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For starters, there’s the three films themselves.
The first one (now colour-corrected to match the sequels)
is still a classic, and whatever the other two’s flaws,
they still contain some of the most jaw-dropping action sequences
yet captured by man or machine.
Here all three feature all-new commentary tracks that, in
a slightly unusual choice, feature people who had nothing
to do with the film’s production; even more unusually,
they’re still worth a listen.
The first features philosophers Dr Cornell West and Ken Wilber
waxing lyrical about the many-layered symbolism of the films,
while the second has reviewers Todd McCarthy (from Variety),
John Powers (from Vogue) and film writer David Thompson pointing
out that while the first film’s not half bad, the other
two suck.
Agree or not, they still make a lot of sense.
And while the Wachowski brothers keep silent (apart from
a written intro), there’s enough behind-the-scenes folks
speaking in Aussie accents to make your heart swell with pride…
well, until you watch the last two films and realise that
the reviewers’ commentaries are right and yeah, they
really aren’t that great...
No amount of extras can change that – but they can make
this one very impressive package.
DVD Extras
It doesn’t matter how big a fan you are: 35 hours of
bonus material is just too damn much. Fortunately you’ve
seen a lot of it before: "The Animatrix" disc is
unchanged, "The Matrix Revisited" is the same feature-length
documentary it always was, and a lot of the featurettes are
hold-overs from the initial releases.
So what’s new? How about feature-length docos on what
inspired the Matrix? All the filmed cut scenes from the Enter
the Matrix game? All-new featurettes on the sound effects
guys and electricians and dozens of other tech guys? Heaps
of production drawings and designs? Even the bondage extras
from the Club Hel sequence get their own featurette.
Conclusion: Movie 90% Extras 95%
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