PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Matrix Revisited (2001)

The Matrix Revisited (2001)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 9-Apr-2002

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Documentary Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Dolby Digital Trailer-Train
Featurette-What Is To Come?
Featurette-What Is Animatrix?
Featurette-Whatisthematrix.com?
Featurette-The Dance Of The Master-Yuen Wo Ping's Blocking Tapes
Featurette-The True Followers
Featurette-The Bathroom Fight and Wet Wall
Featurette-But Wait-There's More
DVD-ROM Extras
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2001
Running Time 122:58
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (43:29) Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Josh Oreck
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Keanu Reeves
Laurence Fishburne
Carrie-Anne Moss
Joel Silver
Andy Wachowsky
Larry Wachowski
Case Soft Brackley-Transp
RPI $29.95 Music Jon Huck


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Matrix Revisited is a documentary examining the making of the movie The Matrix.

    This documentary is a combination of interviews and behind the scenes footage from The Matrix. Cast and crew members are interviewed, discussing their involvement with the film and the roles that they played. A large percentage of this documentary is comprised of footage that was taken during the rehearsals and filming of the movie. The documentary is broken up into a number of sections that each deal with the different aspects of this production. Areas such as the initial development of the project, casting, locations, sets, costumes and fight training are all examined.

    The promotion for this title emphasizes that details of the upcoming sequels and related animated projects are provided on this disc. Unfortunately, these segments are extremely short and relatively very little information about these projects are provided. If you are a fan of The Matrix and enjoy extras then you should take a look at The Matrix Revisited but if you are looking for detailed information regarding the related upcoming projects you may be a little disappointed.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The source material for the transfer varies significantly, ranging from filmed interview segments to behind the scenes footage shot on consumer DV equipment. Consequently, the quality of the transfer does vary significantly depending upon the material presented.

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 but numerous clips from the film are presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and are not 16x9 enhanced.

    Like many aspects of this transfer, the level of sharpness does vary considerably during the transfer depending upon the footage presented. Some segments such as the interviews with the primary cast members and clips from the film are all extremely sharp but much of the behind-the-scenes footage is noticeably softer. While initially distracting, the viewer soon becomes accustomed to these changes in quality and is able to readily accept this as the feature progresses. Like sharpness levels, the shadow detail varies throughout the transfer. Some of the on-set footage displays relatively poor shadow detail but this is never a significant problem. During numerous behind-the-scenes segments, low level noise may be seen. Some examples of this may be seen at 3:51, 5:13, 27:36, 28:17 and 32:36. This problem occurs mainly during poorly lit sequences and is slightly distracting to the viewer.

    The colour displayed during many of the interview segments is very vibrant and always appears to be accurately reproduced. During much of the behind-the-scenes footage, the colour palette appears slightly muted.

    A small number of compression artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these may be seen at 1:28, 4:55, 5:23 and 9:27 and may be the result of the encoding or may be present in the original source material. Luckily these artefacts are quite small and are only slightly distracting.

    A number of aliasing artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 10:48, 11:27, 13:54, 15:30, 18:32 and 22:05. Due to their frequency, these artefacts are moderately distracting.

    A very small number of film artefacts are present during the transfer. Some of these artefacts may be seen at 5:31, 5:42, 9:30, 10:28 and 14:06. As all of these artefacts are very minor, they are never distracting to the viewer.

    A single set of white English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are provided on this disc. I extensively sampled these subtitles and found that they often significantly abbreviated the spoken dialogue. While the same main details are reproduced, these abbreviations do detract slightly from the original meaning. During interview segments with fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping a set of green burned-in subtitles are presented.

    The layer change occurs at 43:29 at the start of Chapter 13 during a natural fade to black and is not disruptive to the viewer.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    A single Dolby Digital 384 kbps 5.1 soundtrack is provided for the documentary.

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times. No dropouts or problems with audio sync were detected at any time during the transfer.

    The background music by Jon Huck works well with the on-screen action and provides a similar atmosphere to the original film's soundtrack.

    The surround and subwoofer channels are used minimally throughout the transfer. These channels are only obviously utilized during the clips from the movie but this is never a problem for this dialogue-driven documentary.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    All extras are presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Menu

    The animated menus are presented at either 1.78:1 or 1.33:1 depending upon your player setup.

Featurette: What Is To Come? (2:45)

    This extra is a collection of footage showing actors and the stunt team preparing for the upcoming Matrix sequels. These sequences include car and motorbike chases, wire work and zero gravity stunts.

Featurette: What Is Animatrix? (5:03)

    This featurette examines the upcoming collection of upcoming animated shorts that will be released on the official website and eventually DVD.

Featurette: Whatisthematrix.com? (1:28)

    During this featurette, the role of the original movie website is examined and some of the planned features to promote the upcoming movies are also revealed.

