Gamertell review: The Ultimate Matrix Collection on Blu-ray

Title: The Ultimate Matrix Collection
Price: $129.95
System(s): Blu-ray (and DVD)
Release Date: October 14, 2008
Publisher: Warner Home Video, Inc
Rating: “Restricted” for sci-fi violence, language and sexuality; “PG-13″ for sci-fi violence and language.
Pros: High-def goodness, lots of extra content and amazing transfer. Includes iPod/Windows media version of The Matrix.
Cons: It’s so clear some character in CG fights scenes look extra rubbery. The price. Dupe of the 2003 collection.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 90/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

The Ultimate Matrix Collection will quite simply amplify your feelings about The Matrix movies.

If you love them, you’ll enjoy them even more and happily gorge yourself on the multitude of extra content. If you hated them, you’ll now be able to pinpoint the tiniest flaws and laugh at them in glorious high-def.

What is the Matrix?

Summarizing this trilogy is nearly impossible without multiple screens, a higher-level degree and a good hour of reading. I humbly offer this uber basic nutshell summary for those who need it.

Neo, a hacker who is rightfully discontented with his existence, is thrust into reality which is being controlled by machines thanks to a sun-blocking nuclear war. Humans are literally used as batteries by the machines and are kept content in an virtual existence – the Matrix – partially controlled by computers but with a built-in flaw (aka the human element and of course, love). A band of rebellious humans, who have escaped the Matrix and are living underground, periodically hack back into the Matrix to fight “the machine” and try to free more humans. While in the Matrix, these knowing humans are able to mess with the laws of nature, performing impossible moves and fighting seemingly unbeatable opponents (including humanoid manifestations of Matrix applications). Neo naturally becomes the most adept, acquires the most abilities and has an equally skilled agent arch enemy. There are prophesies, ass-kicking Matrix agents, allusions to various religions and other philosophical nods. As the war between the humans, machines and programs escalates, more truths are revealed with a climatic battle taking place by the third film.

Déjà Vu

This 7-disc set contains all three movies in the trilogy (The Matrix, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions) as well as a collection of nine animated mini features previously released as The Animatrix. The set offers all of the films and animated segments in high-definition (1080p, 16×9, 2.4:1) with Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround audio. The special features are a mix of high and standard def and varied widescreen formats.

All of the extra content form the original 2003 DVD release of the same collection, also titled The Ultimate Matrix Collection and on 10 discs, has been brought over. Special features include multiple commentaries, image galleries, wireframes of CG segments, music videos, behind-the-schemes footage, soundtracks, TV spots, theater trailers, multiple featurettes (making of, explanations, etc.) and in-film “experiences.” The “Follow the White Rabbit” feature returns where, when activated, a white rabbit icon appears on the screen and you can press a button to view bonus content related to that scene.

One new feature is that the second disc in the set is a DVD that includes access to a digital copy of The Matrix that can be played on various portable media devices (eg. Windows Media, iPod). The other six discs are Blu-ray.

Is This The One?

The transfer off all of the movies and animated features are incredibly clear and void of any grit, pops, hairs or grain, this is certainly the clearest I’ve seen the movie (including Imax).

Some of the sections are maybe too clear. If you have even a moderately sized TV, some scenes in the second and third films will appear as a laughably animated rubbery Neo fighting countless rubbery Agent Smiths.

There’s so much extra content that it will be nearly impossible to watch and listen to every second of it. The second two discs offer nearly a dozen hours of footage and, add that to the multiple feature-length commentaries, and you have enough to last you a week of uninterrupted Matrix education. Some of the more interesting of the new features include more in-depth looks at some of the film’s philosophies and pre-production that gives insight into the massive undertaking of the second two films (and the video game). Much of that footage will seem familiar since it is essentially editing room leftovers not included main extra features with the individual movies.

This Is The One (For Now)

If you already have the DVD version of this set, you’ll probably want to wait a while (and for a stack of gift certificates) before investing in this set. If you only have the usual ol’ individual DVDs sans tons of extras, however, you’ll definitely want to get this high-def Blu-ray collection. Even if you cannot suffer through the 35+ hours of extras, the impressive clarity of the films is enough to make the purchase worthwhile (until another, higher-def format comes out, of course).

If you don’t yet have a player, put that PS3 or a much less pricey Blu-ray player at the top of your Christmas list this year so you can enjoy the Matrix-y goodness in its best looking home video version to date.

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