The Matrix 4K UHD (1999)

[CreasyBear]

Buy it. Then report back on how it's somehow vastly superior to the format with ten times the resolution.

[nick4Knight]

Try not to be swayed by the "post-purchase rationalization" bias, too. With a price tag that big you got an uphill battle calling it accurate with a straight face. Be like buying bose speakers in the 90's and trying to sell us on it's audiophile quality.

[Noremac Mij]

It’s selling for $500 because it’s just that good. It’s the only official unaltered version. It looks and sounds splendid.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by Noremac Mij

It’s selling for $500 because it’s just that good. It’s the only official unaltered version. It looks and sounds splendid.

It's a glorified VHS tape with a digital soundtrack...that you have to flip halfway through to watch.

[DR Herbert West]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

It's a glorified VHS tape with a digital soundtrack...that you have to flip halfway through to watch.

A magical experience.

[Matt89]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

It's a glorified VHS tape with a digital soundtrack...that you have to flip halfway through to watch.

The Matrix was on 2 LDs, so you actually had to flip the movie three times during playback. For roughly a two hour movie, that's nearly every 30 mins. Lol.

Best way to view it, though.

~Matt

[OutOfBoose]

Ever-changing palette of the government building rooftop:

Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Ann Moss at The Game Awards 2021 - YouTube

[weberrygt]

Saw this last night in IMAX. Very cool. I have seen this movie countless times, but there a few things I picked up while watching this movie on the big BIG screen:

[Show spoiler]When we see Neo in the interrogation room, and we see all the TV screens, that is the Architect watching everything unfold in the Matrix. (This would not have been known/identified without the release of Reloaded/Revolutions.)
When Neo gets into the car, and Switch points the gun at him, I always thought it was because he was bugged and she didn't want him to move. For whatever reason, I realized, NO. It is b/c he is still connected to the system, and thus an Agent could come through him.
This leads me a question I never thought of - how/why did agents not just find Neo while he was connected to the Matrix? Is it b/c he was never shocked and concerned, thus never alerting the agents to his location?
When Neo meets the Oracle, I could never hear the background, old-timey music that was playing. It either never came through, or I didn't have it turned up loud enough. I guess my DVD/TV combo was not adequate (that is what I watched this the most on). Of course, hearing this in IMAX helped, as many sounds/effects were much more clearly heard.
It became more noticeable to me the 'progression' of Neo's outfit in the matrix, as his belief in himself as the one evolved.
Only Neo's hair changed in the matrix versus the real world. All other characters' hairs/bald heads did not change. I never noticed this. They point it out when they first explain what the matrix is and Neo feels his hair, but I never paid attention to other people's hair.
At the end, the system failure is due to the emergence of the One. I always thought it was just a clever way of tying together the Matrix and the One, like oh there is a system failure. However, as the Architect explained, it was an expected occurrence and the failure would only be corrected with the re-insertion of the One. I am sure many know this, but I guess I gained an appreciated of Reloaded and Resurrections even more.

I am sure all of these questions have been addressed at some point. I never read any articles/essays that dissected such topics. I never had such interest, but these things popped out to me for some reason.

[captainsolo]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

Buy it. Then report back on how it's somehow vastly superior to the format with ten times the resolution.

I don’t do that. With my experience in late release WB titles I don’t think it would be much different to the DVD which is why I find the costs people are paying nuts. Being a different format means there might be some color fluctuations but it should be the same exact master as the dvd and vhs release. I bought the old letterbox tape out of curiosity and it is the same master with some small variations from it being bounced down to vhs resolution. Looks darn impressive for a letterbox tape I must admit.
If the film had a crappy or not so good early dvd like many did then it would be possible for a well made late release LD title to outshine it in areas but The Matrix was the dvd game changer. All the WB late discs I’ve seen have mostly originated or shared the exact master that turned up on the initial dvd releases. The only difference I’m aware of was on the final disc made for Gone With The Wind which had the late 90’s theatrical 5.1 remix exclusive to the LD.

[motorheadache95]

Aren’t the original home video releases all from the same master (VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD) with completely inaccurate colors? I remember the old snapper DVD having a yellowish cast to the whole thing and it didn’t really resemble the original look of the film.

[BluProofie]

Originally Posted by Noremac Mij

It’s selling for $500 because it’s just that good. It’s the only official unaltered version. It looks and sounds splendid.

