4 Film Favorites: The Matrix Collection (The Matrix / The Matrix Reloaded / The Matrix Revolutions / The Animatrix)

Last Christmas, I received a Blu-Ray player and a small set of movies to get started. These films are Toy Story 3, Batman 1989, The Back to the Future 25th Anniversary Trilogy, and last but not least, The Ultimate Matrix Collection. This set includes The Matrix, Reloaded, Revolutions, Animatrix, and the Matrix Experience with an abundance of special features and documentaries, as well as a commemorative booklet describing the features. Unlike the HD-DVD version of this set, it has the 3-part Matrix Trilogy Revisited features and Animatrix in true High Definition, like quality over quantity. The cases are super thin and help save storage space. Here are my personal opinions of the films.The Matrix (1999, 9.4)The one that started it all and indeed the best of the series. It was groundbreaking for the time with state-of-the-art special effects, cool action scenes, top-notch acting, and complex story that would keep you thinking in a computer world where anything goes. It involves computer programmer Thomas Anderson who has a double life as a hacker under the alias of Neo (Keanu Reeves) teaming up with the Nebuchanezzer captain Morpheous (Laurence Fishburne), infamous hacker and Neo's love interest Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), and the rest of the crew trying to learn about the secrets of the Matrix while trying to evade the trio of nefarious agents led by Smith (Hugo Weaving) and crew traitor Cypher (Joe Pantoliano). Behind the cool concept, the plot is kind of like a basic underdog film in lieu of Star Wars, Total Recall, Rocky, The Karate Kid, Terminator series, Slumdog Millionaire, Avatar, some of Disney's animated films, you name it, but still overall enjoyable.The Animatrix (2003, 9.0)A great and informative compilation of animated segments that go deeper into the back-story and mythyos of the series with varying kinds of Japanese and computer animation listed below.*Final Flight of the Osiris - Shown in theaters with Dreamcatcher and involves the Osiris crew discovering that the sentinels have found Zion and are about to launch an attack and one of the members, Jue, sends a message to Zion in the Matrix while the sentinels attack them and destroy the ship. It was made by Squaresoft with excellent and detailed CGI animation from Final Fantasy: the Spirit Within.*The Second Renaissance - A two part back-story of the origins of the human vs. machine feud, when the machines started rebelling against humans and using them for infinite energy after they made a giant black cloud to block the sun, and how the Matrix came to be.*Kid's Story - A segment involving Kid being chased by the Agents at school after receiving an invitation from Neo to leave the Matrix and how he escaped the Matrix by apparently committing suicide without a red pill. Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Clayton Watson are the only three actors from the trilogy to return for this special, let alone the Animatrix compilation in general. The first Matrix movie hints at the rare and nearly impossible self-substantiation and this, along with World Record do more in-dept on how a person can separate from the Matrix safely without a red pill.Program - Involves a trainee named Sis battling a test program called Duo in a training simulation and wins, but was distraught from killing him.World Record - A man named Dan was competing in a track meet to set a world record for fastest time. He succeeds, but accidentally unplugs himself in the process and needed rehabilitation in the real world before he can safely walk again.Beyond - A teenage girl called Yoko looking for her pet cat Yuki in an old abandoned shack with a group of children and discover a glitch in the Matrix and can do anything like stop in midair before hitting the ground and fall slowly with item regeneration. The Agents discover this, evacuate the group, and fix the glitch.A Detective's Story - A down-on-the-dumps detective named Ash takes a case about finding Trinity using plot-lines, quotes, and phrases from the Alice in Wonderland franchise. After finding Trinity on a train, they are ambushed by Agents and Trinity had to shoot Ash on the shoulder to prevent him from transforming into an Agent. After parting ways, the possibly dying Ash stays behind to take them out.Matriculated - A group of scientists on the outside world finding how to turn machines to their side by choice use a Matrix fun-house of various gags and teach them the value of human life like the T-800 from Terminator 2, and anyone who read my review knows my love for it and its predecessor. After the sentinels attack the base and kill the rebels, the reprogrammed machine plugs the dying Alexa to say goodbye.