Review Detail

I think the Matrix franchise is one I will forever be intrigued by. Having watched the original as a kid and being absolutely enthralled by it's imaginative vision, ever since I've been disappointed by how the sequels effectively killed off any chance of revisiting the unique universe they inhabit. I'm often interested in exploring those sequels and what made them go wrong via these fanedits, and the number of times I've now seen the sequels because of fanedits easily makes them one of the most watched films I've seen.

And now, I think Jerick has made the definitive edit for most people. The Matrix Revolutions Decoded is by far the most professionally edited version of the sequels I've seen, and it dramatically retools the story in a way that simply works. All of the shoehorned philosophy is removed, the development of secondary characters you don't care about is gone, and the terribly pointless subplots from The Matrix: Revolutions are cut. The result is an exiting, sharply paced battle for survival that gives the series the send-off it deserves, with a new narrative that is surprisingly sturdy, and edited so flawlessly that regular viewers wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

It's just that for me, personally, this edit has all the right ideas, but it goes a little *too* far in it's execution. I LOVE what jerrick has done here, and how excellently he executed it, but by completely removing the side characters and philosophy, there's less build-up to the dramatic battle for Zion, and to me it makes it feel like less of the epic conclusion it was designed to be. You're not as emotionally invested in if Zion survives since there's barely any characters we know there. The shortened mech fighting similarly makes it feel like another battle scene rather than a climactic one (though once again Jerick edits it in beautifully unnoticeable fashion), and the way that Neo's visions and motivations are modified so it seems like he cares for Zion's fate rather than Trinity's doesn't ring true to me. I also thought, like his last edit of the sequels, Jerrick's decision to remove the replacement Oracle seems like an unnecessary attempt to save time (the new scene where the old Oracle seems to be killed by the Agents is a particularly awkward one to me), and I personally thought the ending is kind of sudden compared to the original one.

But other than that, this is a brilliant edit of some mediocre sequels, now my second favourite edit of them, and undoubtedly the most well executed one. Well done, man! Great job!