Lol

[sanjuro_61]

Originally Posted by motorheadache95

Aren’t the original home video releases all from the same master (VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD) with completely inaccurate colors? I remember the old snapper DVD having a yellowish cast to the whole thing and it didn’t really resemble the original look of the film.

Yes they are.
The laserdisc is no different (I've seen screenshots). Maybe it's the eyes of some people that are different, who knows...

[The Great Owl]

One of my favorite movie memories of all time is that of seeing The Matrix at the theater on opening night during the spring of 1999. I was accompanied by two roommates with whom I shared an apartment and by several friends and friends-of-friends. The lot of us, 20 or so, were somehow all able to sit on the same row, despite the showing being nearly sold out. We had all seen the television trailers for the movie, and knew that it involved cool spectacles of people in androgynous black outfits dodging slow-motion bullets on building rooftops, but our preemptive knowledge ended there. Our expectations were appropriately low, since we were sure that this would be a mere run-of-the-mill stopgap before the big summer movie that we were all eagerly awaiting, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which would drop almost two months later.

After the end credits rolled, my friends and I left the theater in a state of marveled amazement. The rational side of me felt that this film was a somewhat less intelligent retread of Dark City, a brilliant science fiction neo-noir that I had seen the previous year, but the excitement-seeking action-loving side of me that was attracted to bright shiny objects had never experienced anything quite like it. As soon as I hurriedly bought the DVD on its day of release months later (hilariously proving the point of the movie's meditations on consumerism), it became a near-nightly staple with my friends and me in our apartment, where we would show it to visitors at every opportunity. When one of my roommates got married in 2000 and moved away, his wife actually forbade him from buying the DVD, since she had grown so sick of his watching it all of the time at our place.

I was 27 years old when I saw The Matrix at the theater with friends on that opening night. I was going through a phase, probably common to pretentious intellectual hipsters in my age group, when I pretended to understand the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche and when I congratulated myself on my supposed understanding that everything around me was a lie, one which most people ignore by distracting themselves with bland pop songs and television sitcoms. Like a house cat, I had this illusion of fierce independence while also being completely dependent on a system that I only barely understood. As with the lead protagonist in the film, a software programmer by day and expert computer hacker by night, I spent my days thinking that something was not quite right, but I went through the motions anyway.

On a darker note, shortly before that initial viewing of The Matrix, I was paying off a credit card debt from an expensive automotive repair bill after the air conditioner had failed in my Toyota Corolla, and I was also beginning to shop for a new vehicle, having become weary of throwing repair money at my old one. Like many other Americans, I had yearned for a drivers license during my adolescent years, because it represented the freedom to do whatever I wanted, but I would later realize that I would be forever after bound to maintenance upkeep, gasoline prices, tag renewals, license renewals, sleazy dealership salesmen, DMV waiting lines, monthly payments, car washes, red lights, and speed limits. My human brain was significantly more advanced than the inner workings of an automobile, but I had learned the hard way, like the hapless characters in the film, that technology did not need to be more intelligent than me in order to enslave me.

Like my 27 year-old self (and my current self, for that matter), this movie, directed by Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski, professes to know more than it actually knows. The mythology of “The One”, supposedly foreseen by Gloria Foster's The Oracle, a walking astrology horoscope who offers generic noncommittal wording reassurance to people so that they can go about the day believing what they need to believe, is endearingly evasive. The Matrix, with its lofty observations on free will, man-versus-machine dynamics, and religion, asks far more questions than it answers, but that is perfectly okay. One reason for its ongoing appeal is that it serves as a cerebral reflecting pool for each viewer, offering just enough heady material to compel us to second-guess what we have been conditioned to believe, but leaving it up to us to try to make sense of the fray by sidestepping absolutes. The glue that holds this shattered mirror together is Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus, who speaks with such intensely somber gravitas that we are lulled into following him into whatever hellish truth he want to show us.