*Co-written by the film's writers and directors, the Wachowski Brothers (Andy and Larry).The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions (2003, 7.9 and 8.6 respectively)The Matrix sequels involve the group trying to fend off a war between Zion and the machines that the Osiris crew warned them about before its destruction, but they realized that Neo accidentally transformed Agent Smith into a dangerous virus in his attempt to destroy him in the first film and is now able to copy himself at will by transforming innocent bystanders, especially the Oracle, and plots to destroy the Matrix and all of mankind. After visiting the Architect and rescuing Trinity from her foreshadowed death, he fends off sentinels using his powers from the Matrix that lingered into the real world and slips into a coma that traps him in a train station between the Matrix and real world being held hostage by the Trainman, awaiting rescue from Morpheous and Trinity, and meets a married couple of programs with a daughter without a purpose while the Matrix begins to fall apart. This is basically one screenplay split into two films and released six months apart on the same year, just like Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic and Knuckles nine years before. Both sequels are like a mixed opinion kind of thing, some people loved them, some others hated them or one of the other. I personally hardly heard people properly criticize the sequels without focusing their attention to occasional confusion in the story, which some excuse for stupidity. I know the sequels are harder to understand than the original, but that doesn't make them suck, but to just need time to grow on you as you begin to understand it. For some reason, some people I know favor Reloaded most of the time. People might make fun of me about this, but I think Revolutions is underrated and better than Reloaded which I still accepted as a guilty pleasure and necessary sequel. Yep, I said it! One of the recurring themes of the series is about the choices we make and how they affect the future and, like the Angry Video Game Nerd said, should I pretend to be confused and go along with the crowd or voice my own honest opinion and point out details that others might have missed?Whether you agree or disagree, here are points that some people prefer Reloaded:-More emphasis on philosophy in the back-story of the series.-The most action scenes in the series that are all over the place with the addition of a cool freeway chase.-Character resurrection plot twist involving Trinity getting shot in mid-air and Neo saving her.-An abundance of officially licensed songs in the credits.However, here are the points on how I agree with PlanetHell on favoring Revolutions:-Returning Agent Smith to his sinister roots after becoming a joke in Reloaded with the overuse of weak clones in battle, especially the Burly Brawl when Neo was able to hold off an entire swarm of them without a scratch, while the real Smith actually put effort into a fight. This is because Neo and Smith would always have equal strength no matter what.-A more prominent and crucial role with the Oracle instead of just a mere cameo in Reloaded with basic information on programs and choices we make in general that Seraph could have spread to speed up the pacing a bit, but I digress.-No pointless filler unlike the overlong dance, the Oracle cameo, and subplots that occasionally go nowhere, thus faster paced and more right-to-the-point.-Action scenes that are more focused, actually have a point to them, and not as over-the-top or excessive.-The darkest score Don Davis ever composed, but that is not saying much, the scores of the franchise are fantastic.-Recaptures the darker and more emotional tone of the first movie and doesn't cram as many questions so the characters can convey more emotion while Reloaded was more lighthearted and glossy as well as relies on a lot of exposition that can slow things down at times.People would have expected the traditional cop-out ending of the main hero defeating the villain once and for all and they all live happily ever after. Woop-de-doodle-do! That is not what the Matrix series is about. Like I said, it is primarily about the choices we make and how it affects the future. After meeting the Deux ex Machina (Latin for God of the Machine) and connecting to the unstable Matrix and challenging Smith to a final showdown with all the clones standing aidely-by, as well as losing the will to live due to Trinity's actual death upon arrival to Machine City and in a last-ditch effort to put an end to Smith's reign of terror, Neo lets Smith transform him into another clone so that Deux ex Machina can bring the Smith code to the source and delete him, sacrificing Neo in the process and making peace with the human race after the big war. The recasting of the Oracle of explaining the change in appearance due to a glitch in the Matrix during a rescue attempt is how you should do a proper transition instead of just leaving it at that. After Gloria Foster fell ill before her scenes for Revolutions and Enter the Matrix were shot and died during production, Mary Alice took over the role of the Oracle and the explanation for the change in looks made the transition easy and unique, kind of like Exorcist 3. By the way, is it just me, or does Alice give more helpful advice in terms of the sequels than Foster? Revolutions also features the train station between two worlds concept from Spirited Away and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In Reloaded when the beginning foreshadowed Trinity's possible death that nearly happened, showing the bit of her getting shot and falling on an oncoming car (ala Lethal Weapon, bipity-bopity-splat!) that early in the film made it feel a little bit predictable to me. Removing the small bit of the Agent successfully shooting her and only the airborne shootout would have been more effective so that people can keep guessing what the outcome of that free-fall would be. This is all my personal opinion. If someone agrees or disagrees, that's okay. I guess you can say, the Matrix really does have me.Anyway, this is a great collection of the series to own in High Definition if you are a die-hard fan like me. The picture and sound quality is amazing and the special features are great. High Definition is the definitive way to watch these movies.

