The Matrix Squared (Released)

Yeah yeah, I know, yet another Matrix edit. And yet another edit by me, Spence. This one I’ve been working on since I started editing, and whenever I get sick of or frustrated by my other edits I went back to it. Well, after finishing Alexander, I’ve had time to work on this a bit more, and I have just finished my first rough cut.

The Matrix Squared turns Reloaded and Revolutions into one film, a little like DeZIONized. However, I liked a good portion of the Zion sequences so I kept a lot of it. This edit is basically how I want to see the Matrix films, I removed almost every subplot that I did not like or felt was unnecessary, simplified the story a bit, trimmed a lot of fatty sequences. I’m very pleased with the results.
Here’s a list of the current changes:

• The film opens now with a shortened version of Final Flight of the Osiris from the Animatrix. It’s a cool little 4 minute pre-credits sequence that gets the film off on a good action beat.
• Neo’s dream of Trinity is a lot shorter and a lot more nightmare-ish.
• Many scenes from the Enter the Matrix video game have been added back in. These strenghten the character of Niobe and the crew of the Hammer, making them feel present through the entire film, not just the portion from Revolutions. Also, Niobe doesn’t have a thing with Locke.
• Neo’s fight with the Agents is gone.
• Zion is there, like i said, but heavily, heavily edited. Morpheus’ speech is gone. The Rave is gone. Neo and the Counselor’s endless babble of a scene is gone.
• No Seraph. At all.
• There’s no crappy half-handed explanation as to why the Oracle looks different. The actress died, she was replaced. We can deal with it.
• Burly Brawl is shortened, with some of the more horrible CGI shots removed.
• Merovingian sequence is shorter.
• The Architect is heavily edited. Similair to the Matrix Hacked, there are no previous versions of The Matrix and no previous One’s. Neo is the only One.
• Trinity doesn’t get shot, so she doesn’t die and come back to life. He catches her, then it cuts to the ship.
• Neo does not collapse. No Trainman, no 2nd Merovingian scene, no Club Hel. Bane is also not in a coma. First time we see him on the ship he is being interviewed by the crew of the Hammer.
• A lot of scenes have been re-arranged for pacing purposes.
• The battle of Zion is shorter, no Kid and no infantry, the battle is completely centered on the APU’s. The subplot of the gate not opening is gone. The sequence is now a ten minute intense action scene that cuts between Niobe piloting to Zion and the Zion battle. I’m very happy with this segment.
• Trinity’s death is shortened. Now that it isn’t as ridiculously long, it’s a lot more heartbreaking.
• I have replaced the cheese filled ending with Seraph, the Oracle, and Sati with something new. It’s a montage of scenes from all 3 films set to Neo’s speech from the end of Matrix 1. It’s pretty cool and I feel it’s a more fitting way to end the series.

All in all, it’s turning out great. The current length is 2 hrs. 44 min., though that includes 10 minutes of end credits. Considering the films were over 2 hrs. each, that’s quite a good length. However, I would like to get another five minutes of so out of it.

I’m going to work on finishing this one up quickly. Thanks to everyone who has watched my other edits.