DVD: The Ultimate Matrix Collection

A hacker questions the world he lives in until a group of rebels pull him into the post-apocalyptic real world. Returning to the Matrix to battle the system, he may be the one to bring the war to an end...


A genuine phenomenon, the Wachowski brothers’ sleeper hit The Matrix broke new special effects ground as well as creating an action movie with a plot. Unfortunately, the long-awaited sequels were below par when compared with the original – although any movie would have suffered from the hype that had built up in the long gap.

The size of the trilogy’s following is mirrored by the awesome scale of this box set. There’s so much to digest in this edition that you feel like you’re pushing that metal spike into the back of your head and jacking in. The best of the new features are the commentaries, especially those on the disappointing sequels. While the Wachowski’s don’t provide any commentary themselves – stating in a written introduction that they don’t want to influence the interpretation of the movies – they’re happy to let three critics who hated the second and third films tell you why they’re so bad.

Die hard fans can find a more sympathetic view in a commentary by two philosophers. While their treatise on the nature of choice and reality are interesting, their discussion of the films in a purely movie sense is often reduced to saying “Wow!” If you want a more digestible discussion of the philosophical ideas from the series, watch the ‘Return to Source: Philosophy of the Matrix’ featurette. Covering the work of Descartes, Nietzsche, Plato, Baudrillard and others, this hour-long piece includes a number of current philosophers. ‘The Hard Problem: The Science Behind the Fiction’ featurette does the same for today’s technology and how it relates to The Matrix. But this is still only just the tip of the iceberg.

Each movie has a disc of extras, most of which were previously available. There are also discs covering the work of the craftspeople (The Burly Man Chronicles) and the artwork (The Zion Archive). Thrown in for good measure is the (disappointing) Animatrix, including the nine Anime-style short films set in that universe.

Whether you're a fan of the films or not, this is finally an ‘ultimate’ box set that includes enough features to be worthy of that name.

Buy The Ultimate Matrix Collection at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com