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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 (Remastered) (2002)

The Matrix Revisited (Remastered) (2002)

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Released 6-Dec-2004
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Audio Dolby Digital Trailer-Train Audio-Only Track-The Music Revisited Featurette-The Dance Of The Master: Yuen Wo Ping's Blocking Tapes Featurette-The Bathroom Fight And Wet Wall Featurette-The Code Of The Red Dress Featurette-The Old Exit: Wabash And Lake Featurette-Agent Down Featurette-But Wait -There's More.. Featurette-Take The Red Pill: What Is Bullet Time? Featurette-Take The Red Pill: What Is The Concept? Featurette-Follow The White Rabbit ( 9 Featurettes) DVD-ROM Extras
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	122:58
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (59:07)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Josh Oreck
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Kym Barrett Jason Bentley Geofrey Darrow Dane A. Davis Don Davis Lorenzo DiBonaventura Peter Doyle Laurence Fishburne John Gaeta Carrie-Anne Moss Owen Paterson Bill Pope Keanu Reeves
Case	?	Starring
RPI	Box	Music	Paul Cooper Adam Locke-Norton Robert Phoenix

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	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

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

Plot Synopsis

When The Matrix was first released on DVD, it was laden with extras. Still, it was before the 2 Disc Collector's Edition craze and because of this there were a number of things that did not make it into the extras package. Back up that with the fact that 2 sequels were in production and you have a reasonable excuse to release, on its own, that missing extras disc. The Matrix Revisited takes up where the first disc (the original Matrix disc) ended. Included is an interesting look at the production of the first film, from its conception to production design to principal photography. Some of the most interesting aspects of the making-of documentary involve the martial arts training that the cast had to undergo. Far from a simple week or two of training, the cast trained full time for 4 months to get all the fights and scene blocking done. Essentially, the cast had to learn Kung Fu basically from scratch. Factor in Keanu Reeves in a neck brace after major spinal surgery and Hugo Weaving undergoing hip surgery and the whole training exercise would be far from easy. Still, under the expert tutelage of master martial arts choreographer Yuen Wo Ping, the film achieved athe look of an authentic Hong Kong action movie with many of the actors performing their own stunts. All this went into making The Matrix one of the most memorable films of all time.

Now, for those wanting to know, this package is a bit different to the one that was released in 2002. A couple of the extras included in the first The Matrix Revisited have made it back in, and the Easter eggs are now in the main body of the extras. Also included here are some of the extras that were in the initial release of The Matrix. What is Bullet Time? and What is the Concept?, along with the Follow the White Rabbit making-of breakouts are included here, as they are now not part of the first disc in this 10 disc collection. This is handy as it enabled Warner Home Video to ramp up the video bitrate for The Matrix significantly compared to the original release. There are also some things missing from this disc in comparison to the original release. The What is to Come?, What is the Animatrix? and The True Followers featurettes are now gone, as they were more promotional than informative and had little information that isn't already spread throughout the 10 disc set.

There is some interesting stuff here, and it's one of the few times that you get to see the film's directors Andy and Larry Wachowski talk at any length about the film. If you missed picking this up initially, then you'll be happy to know it's included in this new package.

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

Transfer Quality

Video

As was the case with the original release of this programme, we get it in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame. The disc's menus are 16x9 enhanced, but none of the programme material is.

The level of sharpness here is all over the shop. Being a full frame transfer of quite a bit of 2.35:1 material hampers things a bit, and much of the footage is taken with handheld video cameras that aren't quite broadcast quality. This adds to the fly-on-the-wall look of the documentary, but the image is a bit rough and ready. Shadow detail is fairly ordinary here, with detail lacking in some scenes in comparison to the final product. There is low level noise noticeable at times due to the standard of equipment used to film much of the documentary.

The colour here is fairly muted and lacking in the dynamic look of the final film. Again, expected due to the equipment used to capture the vision. Still, the colour is fine and acceptable considering this is mostly a documentary and tapes used by the filmmakers to produce the film.

The main programme is transferred at an average and fairly stable bitrate of 5.45 Mb/s. There is the occasional MPEG nasty, such as that seen from time to time during the What is the Concept? extra, but this looks to be part of the original source material as the same pixelization and macroblocking could also be seen in this extra on the original release of The Matrix. As much of the footage is taken with home video cameras, the quality is reflected in the image. Cross colorization and edge enhancement are fairly visible during the feature, as well as chroma noise. Again, expected.

There is only one subtitle option here with this package, that being an English option. They provide an approximate translation of the spoken dialogue, but they are not word for word and you miss a bit of the flair that the actors and crew use in their language.

This disc is formatted RSDL with the layer change taking place at 59:07, between Chapters 16 and 17. This is the same place as the initial release of this disc and it is very hard to pick, as it's placed in a spot where the screen is black and there is no audio. I had to use a computer programme to find it.

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

Audio

There is only one audio option here for the main programme, that being an English Dolby Digital 5.1 mix running at 384 Kb/s. All of the supplementary material, including the audio-only music option, are encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kb/s.

The dialogue quality here is good, with the spoken word understandable throughout the programme. Sync isn't a major issue here, but it is reasonable considering how the programme was created and the equipment used.

There is a lot of ambient background music used in the programme from such artists as Obadia, Fingertwister, Robert Phoenix, Paul Cooper, Canton and others. It is not quite the rocking soundtrack of the film, but more of a chill-out mix of tracks that suits the material well.

Whilst this disc features a full-blown 5.1 mix, it sounds more like a derived 5.1 mix with little information coming from the rears other than a basic atmospheric surround sound. LFE is also fairly light-on - there isn't much action for the subwoofer other than the occasional musical passage or some of the final sound mix from the completed film.

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

Extras

This disc is basically an extras disc in itself, so the entire content of the disc could be considered as extras.

This is a jukebox of 41 songs that can be heard during The Matrix Revisited. All the songs can be selected individually or played from the start to the last track. There are no time codes for the tracks, but at just over 3 hours, this is a handy feature if you want some ambient music playing in the background. Here is a list of songs as they appear:

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

Behind the Matrix - 17:21 Total Running Time

Selecting this option brings up the following featurettes:

The Dance of the Master: Yuen Wo Ping's Blocking Tapes - 5:48

Have a look at the breakdowns of the film's major fight scenes and you see just how much detail and how much planning went into them before they were even filmed. Here we get prototypes of the Dojo Scene, the Subway Fight, the Government Lobby shoot out, the Bathroom Fight, all blocked out by two martial art stunt double extras. Using this technique gives the filmmakers a look at how the finished product will look. Also interesting in this group of blocking tapes is the Bathroom Fight, which shows some alternate action between Morpheus and Agent Smith that never made it into the final version.

The Bathroom Fight and the Wet Wall - 3:16

This is a look at the Bathroom fight and Neo's flight from the building down the wet wall.

The Code of the Red Dress - :46

All about THAT girl in THAT red dress, including a humorous anecdote about one all-too-distracted onlooker.

The Old Exit: Wabash and Lake - 2:38

This is a look at the battles between Neo and Agent Smith and how they were filmed.

Agent Down - 1:33

A short featurette about Hugo Weaving and his hip surgery at the start of the cast's martial arts training.

But Wait - There's More - 3:11

A montage of behind the scenes action set to music.

Take the Red Pill - 17:40 Total Running Time

These are featurettes that were included in the original release of The Matrix and were not part of the initial release of The Matrix Revisited, but are included here. They are:

What is Bullet Time? - 6:15

This a look at the concept of Bullet Time by the film's special effects wizard John Gaeta, with original footage of Trinity's fight with the cops, the Government Rooftop and the Subway Fight.

What is the Concept? - 11:25

Here we have a look at the conception of the film's look, from original design drawings to basic computer animatics to the finished product.

Follow the White Rabbit - 22:46 Total Running Time

This is the collection of making-of breakouts that were part of the Follow the White Rabbit feature included on the initial release of The Matrix. These are short featurettes on how various scenes of the film were done.

Trinity Escapes - 1:05
Pod - 2:23
Kung Fu - 3:56
The Wall - 2:03
Bathroom Fight - 2:04
Government Lobby - 4:07
Government Roof - 2:33
Helicopter - 1:01
Subway - 3:34

Web Links

Provides information on the online content available at the official website www.thematrix.com

R4 vs R1

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

From what I have been able to gather, we have the same package available in Region 1, except for some language and subtitle differences. In terms of content, we have the same as that released worldwide.

Summary

This is the extras disc that we missed out on with the original release of The Matrix. Now, it's been streamlined and honed down for inclusion in this new 10 disc collection. If you have any interest in how The Matrix was created, this is a good starting place.

The video is simple and a bit rough and ready at times because of the basic home video cameras used to capture the action. Still, it is watchable.

The audio is adequate.

This whole disc consists of extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Panasonic DVD RP-82 with DVD-Audio on board, using S-Video output
Display	Beko TRW 325 / 32 SFT 10 76cm (32") 16x9. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio Decoder	Yamaha RX-V2300 Dolby Digital and dts. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL).
Amplification	Yamaha RX-V2300 110w X 6 connected via optical cable and shielded RCA (gold plated) connects for DVD-Audio
Speakers	VAF DC-X Fronts (bi-wired), VAF DC-6 Center, VAF DC-2 Rears, VAF LFE-07 Sub (Dual Amp. 80w x 2)

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