Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3668 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-12-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Formats: Box set, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, PAL, Subtitled
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 10

Special Features
DISC ONE - The Matrix The Academy Award®-winning original movie in a new digital transfer supervised by the Wachowski Brothers and Director of Photography Bill Pope - Two all-new audio commentaries with written introduction by the Wachowski Brothers: --The Critics: Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson --The Scholars: Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber - Basics - Running Time: 131 mins, Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1; Widescreen Format

DISC TWO - The Matrix Revisited Peel back a new layer of reality with a mind-expanding look at The Matrix from conception to phenomenon. Go behind The Matrix, take the Red Pill and follow the White Rabbit with 17 making-of featurettes, including: - What is Bullet Time? - What is the Concept? - The Music Revisited - 41-Track audio-only selection of nearly three hours of music Basics - Running Time: 123 mins, Full Screen Format

DISC THREE - The Matrix Reloaded The powerful second chapter of the groundbreaking film trilogy - Two all-new audio commentaries with written introduction by the Wachowski Brothers: --The Critics: Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson --The Scholars: Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber - Basics - Running Time: 133 mins, Audio: Dolby Surround 5.1; Widescreen Format

DISC FOUR - The Matrix Reloaded Revisited Go to the middle movie's furthest reaches via five documentary paths revealing 21 featurettes. Plus 23 extra scenes shot for the Enter the Matrix consol videogame - Basics - Running Time: 169 mins, Full Screen Format

DISC FIVE - The Matrix Revolutions The epic war between man and machines reaches an explosive conclusion with the action-packed final chapter in The Matrix Trilogy: - Two all-new audio commentaries with written introduction by the Wachowski Brothers: --The Critics: Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson --The Scholars: Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber - Basics - Running Time: 124 mins, Audio: Dolby Surround 5.1; Widescreen Format

DISC SIX - The Matrix Revolutions Revisited The cataclysmic final confrontation chronicled through six documentary pods revealing 28 featurettes. - Basics - Running Time: 181 mins, Full Screen Format

DISC SEVEN - The Animatrix A visionary fusion of CG-animation and Japanese anime with nine short films exploring the world of The Matrix including Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance Part I, The Second Renaissance Part II, Kid's Story, Program, World Record, Beyond, A Detective Story and Matriculated - Four Audio Commentaries on The Second Renaissance Parts I and II, Program and World Record - Making-of documentaries on each film, profiling the evolution of each one's unique style through design and animatics - Biographical profiles of the directors and animation producers - Scrolls to Screen: The History and Culture of Anime - explores the phenomenon of this exploding worldwide art form through glimpses of the genre's greatest achievements and the observations of creators, historians and other leaders in the field - Basics - Running Time: 151 mins, Audio: Dolby Surround 5.1; Widescreen Format

DISC EIGHT - The Roots of the Matrix Probe the philosophical and technological inspirations of The Matrix Trilogy through two insightful documentaries: - Return to Source: Philosophy & The Matrix documentary - Scholars, philosophers and theorists deconstruct the intellectual underpinnings of the trilogy - The Hard Problem: The Science Behind the Fiction documentary - Is the notion of a real Matrix plausible? An investigation of the technologies that inspire the metaphor of the Matrix. - Basics - Running Time: 182 mins, Widescreen Format

DISC NINE - The Burly Man Chronicles Profiles the "society" of craftspeople, actors and filmmakers who shaped the movie trilogy and the Enter the Matrix consol game in a full-length documentary. Follow the White Rabbit to 21 additional featurettes. - Basics - Running Time: 169 mins, Full screen Format

DISC TEN - The Zion Archive Showcases production assets developed for the universe of The Matrix, including concept artwork, storyboards, drawings, music videos, TV spots and trailers, plus a special preview of The Matrix Online, a new multi-player online gaming experience. - Basics - Running Time: 43 mins, Full Screen Format

Synopsis
This definitive ten-disc DVD Set presents the entire Matrix trilogy, the Animatrix and over 35 hours of extras. THE MATRIX TRILOGY has grossed 1.6 billion dollars in world-wide box office receipts, spawned succesful companion DVDs and countless other merchandise. This box set in includes the following:
Disc 1: The Matrix: in a new digital transfer with two new audio commentaries.
Disc 2: The Matrix Revisited: Going behind the Matrix with 17 making-of featurettes.
Disc 3: The Matrix Reloaded: Including two new audio commentaries.
Disc 4: The Matrix Reloaded Revisited: Go behind the Matrix Reloaded with 21 featurettes, plus 23 extra scenes shot for the Enter the Matrix videogame.
Disc 5: The Matrix Revolutions: Including two new audio commentaries.
Disc 6: The Matrix Revolutions Revisited: The final confrontation chronicled through six documentary pods featuring 28 featurettes.
Disc 7: The Animatrix: 9 short films, including four audio commentaries, making-of documentaries, and more extras.
Disc 8: The Roots of the Matrix: A look at the philisophical and technological inspirations of The Matrix Trilogy through two documentaries.
Disc 9: The Burly Man Chronicles: Profiles the people behind the Matrix films and game.
Disc 10:The Zion Archive: Showcases production assets developed for the universe of the Matrix.

