The Matrix (Blu Ray Review)

This is going to be my first attempt at reviewing a Blu Ray. Everyone has seen this movie and there is really not a lot more to say about it. The Matrix is a must watch on any form of media because it is a fucking fantastic movie. This is one of Keanu Reeves' best roles and introduced the world to Carrie-Ann Moss. The deepness of this movie has been studied a thousand times over and no one can really question the quality of the movie itself. I am going to dissecting the quality of the video, sound, and extras on the Blu Ray disc itself.

The video for this disc is pretty solid overall. This is a movie that should excel in every way on the Blu Ray format but it does fall flat in a few scenes. This has more to do with the age of the film rather than anything the filmmakers did poorly. This movie is still visually stunning, so don't mistake my small gripes for something bigger than they are. Some of the CG-heavy scenes fall flat such as the scene in the human breeding grounds because the aged CG can be so easily seen in high definition. A few scenes fall flat due to heavy film grain in some of the darker/low-light scenes. The film also boasts some awe inspiring scenes such as the lobby shootout which is an all-time great action scene in terms of pure action and visuals. Another underrated visual scene in the movie is the opening scene when the agents are in pursuit of Trinity. The action and clarity of the scene is just fantastic, there is no ghosting on screen and it kicks the movie off right. Warner Bros really took the time and effort to give a solid transfer to this movie. It is far from a perfect transfer but it is worth the price of purchase to see in high definition and fans of the first film will not be disappointed.

The sound quality of the HD mix on the disc is fucking incredible. Everything is extremely clear and nothing was missed in the conversion of the audio. When you start getting to the main action scenes in the movie, you can really tell what HD sounds really is. The lobby scene is one of the best sounding scenes in my Blu Ray collection, and is one of the first movies in my collection where I noticed that the back channels in my surround sound system were actually being used. I am not really an audio guy but if it sounds good then it sounds good, I am not going to get into frequencies and all that other crap. It sounds amazing and that is all you really need to know.

Verdict
THIS IS A BUY


The Matrix is a buy and that should not be a surprise for anyone who has seen the movie before and enjoyed it. A solid HD transfer and some of the best audio on the format should make this an automatic purchase for most people. You can get this for around 15 bucks at your local Best Buy and it is worth every penny. I'm such a geek that I bought the SteelBook version because it has one of the best covers I have seen on DVD/Blu-Ray/HD DVD.