Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		5.0

The Matrix 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Whoa! Less Green for Neo

Reviewed by Michael Reuben May 18, 2018

The Matrix is a landmark film, and whatever one may think of its creators' subsequent output (including the two sequels), its significance and continued popularity are beyond dispute. Its language and motifs have permeated everyday speech, and the characters of Neo, Trinity and Morpheus have become pop culture icons. After The Matrix, film fighting styles grew more elaborate and had to be more creatively photographed to keep pace, and wire work became standard practice. Special effects were permanently altered by such inventions as "bullet time". Not since Terminator 2 had mass audiences been so thoroughly wowed by a film's visual innovation.

The Matrix also appeared at a critical juncture in the history of home theater. DVD had debuted just two years earlier, with Warner Brothers as its main proponent. The first DVD-by-mail rental service, Netflix, was formed the following year. In 1999, the new format's dominance was conclusively established when two titles broke industry records by shipping a million or more units on DVD. One of them was Titanic; the other was The Matrix.

For all of these reasons, one would expect Warner to lavish an excess of care on The Matrix's UHD presentation, and the studio has not disappointed. The film has been newly scanned from the original camera negative and meticulously color-corrected under the supervision of the original director of photography. The resulting 4K/HDR rendition restores a subtlety and finesse to The Matrix's imagery beyond anything seen to date in a home theater. Even if you know the film intimately, its visuals have become startling all over again. And the remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack is a revelation.

To its credit, Warner has also remastered the film's 1080p standard Blu-ray, based on the new transfer and sound mix, so that Matrix fans who haven't yet upgraded their equipment can enjoy at least some of the benefits from this modern classic's 4K overhaul. (Specifications are listed here.) The new 1080p disc isn't available separately, but acquiring the complete UHD package is an investment in the future. If you love The Matrix, sooner or later you'll want to be able to experience it in the best presentation it's ever had.

Screenshots accompanying this review are taken from the remastered 1080p standard Blu-ray.

The Matrix has been exhaustively discussed over the past nineteen years, and I don't need to add another commentary to the pile. The site's previous reviews by Greg Maltz and Ben Williams are available for anyone wanting a refresher course. My favorite summary comes from the film's writer/directors, The Wachowskis, who, in their "Written Introduction" to the commentaries, describe their creation as "a chop-socky flick that comments on the Hegelian dialectic while having a guy who can fly and stop bullets". Aside from that, what more do you need to know?

The Matrix 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screenshots accompanying this review are taken from the remastered 1080p standard Blu-ray. While these images give some sense of the 4K disc's appearance, they cannot hope to represent its visual subtlety. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

This 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD of The Matrix is based on a new 4K scan of the original camera negative created by Warner's Motion Picture Imaging facility. Color correction and HDR grading were performed by MPI's senior colorist, Jan Yarbrough, and overseen by Bill Pope, director of photography on all three Matrix films. Warner Brothers has provided the following statement from Mr. Yarbrough, which is reproduced with the studio's kind permission:

The Wachowskis have entrusted the creation of the HDR mastering with the original Director of Photography Bill Pope, ASC. Working with Bill I have come to realize that he has a full understanding and appreciation for the dynamics of the HDR format. The Matrix is created in two worlds: the "real" world in cool blue tones; and the "data" world in ever present green. Now with HDR, this film can be viewed in its futuristic and data centric realm more accurately than previous formats would allow. HDR with its huge dynamic range of luminance and color gamut allows for a true film gamma replication while adding additional dynamic range for accurate highlights and deep detailed blacks. DP Bill Pope has taken advantage of this to create a version with color timing as it was originally intended, crafting a high resolution digital master that is more accurate than the original theatrical release.

One of the recurrent criticisms of the Matrix's original Blu-ray (and, before it, the DVD) was the pervasiveness and intensity of the green tint cast over the "data" world. The 4K disc effectively addresses such complaints by fine-tuning the green cast and limiting its reach. The difference is evident from the opening Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow logos, which were previously solid green and are now a combination of green with black-and-white. The refinements continue in the signature opening sequence where Trinity fights the police and flees the agents. The environment still has multiple green elements, but now other hues are also visible, including a few blues. The stylized wash that used to cover every shot is no more. For a particularly revealing example, look at the scene where Agent Smith rams a truck into the phone booth through which Trinity makes her escape (see screenshot 38). Only the phone booth is green, while the smoke surrounding the truck is a combination of white and blue—and the pavement looks like authentic city asphalt with just a few tell-tale green highlights. To borrow Jan Yarbrough's phrase, green is "ever present"—but it isn't everywhere.

The same careful balancing of color tones is evident throughout the entire film, with green elements tucked into the corners of the bluish "real" world and numerous shades other than green varying and contrasting with the overall tint of the "data" world. Outdoor daylight scenes inside the "data" world are almost naturalistic, except for tiny giveaways like the greenish highlights on the faces and hair of Neo and his cohorts. That sickly cast disappears in the "real" world, replaced by naturalistic flesh tones—except, of course, when faces are masked in darkness, shadow or the reflections from computer monitors. Study any shot, and it quickly becomes apparent that its colors have been painstakingly shaded and balanced to maintain the separation of the film's two worlds without overstating their difference.

The detail is superb, whether it's the pores and skin textures in character closeups, or the grungy jerry-rigged machinery inside the Nebuchadnezzar, or the shards of masonry flying in all directions during the lobby assault by Neo and Trinity. The vast fields of human hibernation pods where Neo awakens have acquired new depth and definition. The clarity is almost digital. Only tiny vestiges of grain reveal The Matrix's origination on film.

