Matrix Revolutions Decoded, The

Having just seen The Matrix Revolutions: Epic Edition, this edit actually does what I wished Epic Edition had done, for the most part. The narrative is streamlined and comprehensible, much more than the original films in some cases. The only thing that truly holds this edit back is the ending.

Spoilers Begin

The opening with Flight of the Osiris doesn't seem necessary, and I wonder if it would make sense to cut the expository scene entirely. There is very little here which isn't explained later, and it may be interesting to build up to a reveal in the cavern that the machines are digging to Zion. The cuts to the rest of Reloaded are good. Perhaps more could be excised from the burly brawl, but I was never a fan of Bowling Pin Smiths. I was skeptical of cutting Trinity from the Architect scenes, but you convinced me that it could be done, and remarkably little is lost.

Cutting just about everything from the beginning of Revolutions is a great move, of course. The movie slows down while everyone is changing ships and arguing about their plan of attack, so more cuts in that section would be good. I think that avoiding the reveal of a new Oracle could be done, but this edit doesn't quite sell the idea. Perhaps if you cut the scene more severely, showing only brief glimpses of the Smiths and then the Oracle's assimilation, it would be more effective. The attack on Zion is handled very well indeed. Back to Neo and Trinity, I think that the inclusion of Bane is an unfortunate necessity to explain Neo's burned eyes, despite your excellent and creative workaround. It's not that the Sentinel attack is insufficient explanation, it's that you're forced to cut too much from the journey to the Machine City, to the point that Neo's absence from shots is extremely noticeable. Similarly, Trinity's unexpected survival works against the edit since the repurposed footage is so noticeably recycled. Simply having her die after a brief dialogue with Neo would be sufficient.

Spoilers End

In summary, this is the best version of the Matrix Sequels I've seen, and with a few changes to the ending, would be my go-to version. Excellent work!

I must say at almost half the runtime of the two movies it combines, there isn't a whole lot I found myself missing in this edit. There are a couple things that were cut out here that I wish were left in though. I like Agent Smith discovering the ability to jump into an unplugged body, I like Neo in the train station, and I kind of like Neo discovering he can affect the sentinels in the real world. As for additional cuts I wish were made, I was hoping that the Neo vs 100 Agent Smiths fight would be a little trimmed down. I absolutely hate when Neo becomes a smooth CGI creation and the fight becomes cartoonish and uninteresting. The fight starts out good, but I think some of the sillier elements of this could still be cut out to keep it more in line with the original movie's aesthetic.

Of course, the problem with this is that there are SO MANY moments in these sequels that dive into bad CGI that it would be impossible to cut them all so maybe why bother in the Agent Smiths fight? I feel like almost every action sequence in these movies starts out great, but at some point gets too big for its britches and goes full CGI and just sucks you out of it. If it wasn't such a jarring transition and the effects were better and more subtle, it wouldn't be a problem. But that's no fault of the editor here. Jerick can only work with the footage available.

So while I would say it's worth watching this just to save some time with the prequels, it can't fix some foundational problems with the sequels themselves. In the first movie, everybody was scared of one Agent Smith and 5 Sentinels. It was a huge plot point in the movie. In these sequels, Neo leisurely fends off dozens of Agent Smiths and Zion battles millions of Sentinels. It's much too far of a stakes/danger leap to expect the audience to care about it. There are ways of upping the ante without just multiplying it by a thousand.

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!

I'm one of many people who liked the matrix original movie and the animatrix but got lost with the 2 sequels. The Matrix Revolution Decoded is a great conclusion to the matrix narrative showing the relevant aspects of the scrip and goes right to the point. Good job.

WOW. I'm impressed. I have recently tried to watch several edits that combine Reloaded & Revolutions together. For me, this was the one that really worked. This edit keeps only the important material to keeps the movie flowing, engaging and focused.
I like that the choice Neo has to make is not between 'rebooting' Zion or saving Trinity but between 'Rebooting' Zion or fighting for Zion. This made the whole conversation with the Architect so much clearer, more focused. It's all about Zion. I understand that this shifts the focus away from Trinity, making her a secondary character. She is now just Neo's girlfriend who assists him with his mission. So the fact that she, through her love, made Neo the one loses it's significance. But, despite this change - I liked the narrative this edit was going for.

In this edit Neo's real life super powers are no more. Smith-Bane is no more. Sure, it results in some cuts look abrupt; Cuts such as Neo and Trinity entering the machine city, bombs exploding before they reach their ship and Neo losing his eyes. Also, there's no emotional response from Trinity to the death of Neo at the end. She just operates some machinery. I think, perhaps Trinity's death should have stayed in the finished edit somehow.

Bottom line, This edit has shown me an alternative vision for a good and worthy sequel to 'The Matrix'. When the end credits (which were extremely well done) rolled, I had a smile on my face.