Review Detail

This review will be divided into two sections. The first is about the editing of the second and third movies. The second will be about the edit as a whole.

Part 1.

The editing connecting "Reloaded" and "Revolutions" together into one standalone ending to the franchise was excellent. The pacing was much better than in the original movies, and the removal of most of "Revolutions" was very welcome. The ending (in which "the source" is revealed to be the street where the final Neo/Smith(s) battle from "Revolutions" occurs) doesn't make a terrible amount of sense. Neither does the plot as a whole. But the same goes for the theatrical versions of the Matrix sequels. At least in this edit, the story doesn't outstay its welcome, so I'm willing to just "go along with it" and have some fun with the movie, something that was sometimes impossible to do in the theatrical version of "Revolutions". If there was one thing that I would have preferred to be different, it would be more footage of the drilling machine going toward Zion, and the residents of Zion bracing for the attack. Not much, just five minutes or so. It would have made the stakes seem more concrete. That's just a nitpick, though. The editing was nearly flawless for the most part.

Part 2.

Unfortunately, this edit combines all three Matrix movies, rather than just the last two.

The first Matrix movie is one of the most painstaking examples of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey to be found in recent film. While it leaves the story open for sequels, it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. So, by tacking your (excellent) edit of the sequels onto the first movie, you make the whole experience feel awkward. Even though the scene where Neo comes back to life, defeats Agent Smith, and awakens to his purpose as "the One" is not at the ending of your edit, it still feels like an ending, because the entire story up until that point sets it up as the ending. It is the resolution to the climax of the first story. Thus, when the edit seamlessly segues into the section taken from the sequels, the result is jarring, and feels like two wholes unsatisfactorily stitched together, rather than one cohesive whole. It feels like seeing an unsatisfying, anticlimactic end to one story, directly followed by another story.

Not only that, but in making the entire trilogy into one movie, you were forced to remove the original opening from "The Matrix". Not only is the original opening a neat scene in and of itself, but it is also the perfect introduction into the world of the Matrix. It was clearly meant as an introduction, and it feels like one. Whereas your new introduction (the scene featuring Trinity falling off of the skyscraper) plunges us headlong into the world of the Matrix. It's jarring. It fits as the beginning of the second movie in a series, but not the first. It doesn't make a good introduction.

Beyond that, I can't explain, but I feel it. I feel it the entire first half, that there's something wrong with the edit. I don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in my mind, driving me mad. It is this feeling that has brought me to write this portion of this review. Do you know what I'm talking about?

In short, I consider your version of the sequels to be top-notch, but feel that it was a big mistake to make the first Matrix movie a part of this edit. I intend to stick to the theatrical cut of the first movie, and skip over the sections of this edit featuring material from it during any future viewings. I would have much preferred an edit almost identical to this one, but without the inclusion of the first movie.