Customer Reviews

Great Item
Bought one set as a present for husband. We both watched all series of Matrix many times before and now we can do it whenewer we want to. And all the extras are just so great. Excellent collection for Matrix fans.

Awesome Sci-fi carrying a powerful metaphor
The Matrix Trilogy must be one of the most significant films of our time, and is likely to go down as an all time sci-fi classic along with the likes of Blade Runner. It is obviously laden with symbology fished from a variety of sources, but I wonder if the Watchowski brothers realised just exactly how powerful a metaphor for our reality they were creating.

The central premise that our lives are not 'real' but are steeped in illusion in order that our life force may be fed upon whilst we are enfenced unwittingly like cattle - this is a relevant and powerful message on many levels. It can easily be seen that this is true on a superficial level, with the rampant rise of ultra-aggressive capitalist consumerism, whereby everyone is 'sold a dream' in order to siphon off all income to profit the few, but it goes deeper than that, and can be used to catch a glimpse of some ideas on the true nature of reality. The overlap with material such as Castaneda is remarkable, with stories about the archetypal predator who is invisible, and feeds on us because he has 'given us his mind'. In all, it is a striking metaphor for the human condition.

Of course the great thing is that, even if you don't want to explore things to those levels, taken at surface value as a piece of entertainment, the Matrix is still a fantastic sci-fi/action trilogy, with colourful characters, awesome visuals, and a solid original plotline. Taken as a trilogy, this is a fantastic piece of film-making artwork, and this is the best way to enjoy it. For me, like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, this amazing piece of entertainment should be enjoyed whole, with the complete epic story all in one package. This is an incredibly cheap way to get hold of all three films AND many extras, but more importantly, the several mini-film 'featurettes' which flesh out the background story.

Much better than I thought it was at its theatrical release
This is an excellent box set. I find myself disagreeing with some of the other reviews here, in my opinion it's marginally better than the alien quadrilogy box (which happens to be the only other 'box set' I own)

Oddly enough I wasn't hugely impressed with the original movies when I saw them in the theatre, not even the first. I remember thinking "yeah yeah, brain in a vat, an idea that sounded interesting when I was 12". Not only did it seem rather banal philosophy but plot-wise its only one step up from the 'then he woke up and it was all a dream' ending that we were told never to use in creative writing assignments school".
Plus its also been done before by various dead philosophers and Dr Who!

But some vague memories of some neat special effects combined with the sheer value of these sort of box sets (even if its not very good, there's so much of it!) persuaded me to buy this one.

And I'm glad I did. The first film is in fact _much_ better than I remember (I must have been too busy being an intellectual snob to pay proper attention) and even the much-maligned sequels are improved by being watched back to back. The ridiculous damp-squib ending of 'Reloaded' and corresponding low-key opening of revolutions aren't really an issue when viewed together and when viewed on DVD its easier to follow the plot, despite some flaws in the story-telling.

The strongest aspect of the first movie is probably, as the critics' commentary points out, the beautiful way the shots are composed (here in full anamorphic super-widescreen and in a new and greatly improved transfer, so I'm told). Even though the special effects have become almost commonplace over time (notably being heavily used in advertising) the sheer style with which they are deployed here means they are still exciting to watch even if the tricks themselves are no longer so startling.

But the real strength of this box set is the wealth of additional material included (which is what this review seems to have ended up being about - after all, anyone buying this will have already seen the films themselves).

Possibly I'm just a fan of the DVD 'commentary' in general - I often find even poor movies become more interesting after listening to the commentary track - but the two commentary tracks contained herein are excellent, and surely unique amongst DVD releases.

The 'critics' commentary is interesting, and, particularly for the first film (the only one they like!) points out aspects of the movie that I missed on viewing at the cinema. Even when they spend pretty much the whole of the sequels slating everything they see its quite entertaining. Having a commentary track performed by people who don't like the movies they are commenting on is surely a first?

Further enterainment is provided by the 'philosophers commentary', with Cornel West and Ken Wilbur.

I admit I am not sure quite how seriously to take their 'reading' of the movies - Mr Wilbur seems to be one of those audo-didact grand philosophical system builders 'operating outside the academy'. A New Age Ayn Rand, perhaps, though I'm sure neither would like the comparison. Personally what I've seen of his work doesn't convince me, but nevertheless his take on the films is an intriguing one.