The Matrix is a melange of visual styles, and the deep blacks of its 4K/HDR presentation have given new intensity to the film's pervasive noir elements, which alternate so effectively with the shiny officer towers and bright daytime scenes photographed on the streets and rooftops of Sydney. The film is replete with darkened alleys and back streets, deserted subway stations and shady motels like the Heart O' the City—locales that are now more atmospheric than ever, thanks to inkier darkness, more precisely delineated shadows and more finely textured surfaces. The sequence in which Morpheus and his crew attempt to escape from Smith by climbing down the ancient plumbing of their hotel rendezvous isolates the band of adventurers in a barely lit channel surrounded by the blackness of oblivion. A similar effect occurs when Neo and Trinity climb atop the elevator and blow its cable to reach the rooftop above Morpheus and the agents. The images are as striking as the moments are suspenseful.

The selections described above are just a few examples of the many familiar scenes newly revived by the magic of HDR, artfully applied. The Matrix on UHD is a tribute to what can be achieved when art and technology collaborate with due respect for one another.

[System professionally calibrated using (a) a Klein K-10A Colorimeter with a Custom Profile made in CalMAN using a Colorimetry Research CR250 Spectroradiometer; (b) Murideo Fresco SIX-G UHD signal generator with HDR10 and Dolby Vision capability; and (c) SpectraCal CalMAN Software v. 5.8.2.85. Calibration performed by Kevin Miller of ISFTV.]

The Matrix 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Whether in lossy Dolby Digital or lossless Dolby TrueHD, The Matrix's 5.1 soundtrack has long been home theater demo material, but that mix has now been surpassed by a Dolby Atmos remix, which appears on both the 4K UHD and the remastered Blu-ray. (The sound specifications printed on the back of the case list the Blu-ray as only "Dolby TrueHD English 5.1", which is incorrect.) The Matrix won well-deserved Oscars for Sound and Sound Effects Editing, and much of the original team in the Warner sound division returned to revisit their work, pulling the original stems and effects from the archive and using the expanded capabilities of Atmos' object-based system to bring the film's sonic universe to life in ways that could not be achieved when it was initially released.

It's worth stressing, however, that this is not the kind of controversial remix that adds new effects or attempts to alter the dimensions of the sonic field with which fans have lived for the past nineteen years. The bullets that Neo dodges don't suddenly travel farther or reverberate in new directions, and the helicopter with which Morpheus is rescued doesn't acquire a new and unfamiliar flight path. The hallmark of this Atmos remix is fidelity to the original sound design, except that it is now rendered more distinctly in every aspect and in all directions. Individual effects that once blended into the film's layered waves of sound now stand out on their own, each one separate but appropriately prioritized.

Nowhere is this effect more evident than in the film's propulsive final act, which is a continuous sonic assault from the moment Neo and Trinity open fire in the lobby of the government building from which they rescue Morpheus. The lobby shootout is a symphony of bullets firing, shells ejecting, masonry shattering and body blows connecting, all to the accompaniment of Don Davis' pounding score—and I have never before heard each single element with such sustained clarity and intensity. The same is true of Morpheus' rescue by helicopter, with whirring blades, repetitive mini-gun fire, shattering glass, splashing water and rapid bullet hits, all registering with equal force and precision. Take any action scene in the film, and you will be able to hear things that you've always known were there but your ear could never latch onto so easily as the Atmos mix allows it to do.

The dialogue remains as clear as it always was, and the distinctive organic sounds of the "real" world, whether the loud ones of Neo's rescue or the quieter ones of his gradual rehabilitation, have acquired a new immediacy. Davis's distinctive instrumentals and the film's eclectic mix of songs are more vividly rendered than ever.

One small note of warning: Be sure to select Atmos from the main menu before starting the film. Otherwise, you'll get Dolby Digital 5.1. For reasons that pass all understanding, Warner still refuses to make Atmos the default track on its UHDs and Blu-rays.

The Matrix 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Over the last nineteen years, The Matrix has been released in more iterations than Agent Smith, gradually accumulating new layers of extras along the way. Rather than attempt to retrace that history, I will simply list the extras included in the UHD package, so that readers can make their own comparisons to whatever version(s) they already own.

• Commentaries: Both the UHD disc and the standard Blu-ray contain the assorted commentaries from previous editions.
• Written Introduction by the Wachowskis
• Philosophers Commentary by Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber
• Critics Commentary by Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson
• Cast and Crew Commentary by Carrie-Anne Moss, Zach Staenberg and John Gaeta
• Composer Commentary by Don Davis and Music-Only Track


• In-Movie Experience: This combination of commentary and inset video appears as an option on the remastered 1080p Blu-ray. The 2008 Blu-ray offered the same option.

All of the remaining extras appear on a separate Supplements disc.

• Behind the Story
• The Matrix Revisited (480p; 1.33:1; 2:02:50).


• Behind the Matrix (480i; 1.33:1; 43:06): A "play all" function is included.
• Making The Matrix
• The Dance of the Master: Yuen Wo Ping's Blocking Tapes
• The Bathroom Fight and Wet Wall
• The Code of the Red Dress
• The Old Exit: Wabash and Lake
• Agent Down
• But Wait—There's More


• Follow the White Rabbit (480i; 1.33:1; 22:51): A "play all" function is included.
• Trinity Escapes
• Pod
• Kung Fu
• The Wall
• Bathroom Fight
• Government Lobby
• Government Roof
• Helicopter
• Subway


• Take the Red Pill (480i; 1.33:1; 17:42): A "play all" function is included.
• What Is Bullet Time?
• What Is the Concept?



• