he Matrix has long been out on DVD—after all, the film was released way back in 1999. With the first of two sequels not expected until 2003, think of The Matrix Revisited as a stopgap, a link between the groundbreaking film's past and future. In fact, its name—The Matrix Revisited—suits the tone and purpose of this DVD perfectly.
A slick behind-the-scenes documentary, The Matrix Revisited offers a unique look into the making of the original film—and offers (precious few) glimpses of what is to come. Free of the typical pretense of canned B-roll electronic press kit interviews, The Matrix Revisited culls together current interviews with the entire cast and crew involved, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the original flick. The insight provided by this footage has more depth than the short featurettes included on the movie DVD itself.
From the outset, this disc outlines just how gutsy a film The Matrix was to make. And it never stops from there.
There are several paths that lead toward The Matrix Revisited: It's available as a standalone disc for $19.98, for $39.98 as a two-disc set with The Matrix film, and for $100 as part of the Gold Collection, which includes special packaging, a 16-page illustrated book, a senitype image from the movie and a 35mm film frame.
Dreaming up a dark future
Starting with a 1997 snippet with Lorenzo DiBonaventura, president of worldwide theatrical production at Warner Brothers, it becomes clear that the movie's concept was well beyond anything the studio had initially expected when it took on the project from Andy and Larry Wachowski, the writing-directing brothers who had the vision to bring The Matrix to life.
This smoothly edited, energetically scored documentary offers numerous Matrix trivia bits along the way. Want to watch how Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) injured her ankle during practice? You can—and witness how she persevered through pain to still get the shot. Did you know that Keanu Reeves (Neo) was seriously injured when he agreed to do the movie? That injury to his cervical spine required surgery shortly before Reeves was required to start training for the intense fight sequences throughout the film (the actors trained for four months). Reeves was required to wear a cervical brace around his neck so his spine could have time to fuse properly—that's why Neo has fewer kick moves than others in the film. You can even learn what books the Wachowski brothers had
Reeves read before he picked up the actual script.
As insightful as this disc is, it's not perfect. You can argue the entire disc itself is one big "extra"—but the Go Further section has a surprising lack of bonus content tied to the behind-the-scenes theme. There are excerpts from kung fu master Yuen Wo Ping's fascinating blocking tapes, which outline the martial arts moves as they're being rehearsed; a look at the animated shorts, created by some of Japan's great animation directors, that are set to premiere on the film's Web site; an all-too-short sneak peek at what's to come in the sequel (think elaborately choreographed fight scenes and car chases) and coming video game (also choreographed by Ping); a feature on Internet fans; and how they shot a tight scene in cramped quarters. Considering some of the more clever things that other recent releases have done (such as Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace and Shrek), that dearth of material is felt.
The only other down side to the disc: The InterActual Player 2.0 that's included with the disc exhibited some temperamental behavior on our Windows 98SE PC system; however, the disc worked fine with other DVD player software.
The benefit to using the disc in your DVD-ROM drive: You can view a frenetic, fun clip of footage, as well as link directly into The Matrix's site.
