Herb Kane
Screenwriter
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The Matrix Reloaded
Studio: Warner Brothers
Year: 2003
Rated: R
Film Length: 138 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Enhanced Widescreen
Audio: DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish
Package: Two Disc Keepcase
The Feature:
Let’s cut to the chase… as someone who considers himself to be a huge fan of movies (and I’ve seen many), I make it a point to watch the entire movie rather than prejudging it from, say, its twenty minute opening sequence or even half way through. Let’s face it; a lot of things can happen during a two hour movie. Now, add to that, I have only ever turned off two movies part way through prior to their completion. Unfortunately, The Matrix was one of the two.
The Matrix Reloaded is the second installment of a three part series brought to us by the Wachowski brothers, and produced by Joel Silver. The soon to be released The Matrix Revolutions will be the third and final installment. Neo, Morpheus and Trinity (starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Ann Moss respectively) are back in this installment in a race to save Zion.
The Machines are burrowing fast through what’s left of the Earth’s surface to destroy Zion and its human inhabitants. Smith continues to clone (at one point looking like a Secret Service convention) and with upgrades, is an even greater foe. To this end, Morpheus and his crew volunteer for a mission to find the one person who holds the “key” to saving Zion before the Machines destroy it. Throughout their search they encounter continual roadblocks and must try to figure out the meaning of certain events in order to further their search.
Throughout the movie, Neo has a dream (or more accurately a vision) that he is about to lose Trinity. Later, he will be faced with the most difficult decision of his life. But hey, this is only part two of a three part series, right…?
Admittedly, after watching The Matrix Reloaded I have an almost strange (albeit rather slight) desire to give the original The Matrix another chance. This movie did have a unique atmosphere which I did enjoy and for the most part found it rather entertaining. The fight scenes (and there were plenty) became tiresome and many of them could have been eliminated.
Video:
In a word; REFERENCE. This is a transfer that is sure to impress. Only the movie is located on disc one as to not compromise the feature in a competition for bit space. Color saturation is perfect as is skin color. Black levels are deep and equally impressive is the stark brisk look of whites. The level of clarity is incredible. On a 96” screen, the slightest hair, fabric and facial detail was amazing. A few scenes appeared to be slightly soft, but it didn’t appear to be transfer related. As one would expect with a new release, the movie was free of any dirt, scratches, video noise and the amount of grain was virtually non existent. I could detect no sign any haloing video enhancements whatsoever. A few scenes looked as though EE was present, but in my opinion, it was light and contrast related. Only the slightest amount of grain is visible.
Warning... a fullscreen version exists.
I think we’ll hear about this video transfer for a long time in terms of its quality. Most impressive.
Audio:
As you can imagine, this is the type of movie that begs for an overly aggressive soundtrack. The movie is absolutely filled with action scenes, chases, fights etc. From the start, I had to increase the volume as it was a slightly quieter mix than usual. While the soundtrack is aggressive, I wouldn’t necessarily call it overly aggressive (with the exception of LFE – see below). It was more subtle than I expected. Not that it is disappointing, just not quite as aggressive as I anticipated. I try to use gunshots (and this movie has plenty of them) as a gauge of the robustness of a track and here felt they were rather anemic. The level of clarity with respect to dialogue was excellent and there were no problems relating to dialnorm.
The front soundstage is hugely expansive and the level of directionality renders pinpoint precision. The music score is never muddied and is always clear.
There is a ton of LFE throughout the entire film. While much of it will give Titan AE and Toy Story 2 a run for their money, I felt as though the mix was almost overly aggressive. While many of us have come to expect a rumble say, during an explosion or crash, it seemed as though, quite often there was rumble just for the sake of rumble. And at times I found it rather exasperating. Make no mistake about it though, when it hits (and it hits often), it hits hard…
Another interesting observation was the use of surrounds. Almost the entire film has rear surround deployment that is tactful and plentiful. However, I found the rear surround mix to be also more subdued than anticipated. I thought the surround mix should have been a few dB’s greater.
I think everybody is going to enjoy the soundtrack on this disc (and so they should). Other than the seemingly gratuitous use of LFE, my criticisms are more as a point of observation than that of disappointment.
A soundtrack that is sure to please.
Special Features:
The second disc in the set contains all of the special features exclusively, thereby avoiding the possibility of any compression issues for the feature. First up on the disc is Preload - Behind The Scenes is a somewhat informative but brief documentary focusing on many aspects of the production such as the extensive wire work used throughout many (no, make that all…) of the fight scenes, computer animation, training techniques etc. Much of it is narrated by producer Joel Silver. Duration: 22:10 Mins.
Up next is On The Set of The Matrix which is nothing more than a tool used for promotional purposes to promote The Animatrix and the corresponding video game. Duration: 5:21 Mins.
The Freeway Chase is a rather detailed and in my opinion, the best of the special features included. Since the highway chase is perhaps the most gripping part of the movie, it’s rather apropos that the feature is every bit as galvanizing. This gives a detailed look at the CGI that was used during the course of this lengthy scene, the driver training involved as well as the highway that was constructed solely for the purpose of the film. Very interesting. Duration: 30:47.
Get Me An Exit - Products… er, advertising. Through a well crafted attempt to explicate the use of many products and their relevance in the film, we are presented with a few marketing plugs… I guess someone has to pay the bills. Duration: 9:48 Mins.
Enter The Matrix. Lists three segments starting with:
The Game - For those interested in games, you’ll find this interesting. It is a detailed feature that describes the making of the video game. Duration: 28:15
The Animatrix – Trailer. Duration: 4:32 Mins.
MTV Awards which is a spoof for the 2003 MTV Movie Awards on the movie featuring Justin Timberlake… ah… never mind! Actually, this was kinda funny. Duration: 9:40 Mins.
Finally there are a few DVD-ROM features. I didn’t spend a lot of time with this but looks as though, there is a link to WB web page, a sign-up for movie promos, as well as additional info about The Animatrix and the video game.
Other than the freeway scene documentary, I wasn’t very impressed with the special features included on this disc. It’s the type of movie that begs to have a plethora of the “making of” features and this showcases merely a few. Although much of the cast & crew are involved (and maybe that’s part of the problem), there just seems to be a lot of superfluous gibberish about nothing, really.
Final Thoughts:
As I have said earlier, it’s evident that the likeability of the reviewed feature is directly proportional to the ease of the review. Having said that, this is one of the hardest reviews I’ve had to do. The whole Matrix thing is just not my cup of tea. While I may not necessarily value or enjoy the franchise I certainly do recognize and moreover, appreciate the fact there are many who do. All in all, I did find it rather entertaining.
Objectively speaking, there is no denying that The Matrix Reloaded is a top notch quality production with a DVD presentation that is of reference quality in both audio and video categories. For fans of this movie and the franchise in general, this should be a very easy decision. Highly Recommended….!!
Release Date: October 14th, 2003