Keanu Reeves, whose ageless appearance and constant “Whoa!” expressions of befuddled bewilderment made him the best possible actor to play Thomas Anderson/Neo, is our universally relatable springboard into this cinematic cacophony of devastated corpse-strewn office building lobbies, tentacled Sentinel robots, kung fu, and fictional blondes in red dresses. Carrie-Anne Moss, as Trinity, presents the ultimate cyberpunk allure that, like this movie itself, makes us feel cooler than we actually are, inviting us to join her in dark rainy city underpasses and sleek industrial dance nightclubs, persuading us not to leave, because we have been down that road before and we know exactly where it ends. Hugo Weaving's Agent Smith serves as the ultimate warning that the machines can sometimes be more human than we are, especially during one spectacular moment when he conveys desperate emotion during an interrogation of Morpheus. The “bullet time” camera effects, hugely innovative for their day, the “wire fu” stunts, and the sunglasses...so many sunglasses...are characters in their own right.

The main thing that I take home from The Matrix is that freedom, true freedom, is a peril all its own. Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and the other beleaguered passengers of the Nebuchadnezzar hovercraft have been freed from the titular computer program that pulls the wool over society's eyes, but they live in damp darkness in subterranean sewers and they eat the same godawful protein food every day. I know that I could simply step out the door right now and live off the grid, forever unburdening the shackles of mortgages, utility bills, emails, and website password stipulations, but I would not know where my next meal is coming from and I would have to find uncomfortable places to sleep. Instead, I knowingly settle for existing in a nightmare dystopia of corrupt healthcare system bureaucracy and predatory capitalism so that I can be entertained in a comfort zone.

The Matrix may not have the answers to the questions that it poses, but it recognizes that the questions are their own reward. If you are willing to unplug from time to time and ask yourself if the religion that you were taught, the government system to which you grew up pledging allegiance, or your predetermined life goal is right for you or has room for improvement, then the mere ability to ponder those questions puts you heads above the other humans on the assembly line. Try to relax.


This 4K UHD disc looks great to my eyes, greenness and all. It was great to revisit this movie for the first time in ages.

[badfingerboogie]

Originally Posted by captainsolo

At the very least the defective SDR Blu-ray included should have been fixed.

Sorry to bring up something I'm sure has been discussed to death already, but what's wrong with the standard Blu included here? I was thinking about upgrading my old Blu set, but I haven't moved into the UHD space yet, so the Blus included here sounded good to me on paper - what would I actually be getting myself into?

[RegressiveScan]

You should read the Blu-ray.com review of the 4K box set for the details. Basically: the included Blus are a badly-executed “down-conversion” of the new HDR master to SDR colour space, resulting in blown-out whites and other colour anomalies. The reviewer said the Blus should just be used as drink coasters.

[XavierTheaterPotato]

Having Seen the Blus myself prior to upgrading, I'd say are Serviceable enough. But they're not going to look as good as the UHD is. All you're gonna get out of them is the new master but pretty blown out in some scenes in particular and it results in loss of detail. But I haven't looked at the Blus in basically 3 years and I knew this going in.

I would also suggest using Caps-A-Holic or sites similar to engage the difference. But in my opinion though, if you don't like the heavy green push of the original Blu, and wish to get the remastered Blu with the UHD for the time being, It's a fair compromise to deal with.

[badfingerboogie]

Originally Posted by XavierTheaterPotato

Having Seen the Blus myself prior to upgrading, I'd say are Serviceable enough. But they're not going to look as good as the UHD is. All you're gonna get out of them is the new master but pretty blown out in some scenes in particular and it results in loss of detail. But I haven't looked at the Blus in basically 3 years and I knew this going in.

I would also suggest using Caps-A-Holic or sites similar to engage the difference. But in my opinion though, if you don't like the heavy green push of the original Blu, and wish to get the remastered Blu with the UHD for the time being, It's a fair compromise to deal with.

To be honest, I was always fine with the green push (sacrilege, I know), but I always found the TrueHD tracks on the original Blus to be pretty flimsy - was assuming the new DTS-HD MA tracks would have some more oomph to them.

[XavierTheaterPotato]

Originally Posted by badfingerboogie

To be honest, I was always fine with the green push (sacrilege, I know), but I always found the TrueHD tracks on the original Blus to be pretty flimsy - was assuming the new DTS-HD MA tracks would have some more oomph to them.

Depending on what your system is you might have the same issue with it. Though the New Blu ray comes with a Dolby Atmos track now, but you have to manually turn it on before playing the movie, cause the Trilogy on 4K(and Remastered Blu) default to Dolby Digital.

I don't have such systems myself to speak on the audio of the how works. So that's all I can provide,

[CreasyBear]

The new Atmos tracks are LOUD.

[badfingerboogie]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

The new Atmos tracks are LOUD.

Now this I can get into