Featurette: The Dance of the Master - Yuen Wo Ping's Blocking Tapes (5:49)

    These are the original tapes by legendary fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping showing each of the major fight scenes from the movie. These segments are edited in a similar way to the final sequences and are performed by members of Wo Ping's team.

Featurette: The True Followers (4:36)

    During this extra, a number of fans of the movie are interviewed and they discuss their thoughts on the film as well as fan fiction.

Featurette: The Bathroom Fight and Wet Wall (3:17)

    This short segment examines the design of the wet wall and bathroom fight sequences.

Featurette: But Wait - There's More (3:11)

    This is a collection of miscellaneous behind-the-scenes clips from The Matrix.

Easter Egg: Red Dress (0:48)

    This is a short segment discussing the impact that the appearance of the girl in the red dress had during shooting. To access this extra, press the right arrow while on the first extras menu and a woman in a red dress will appear.

Easter Egg: Agent Smith (1:34)

    This is an interview segment where Hugo Weaving discusses the injuries he sustained during the first film. To access this extra, press the right arrow twice while on the first extras menu and Agent Smith will appear.

Easter Egg: Neo (2:38)

    This is a collection of behind-the-scenes clips showing Keanu Reeves practicing stunts and comments from other cast and crew members. To access this extra press the right arrow while on the second extras menu and the image of Neo will change.

Easter Egg: Jukebox (189:58)

    This is a collection of 41 different Dolby Digital 2.0 musical tracks that may be individually selected or all played sequentially. To access this section, press the left arrow in the subtitle section of the language menu. This will display a telephone and pressing enter at this point will display a series of menus listing each of the tracks and the artist. The following tracks are provided in this section.

1. Aleks Svaensson "Syvelleve" 22. Wade R "Squarely in the groove"
2. Da.nu.lo "I'm not right (I'm what's left)" 23. Audible Ink "Beetle Instrumental"
3. Gooding "Licorice and Grape Kool Aid" 24. Beat T Tribe "Beat T Tribe (slight return)"
4. Jetsetmusic "Last Laugh Foundation Part C" 25. Fingertwister "7 a.m. Disaster"
5. Obadia "Lounge" 26. Hardknox "Coz I can"
6. Obadia "Slowride" 27. Aleks Svaensson "Art of Recycling"
7. Omniverse "Hipshot" 28. Canton "Blue Groove"
8. The Fur Ones "Semicolon" 29. Fingertwister "Casino Royale"
9. Robert Phoenix "Speedy Astronaut" 30. Aleks Svaensson "Sunny"
10. Canton "Birmingham, 43" 31. Fingertwister "In Memory of Phineas Gage"
11. Electrostatic "Electron Gun" 32. Less Skill "Technical Difficulties"
12. Ikarus "Praying to different gods" 33. Simulacra "Panacea"
13. Nolens Volens "Por sea T" 34. Fingertwister "The Reverend Will Return"
14. Out of Body "Beyond Mind" 35. O.R.G. "Traveling Man"
15. Paul Cooper "CEM2 New Stuff" 36. Project 3 "The Search"
16. Proactive Noize Transmission "One foot freek" 37. Tripnotic "Tripnofunk"
17. Project 3 "Go get it" 38. The Fur Ones "Transit"
18. VOID "Chemical 2000" 39. The Fur Ones "Product"
19. Audible Ink "Sand Turtle" 40. The Fur Ones "The End"
20. O.R.G. "Sofa Surfer" 41. The Fur Ones "Reduction"
21. Simulacra "Spy Vs Spy"  

 

Easter Egg: Theatrical Trailer (2:24)

    This trailer for the first film is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. This extra is available by pressing the right arrow, displaying a new bullet image, while on the second page displaying tracks 11 to 20 in the Jukebox section.

DVD-ROM Features

    This is simply a copy of PC Friendly and links to the official Warner's site.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    Both versions of this DVD appear to be identical and I therefore would have no preference for either version.

Summary

    The Matrix Revisited contains some interesting insights into the making of The Matrix and should appeal to all fans of the film.

    The video transfer does display a number of artefacts but this is to be expected considering the source materials available.

    The 5.1 soundtrack is tightly focused across the front three channels but this is appropriate for this dialogue-driven documentary.

    This whole disc may be considered an extra but the additional sections provided will be of interest to fans of the movie.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Anthony Kable (read my bio)
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba 1200, using S-Video output
DisplaySony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationFront left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged)
SpeakersFront left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259

Other Reviews
DVD Net - Gavin T
The DVD Bits - Dean B
Dark Horizons - Garth F
Jeff K's Australian DVD Info Site - Kevin S
DVDAnswers - Pete R
AllZone4DVD - Kevin S