Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmE8_FXT3cY
Notes
Many people have that certain movie that opens their eyes to the possibility of Film: for some people it's Star Wars, for others it's Lord of the Rings - for me, that film was 1999's The Matrix. The Matrix was and still is (to me, anyway) one of the most creative, original, and intellectually stimulating films to be made in the history of cinema. Like many people, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the sequels... only to come away bitterly disappointed from watching them.
Now, there were many things that ended up detracting from Reloaded and Revolutions: over-usage of CG graphics and action sequences in place of Story, poor writing and dialogue, lame secondary characters, critical references to other Matrix media that most audiences didn't see, self-referential moments that would decend to self-parody, etc., etc....
For me, however, there was one glaring problem that I could not overlook in the sequels: the character of Neo himself. In my view, this was NOT the same character that we last saw at the end of the first film. His powers appeared to have "de-evolved", his intelligence turned to nothing, his personality was dull and less interesting, and up until the last 1/4 of "Revolutions", it seemed like he really didn't give a crap about anyone other than Trinity. And then, of course, there's the ending: where Neo chooses to sacrifice himself for the "Love & Peace" of Humanity and the Machines...
That... is complete and utter bull.
In my frustration, I returned to the first film and began studying the various subjects and works that influenced it. It was from these elements and my interpretations on "The Matrix" that made me decide to go back and re-edit the sequels in a manner that I felt expanded on the themes of the original - an Edit that would ask the question:
"What if the Neo that we saw in Reloaded and Revolutions... wasn't the true ONE after all?"
FanEdit Information
Type of Fanedit: True Fanedit
Intention With This Edit: To create a sequel to "The Matrix" that uses the concepts and philosophies present in the first film.
Original Titles: The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, & Enter the Matrix
New Title: The Matrix Evolutions
Original Runtime: 280 minutes (The Matrix Reloaded = 138 minutes: The Matrix Revolutions = 129 minutes: Enter the Matrix scenes = 12 minutes)
New Runtime: 172 minutes (2 hours, 52 minutes)
Time Cut: approximately 109 minutes
Time Added: 8-9 minutes
Software Used: Sony Vegas 7 (video editing), Adobe Photoshop CS2 (image editing), Bahaus Mirage (compositing), Sony Sound Forge 8 (audio editing), Sony DVD Architect 4.5 (DVD authoring)
DVD Information
- DVD Format: NTSC - DVD9 DL
- Region: 0 (region-free)
- Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1, 16x9 widescreen
- Audio format: 2.0 Dolby Surround
- Language: English
- Subtitles: none
- Custom DVD Menus
- DVD Extras: Custom DVD & Disc Art
- DVD Extras: Deleted Ending: "Enter the Dark Matrix"
- DVD Extras: Fanedit Trailers - "Silent Hill: Red God Remix" & "Noir Simulacrum"
- DVD Extras: "The Matrix" 1996 draft script
- DVD Extras: "The Matrix Reloaded" 2001 draft script
- DVD Extras: "The Matrix Reloaded" 1999 Shadow Script (supposedly written by the Wachowski Brothers & features an alternative continuation of The Matrix storyline)
Major Edits/Changes
1. Numerous cuts to the various fight sequences throughout the film
2. Numerous cuts to remove redundant dialogue and bad writing
3. Neo has a second dream sequence of Trinity's death (taken from Trinity's encounter with the Agent at the end of Reloaded)
4. Neo's "powers" in the Real World now serve a very important purpose to the plot's subtext
5. Several scenes have been added from the Enter the Matrix video game (to flesh out several characters and introduce new plot elements)
6. The Kid's role in the story is significantly reduced than the original version (and he does not "save the day")
7. Removed the Morpheus/Locke/Niobe love triangle (instead, the relationships between the three is left more ambiguous)
8. Morpheus's "Speech to Zion" and the "Rave" sequences have been removed entirely
9. The Oracle's speech in the Park has been edited to change the nature of Programs
10. Smith is not a Rogue Program: he is still a part of the System, abit much more powerful
11. The Neb's destruction and Neo & company joining the Hammer crew occurs after the Burly Brawl
12. "Neo VS Bodyguards" sequence in the Merovingian's chateu has been removed
13. 6-7 minutes cut from the "Freeway" sequence (to increase tension of the car chase, remove unnecessary Bullet Time effects, remove rudundant scenes with Link, and make the Agents stronger and deadlier)
14. "Door to the Source" no longer leads to the Source, but to the Train Station
15. "Sati" scenes have been edited to make her less annoying and reduce her impact to the story
16. The "battle through Hel" has been removed
17. Neo's meeting with the "new" Oracle has been heavily edited to make her appear less-helpful and harder to trust her words
18. Nearly half of the footage of "The Battle for Zion" has been cut and restructured to be a much darker sequence
19. The "Architect" scenes has been moved from the middle of the story to near the end
20. Features a brand-new ending to The Matrix saga
http://fanedit.org/401/