First off, this is the 3rd Matrix collection that I have owned. I purchased the original trilogy individually, then the Ultimate Colection on DVD and now this blu-ray release. I knew eventually that I would need to scale up to blu-ray, but was always worried that I would "lose" some of the special features.The Matrix movies are certainly one of my all time favorites (next to Star Wars and LOTR) so I didn't want to down grade by purchasing the blu-ray set. Let me start off by saying - this is not the case. I don't know that the promotional material has done a good enough job explaining what you get on this release, but there certainly are some differences.The DVD's were on 10 disks- but, the blu-ray set is on 6. You get 4 blu-rays (one for each movie) and then a set of 2 DVD's for the bonus features. The Zion Archive DVD is exactly the same as the one from the Ultimate DVD set - and then the "Burly Man" and "Roots" DVD's are mashed together on either side of a single disk. But here is the break down for the rest of the disks and since I own all of them - let me show you exactly what you get comparing the original DVD release, to the Ultimate DVD release to the now Ultimate Blu-ray release:1.1 Matrix DVD* 2 Commentaries the actor track and the music only commentary with Don Davis* Making the Matrix* Bullet time (as an Easter egg)1.2 Ultimate Matrix DVD* 2 Commentaries "the philosopher" and the "critic"* The music revisited* Behind the matrix* Take the red pill* Follow the white rabbit.1.3 The Matrix blu-ray* All 4 commentaries together. (great feature)* Everything from the Ultimate DVD plus:* The Music Revisited* Rock is Dead Music Video* Trailers and TV spots2.1 Reloaded DVD* The Matrix unfolds* Pre-load* Get me an exit* The MTV movie awards reloaded2.2 Ultimate Reloaded DVD* 2 Commentaries "the philosopher" and the "critic"* Car chase* Teahouse fight* Unplugged* I'll handle them* The exiles* Enter the matrix the game* All 23 live action shots from Enter the Matrix the game2.3 Ultimate Reloaded Blu-Ray* Everything from both previous editions including:* P.O.D. music video* Theatrical and TV Trailers3.1 Revolutions DVD* Revolutions recalibrated* CG revolution* Super Burly Brawl* Future Gamer* Before the Revolution* 3-D evolution* Operator3.2 Ultimate Revolutions DVD* Crew* Hell* Super burly brawl* New blue world* Siege* After math3.3 Ultimate revolutions Blu-Ray* Everything from both previous editions including:* Neo realism - the evolution of bullet time* Super big mini models* Double agent smith* Mind over matterIn addition, each Blu-Ray features an in-Movie experience. The IME is included on all 3 of the Matrix films. The IME is an exclusive interactive feature that allows viewers to enjoy new ways of accessing interviews and other material while the movie is running. For these titles, the IME will let viewers experience via picture in picture the evolution of all The Matrix's ground breaking elements through the recollections of the cast and creative team.So you are not losing anything with this set.The negatives: first the thing that bummed me out the most... no fun menus. Each menu is a static matrix code screen shot (that doesn't even move) it looks like the wallpaper that you had on your desktop back in high school. You'd think on a blu-ray disk, you'd get something fun and awesome, but it's boring, there are not even little transition videos like the other releases had. Oh well.Second, I play my movies on a Playstation 3 and all of my Blu-rays show up with the title, an icon and perhaps even music from the movie. These discs all show up as an unknown file. Not even a title - you can't tell which disk is in the player from the PS3 menu. Kinda lame.Other than that - these movies have never looked or sounded better. Amazing transfer! I watched these on my new HD-TV with my surround sound up and I felt like I was back in the theatre. Definitely pick these up!

Review of 4 Film Favorites: The Matrix Collection (The Matrix / The Matrix Reloaded / The Matrix Revolutions / The Animatrix)I like to have sets of movie series on hand since Hollywood doesn’t seem to be producing the quality of movies that I desire. I like that this is a good science fiction series. I don’t really care for Anime, but this was part of the set. I’ve no complaints about the quality of these so far, but I have not got to watch all of them yet. The price was reasonable.

Big Matrix fan