Review Detail

I've searched a long time for a good Matrix sequel edit that combines the two sequels into a single film, as I believe they always should have been. I've found varying degrees of satisfaction with different edits here and there. Now Jerick's first version, Reprogrammed, was very, very good, but suffered a bit from keeping too much bloat from Reloaded.

Enter Decoded.

All the fat has been trimmed from these movies now. It moves along at quite a clip. The Nebuchadnezzar crew never goes to Zion until the end of the movie (Neo and Trinity never go there in this version), and I didn't realize how unnecessary those scenes were until I saw Decoded.

The rave is now gone (well, mostly). The Neo-as-a-messiah stuff, which I never had any issue with, is gone - and I don't miss it. The added Locke/Niobe Enter the Matrix scenes that felt superfluous in Reprogrammed now serve a purpose and don't feel superfluous anymore. Locke is less of an asshole - now, he's a desperate military commander who doesn't understand the "prophecy" business and doesn't have time for it. His priority is defending Zion from the machines, and damn it if I didn't sympathize with him this time.

I especially liked the way the transition between Reloaded and Revolutions was handled. Removing the fighting surrounding the Architect scenes helps make it feel like the middle of a movie instead of an ending. While I like that Trinity's whole "falling" business is gone, it IS a bit odd that she stays out of the Matrix for all of this, but there wasn't really a good way around that. Frankly, she doesn't have a whole lot to do in "Decoded," but at least she's not a damsel in distress making stupid decisions all the time like in the theatrical releases. Obviously, like in "Reprogrammed," almost all of the first chunk of Revolutions is gone - no train station, no return to the Merovingian - and again it works beautifully.

I was a bit disheartened at the loss of Bane, as I actually like the idea, but I do have to concede that the character was handled poorly in the original version of the films, and this edit plays out much better without him. The blinding of Neo - while necessary due to his blindfold when heading to the Source - feels a little out of left field in "Decoded," but again, there isn't much that can be done about that. But as Jerick has rightly pointed out, this edit simply wouldn't work if Bane was left in.

I don't want to spoil the ending too much, but it's a unique solution that I mostly liked (and I never did like the Architect/Oracle "park scene" ending). I'm not quite sold on the way this new ending is presented, but the "music montage" idea probably wouldn't work so well if it were played any other way, and I don't think this edit would work as well otherwise. Still, it felt odd to me. That's probably because I wasn't expecting it at all, though. It probably will feel more "right" on a rewatch. And again, it's much better than the "real" ending.

As far as technical issues go, dialogue is occasionally drowned out by new music or SFX, though I was hearing a 5.1 track downmixed to 2.0, so that may change after I watch this on a 5.1 system at some point. Video editing is seamless throughout - as I said, Neo's blinding is a little awkward, but I don't think it can be done any better without Bane.

"Decoded" is probably as close to the "definitive" Matrix 2 as these movies can get. I found myself enjoying the movie the whole way through - I never got bored, I never thought "This should've been cut" the way I have with every other Matrix edit, and the solutions Jerick found to many of the problems that plague these films are inspired.

So, in short, I highly recommend this edit to anyone who loves the first Matrix, especially if you haven't been completely satisfied with other sequel fan edits in the past. This one's good, guys - REALLY good.