Anyway, not only is the 'philosophers' track interesting in its own right, it contrasts nicely with the critics' take. Whereas the critics concentrate on what they see as the flaws of the second two movies in terms of movie story-telling, the 'philosophers' focus entirely on the 'ideas' of the films. Its interesting to see how both perspectives miss certain things.

I have to say for the most part I agree with the critics with regard to the latter two films. Namely, the second lacks narrative drive, the world of Zion unfortunately resembles a 'Star Trek' movie, that world is too different from our own for the viewer to be able to fully identify with the characters, the big battle scene at the end of revolutions is overlong, there's a near disastrous absence of properly developed characters, and, as a critic at one point says, the dialogue is so unnatural it could be from an opera (though for the most part the actors make it work).

One irritation is that they (the critics) show an annoying refusal to do anything as geeky as actually attempt to follow the plot.

Despite the foregoing list of faults, and even if one takes the 'philosophers' commentary' with a hefty pinch of salt, it is clear that the critics do miss a number of elements that make certain decisions in the later films far more explicable (for example, the second film isn't as meandering in terms of plot development as it appears, and the trainman's station is not called Mobil Ave for reasons of 'product placement'!).

Its noticeable though that both sets of commentators, even the positively disposed philosophers, do what I did when watching at the cinema and completely miss the scene involving the Bane character and Agent Smith. It seems to me that the failure to establish Bane as a recognisable character before that point, so people would realise who the heck he was when he becomes crucial to the plot, is typical of the way the Brothers seem to be so keen to get their ideas across that they occasionally forget about proper narrative and certainly about character development. There is depth here though, probably not as much as Dr West and Mr Wilbur read into it, but certainly much much more than the single 'brain in a vat' idea that I thought was the sum of it on first viewing.

The box set also includes the 9 short Animatrix films, well worth watching, both for filling in details in the Matrix world and as beautiful pieces of Anime (in wildly varying styles) in their own right, as well as commentaries and documentaries about them and even a potted history of Anime in general.

There is also a wealth of geeky documenatry material about the world of the Matrix and some less geeky (and somewhat shallow but still interesting) documentaries about the philosophy and science behind the films. In addition each movie has the usual second dvd of (quite lengthy) supporting documentaries about all the technical aspects of making the films. The Matrix Reloaded extras disk includes the extra scenes shot for the Matrix computer game. Which is nice as the game itself wasn't much cop but the scenes fill in a couple of gaps in the movies (it seems movie tie-in games are never much good, unless they come out 20 years after the movies they are based on).

A few quibbles - given the emphasis on the the notion of a 'trinity' in the movies (mind/body/spirit, and matrix/zion/machines according to Mr Wilbur, not to mention the character name and the fact it's a trilogy), surely they missed a trick in not having a third commentary track? Given the Wachowskis' desire to maintain a Pynchon-type elusiveness they were never going to do one themselves, but a cast and crew one (present on the original Matrix DVD?), concentrating on the technical aspects of the movie might have been a nice addition and been consistent with the 'trinity' motif.

Secondly I'm surprised Dr West, being something of a leftist, didn't have anything to say about the decidedly Nietzschean aspects of the movies - the awakened 'supermen' slaughtering the still sleeping sheep of the matrix (all those hapless security guards and cops, not to mention the innocent power station employees!) without a single moral qualm.

(Its a topic that relates to the general lack of believably human characters in the film - don't any of the 'awakened' have any residual ties to people still in the Matrix? Would that not present some painfull emotional dilemmas for any real human being? Heck, maybe that angle would have been at least as interesting as the grand quasi-mystical ideas the Brothers seem so taken with?.)

Also Dr West's emphasis on the racial 'inclusiveness' of the movies (and he makes a plausible case for that being an important part of the theme of the films) seems to rather miss the fact that almost everyone is young and attractive (apart from a few of the 'councillors')- are there no old or ugly people in the future? Wouldn't people's representations in the Matrix be more of an idealised version of their real world self? Instead everyone in the 'real world' of Zion is as buff and pretty as they are in the Matrix.

Finally, in addition to the existing drinking game of downing a drink whenever Keanu Reeves says some variant of "I don't know" in the movie, one can now add a new one based on whenever Mr Wilbur uses the word 'exquisite' on the commentary track.

Oh, and the packaging is very nice also, though there's the usual awkward irony about fetishising a beautiful consumer object that is at least in part, if the commentary is to be believed, intended to be a critique of materialism and consumerism.

In short the movies, though not without faults have way more depth than the average Hollywood FX-fest and the sheer wealth of additional material makes this a worthwhile buy for anyone who at least _quite liked_ the films.