Since starting RopeofSilicon I have done theatrical reviews of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. I then reviewed the Matrix Revolutions DVD, the Ultimate Matrix DVD set and the Ultimate Matrix HD DVD set. As a result and upon receipt of the Blu-ray edition of the Ultimate Matrix set I felt it was finally time to put this much talked about trilogy behind me.
I started by doing my first official review of the original Matrix (read here). My decision to review and re-review all three films had to do with the fact that when I first reviewed the two sequels I was still green to the movie reviewer game and on top of that opinions change. While my opinion of the first film remains strong my opinion of the two sequels continues to dwindle. I continue to live for the scenes with Lambert Wilson as the Merovingian and I enjoy the car chase in Reloaded, but other than that there isn’t much there. I do enjoy the Reloaded soundtrack and the film itself does offer more in terms of entertainment value than Revolutions, but the entertainment value just isn’t there as much as is the disappointment that neither film really lived up to any kind of expectations, big or small. Revolutions in particular is a massive failure in those terms.
To quote the final paragraph from my Matrix Revolutions review:
Five years later the only Matrix film that truly lives on is the original. While I will probably return to the complete trilogy every so often over the years it is only because of my love for the original and the ideas presented in it and a few of the great scenes in the sequels.
None of this takes away from the quality of these three films on Blu-ray and Warner has certainly upped the ante from the HD DVD release, which was impressive in terms of video quality with the films, but now you get a digital copy of The Matrix as well as get The Animatrix in high-definition as well, whereas on the HD DVD it was presented only in HD.
None of these discs are flipper discs as all the content can be found on one single BD-50 Blu-ray disc which supplies additional room for more content and it doesn’t take anything away from the visual quality as I had to put in the HD DVD version just to do a quick comparison. As it turns out the audio and visual quality are almost identical between the two formats, but the fact that special feature junkies won’t have to flip each disc over is a major bonus considering the disc for The Matrix alone contains the film, four audio commentaries, the feature length doc The Matrix Revisited, and a ton of additional featurettes, trailers and TV spots. In comparison to the HD DVD counterpart the B-side of The Matrix disc is where you could find The Matrix Revisited as well as 11 of the additional featurettes. That just simply speaks to the storage potential of Blu-ray over the dead HD DVD format.
Reloaded and Revolutions follow suit as two sided discs are replaced with one sided discs rich with all the special features you are now used to along with each film having its own individual pop-up In Movie Experience. The Animatrix also comes on its own Blu-ray disc along with a large group of making-of special features.
The final two discs in the set are what make up the “Matrix Experience” which is all the additional content and featurettes you have come to expect from all the previous DVD and HD DVD collections Warner has released. Suffice to say there are about 35 total hours of footage and features to watch with this set and I would say this is the absolute best package they have ever been offered in.
Everything said, here are the links once again to my new reviews for each of the three Matrix movies:
- The Matrix Review
- The Matrix Reloaded Review
- The Matrix Revolutions Review
