolutions to my questions. Instead, The Matrix Revolutions is a series of action set pieces and a distinct geographical shift away from Eastern mystical philosophy, evoking with little subtlety a Western religious icon.
 
That isn't to say that this film should be avoided; it is the culmination of a long journey that must be seen. I had to learn of the ultimate fates of Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Smith, and mankind. As escapist entertainment that overloads the senses, it can't be beat.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is presented in anamorphic video. When I reviewed The Matrix Reloaded, I commented that, "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 [over] 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."  Warner has duplicated the effort it made on Reloaded; The Matrix Revolutions is a reference quality transfer.

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. During the battle in the dock, the viewer is completely and convincingly submerged in an enveloping sound field. When I had a similar reaction to Reloaded, I visited the Dolby website to confirm whether or not Reloaded and Revolutions were official EX mixes; I found that neither was on Dolby's list of upcoming or previously released EX-mixed films. Regardless, if you have EX decoding available, please enable the mode. As with Reloaded, I could once again feel extremely deep bass. The fabric of my pants legs move from the pressure waves. Explosions thwack the pit of my stomach. Very impressive. Sound effects and gunfire are conveyed with brisk attack times, a visceral experience. The driving orchestral score by Don Davis is presented with very pleasing fidelity within a convincing acoustic space. The dialog runs distortion-free throughout. This excellent track is a perfect accompaniment to the exceptional transfer.  

The alternate language is in French, presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are offered in Spanish, French, and English, for which Closed Captions are also included.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

Very few supplements are included on disc one; the bits were dedicated to the presentation. All you will find is a collection of related trailers: The Matrix Teaser (0:54); The Matrix Reloaded Teaser (1:13); Animatrix Teaser (0:59); and, The Matrix Revolutions theatrical trailer (2:20). All other supplements are found on the second disc, where you will find a fine collection of full screen and non-anamorphic widescreen documentaries.

Revolutions Recalibrated (27:00) takes us on a personal journey with the featured players and the filmmakers as they describe the experience of making the Matrix series. We gain significant insight into how specific sequences and effects were done. Included are entirely too many spoilers that will impact the viewer who has not yet seen the film, so as I always recommend, save the supplements until after you've enjoyed the main event. During this short, watch for a white rabbit to appear in the lower right of the screen. Press enter while it's visible and you'll be diverted to another great little featurette (12:22) that discusses the evolution of the highly sophisticated cinematic techniques that had their Genesis in bullet time.

What hath George Lucas wrought? In CG Revolution (15:23), we're guided through the myriad of computer generated or computer supplemented special effect techniques that run through the film. We learn about the miniatures, the full size set elements, sophisticated motion capture, and the hydraulic gimbal mechanisms that create the preprogrammed motions that correspond to the CGI ballet. This is an absorbing glimpse into the evolution of imaging technology.

Super Burly Brawl (6:17) is a familiar feature that allows the viewer to compare storyboards, raw footage, and final composite in three windows. By using either the angle button or by making a selection from the view numbers in the upper left of the screen, the viewer may select which images occupy the largest window. I favor the raw footage view. What sets this supplement apart from similar comparison features found on other DVDs is the inclusion of the white rabbit, twice. Press enter with the rabbit visible and you'll be transported to a featurette (7:11) about reproducing a multiplicity of Smiths. A bit later, the rabbit will appear again to invite you to another featurette (8:04) that shows us the interaction between the actors and the fight choreographers as they and their stunt doubles perform wire and rig work.

Future Gamer: The Matrix Online (10:59) in an introduction to the massive multiplayer online game that will continue the epic beyond the events in this third film. The game's plotline is intended to evolve organically as the players interact, but there still remains a significant influence by the creators as they establish the environment and provide significant events. The hardware and software approaches are described for this very ambitious effort.

Before the Revolution is a text-based supplement that traces the history of the Matrix timeline. Navigation though a series of screens is accomplished with the cursor and enter buttons. Some screens have stills; others have full motion illustrations that repeat when the sequence completes. Those familiar with Animatrix will recognize images from that source in several sections, more clearly tying together those animated shorts and the feature films; the rest of the images are taken from the motion pictures. From time to time, you may think that you're experiencing some navigation glitches as you move through the images and text. Onscreen control prompts in the form of short vertical lines in what appears to be a horizontal bar graph are usually highlighted properly, but sometimes the highlighting moves to what seems to be a wrong icon, an arrow bracket. Select it for another screen of information, then maneuver back. This odd navigation felt like the DVD producers added extra timeline events as an afterthought without modifying the original graphics and routing.

3-D Evolution is a photo gallery with an ingenious and almost gratuitously complex user interface. Here you'll find concept art, storyboards, and final scenes. A Play All option skips that user interface and slowly works its way through all of the materials, automatically sequencing from one image to another. The next chapter button will speed you on your way.  

This leaves the last significant supplement, which is called Operator. Missed the white rabbit during any of the other extras? Not to worry. Here you will find direct access to those embedded featurettes. And it's here that we learn that they have specific titles: Neo Realism (12:22); Super Big Mini Models (8:47); Double Agent Smith (7:11); and, Mind Over Matter (8:04).

You'll find some abbreviated DVD credits on both discs. The 129-minute feature film is organized into thirty- three chapters.

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

There are several DVD-ROM features on this DVD; they're presented on a main screen after your InterActual Player loads with a new Matrix skin. Tunnel Recon Flash Game is very retro, harking back to Pac-Man. Maneuver through a maze of tunnels to collect four EMPs before sentinels can attack and destroy you. The firing controls that allow you to defend yourself are cumbersome, but many will find the game nostalgic.

If you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer (and you should), clicking on The Matrix Comics opens a large PDF file that contains a promotional preview of tales from The Matrix in graphic novel form. This full color PDF file also contains a fully illustrated sample story and synopses of upcoming tales. This pleasant surprise is another example of how The Matrix has invaded many media forms.

TheMatrix.com Preview Player is an interactive feature that allows a glimpse into the new Matrix website. A few still images and videos hot links are available on the disc. But why watch a preview when you can visit the real thing? Click on TheMatrix.com in the Links section and if you have active Internet access, you'll be transported to the portal. Specify the bandwidth of your connection and enjoy. I particularly liked the graphical representation of the site that featured hot links. Very handy. The Matrix Online Game does not seem to be active yet; clicking on that link brought me to the same website as TheMatrix.com. DVD Events unsurprisingly takes you to the Warner DVD Events page for everything you wanted to know about Warner DVDs.

Parting Thoughts