Matrix Revisited The Matrix Revisited DVD is basically a disc of DVD extras for the Matrix. When the first Matrix movie came out on DVD, it was a single-disc release, but it included a good selection of extras, especially compared to DVDs of the day. My speculation is that, when it becamse clear that the sequels to the international blockbuster would take four years to come out, they decided to release this disc, to "maintain interest" in the property. That is, they producers wanted to remind audiences that the Matrix existed, and how much they liked it, and hopefully keep them wanting to see the next chapters in the story. The meat of this disc is a two-hour documentary behind the scenes of the Matrix. The documentary is made up of these little 4-6 minute segments, each on a different topic or scene. There is a segment on each of the fight scenes, talking about the challenges unique to that scene. For example, the subway fight: They originally were going to shoot in a real subway station, but as the fight scene developed, they realized that there was too much work to do to make this practical. Also, Keanu did most of his own fighting, but a stuntman was used for the shots in which Neo was smashed into walls and ceiling. The stuntman ended up cracking several bones. And the wet-wall: They built a special set for this scene, a couple of stories high and 18 inches wide. They used wires to support the actors, and they had unique lighting problems due to the structure of the set. Other topics of the documentary included Yuen Wo Ping's work choreographing the fights, the set design, the costumes, the origins of the story, and Hard Boiled comic book artist Geof Darrow's work as a designer for the movie. It is sort of like watching 32 mini-documentary clips, all strung together as one cohesive documentary. In addition to the two-hour thing, there are several separate pieces. There is a making-of piece on the new sequels, which are being shot concurrently (expect them to come out in 2003). This shows some of the fighting training and clips of the choreography, but not nearly enough to give anything away, fortunately. Also, there is a segment on the Animatrix, the animated matrix spin-offs which feature major Japanese anime talent. This reveals less than one might hope, and seems more like a promo than anything else. The format for this animated work has yet to be determined. Some segments may show up on the website, whatisthematrix.com or they may be released direct to video. There is also a piece on the Matrix website, which also feels a lot like a commercial for the website. The website is cool though, and deserves recognition for having more worthwhile content than your standard movie website. What if Morpheus were Asian? One definite highlight of this DVD is Yuen Wo Ping's blocking tapes. Under the direction of the Wachowski brothers, Yuen created the martial arts sequences of the Matrix with his stunt team, choreographing them and videotaping the fights for the directors to see. The DVD includes the final videos of Yuen's team performing all of the major fight scenes themselves. See real Hong Kong movie veterans performing the entire virtual dojo fight, beginning to end, with no dialogue. Also, the entire bathroom fight, as well as the subway station fight! Granted, if they were choreographing the fights for themselves, they would have been that much more challenging. But I think we all agree that the fights looked good, especially considering all the stars were inexperienced as fighters, and Keanu had a persistent neck injury to deal with throughout the shooting of the movie (which is why he threw very few kicks). I don't know if it's the sort of DVD which you, specifically, would end up watching over and over, but I definitely found it worth watching once. To paraphrase Yuen Wo Ping, "When the directors told me they had scheduled four months of training before the movie began shooting, I thought, 'that will be too much: two months should be all we need' but when I met the actors and saw that they couldn't even throw a proper punch or kick, I thought, 'four months will not be enough.'" Matrix Revisited. Content worth watching, if you are a Matrix geek. Which you are. December 4, 2001 Other Matrix Jeffreviews: Matrix Reloaded