Matrix Revolutions Decoded, The

I consider this to be a pretty brave fan edit, making major narrative changes to the Matrix sequels in the construction of this narrative. Gone are some of the obvious scenes, like the Persephone kiss, but other significant elements are missing. Gloria Foster does not appear as The Oracle. Neo doesn't fight Smith in the hallway to the Architect. There's no Bane. The way that Jerick handles Trinity and Neo's conclusion is curious, and at times I miss their ending in the theatrical cut, but at others I can buy Jerick's intent. The deciding factor that makes this edit my go-to follow-up to the original Matrix, amongst all its other accomplishments, is its implementation of the rave scene.

It's been forever since I seen the Matrix films-- remembering the big scenes but not the overall story-- so I went into this fanedit relatively fresh. On a technical level, "Decoded" was edited very well, with little to no noticeable cuts. Narratively, a few of the minor plot details may fall apart under close scrutiny, but overall it flowed very well and I was hooked all the way through. The ending with Trinity collecting Neo's body was a little clunky and I had to re-read the cutlist to understand what was going on, but once I did I thought it worked very well.

A recommended alternative to "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" or as an abridged version of the two.

This was an excellent edit that overall worked very well as a sequel to The Matrix. While I did recall a few missing elements, it's been awhile since I last saw the sequels and I was unable to recognize where the missing parts would have been. The technical elements of the edit are top-notch, and I didn't notice any glaring or jarring transitions. As a story following Neo's journey this edit worked wonderfully. After watching, I did realize that a few of the subplots and side characters felt a little incomplete as times. A few examples are the ships that were supposed be defending Zion are nowhere to be found until Niobe flies in, and when they use the keymaker to get to the source it's a little unclear who's where doing what just before Neo gets in. Also, Trinity's role at the end in machine city is a little unclear but it was easy to assume she stayed with the ship while Neo completed his mission. While these minor shortcomings do create a few plot holes or questions, the strength of this edit is its focus on Neo which made it easy to overlook any omissions. I actually had to look up the original plots to see what had been removed and realized I had completely forgotten about Trinity's death(s) and Bane. Neither of these were missed, and I feel like the story would be unnecessarily bogged down by them. The only parts of this edit I actually didn't enjoy were in some of the fight sequences, specifically the later Neo v Smiths fights when the CGI took over too much and it starting to look like mediocre video game footage. I'll definitely be keeping this edit for next time!

This is why fanedits exist.

Although it's been said a slew of times in the comments here, it truly can't be understated: this was an -extremely- ambitious project. For those that haven't watched this yet, stop reading here and go check this out. If you're whatsoever a matrix fan, this deserves to be watched.

First of all, the cuts and timing of this edit are simply flawless. It's extremely hard to tell where Jerick has fused two scenes or altered timings. That, in and of itself, its impressive for a cut that so drastically changes the story.

The reloaded portions of this cut, in my opinion, are where it shines. A lot of the rough CGI portions are excised, storylines compressed or removed entirely, it's unbelievably impressive what he was able to do to retain the elements that work and remove the ones that hinder the plot. Revolutions, unfortunately, is just a bit flawed at its very core but Jerick does a lot with what little is there.

A true must watch of a fanedit if there ever was one.

With the New Matrix Resurrection trailer coming out I thought I would go back and watch the matrix movies but once I got to the sequels, I really did not want to go through them again. Drawn out run time with exposition not needed, I was hoping to find a fanedit that could fix those movies up. Enter this edit.

Overall, I would say this does the best job of cutting out so much fat and condensing it into a 2 and a half hour run time that feels much more faster paced but also not overly philosophical that drags on and makes the experience boring. It gets to the point real quickly. I love how the Rave scene was spliced in the end credits for it to be a celebration of Zion being saved instead of it being this random scene in the second film. Great job of having the credits roll on top of the scenes. Only complaint I would really have is towards the end, Trinity being cut to be alive feels a tad jarring. Some of the shots used to keep showing her alive feel a bit weird if that makes any sense. Otherwise, this is a great edit of the sequels that I would highly recommend to watch over the original two sequels.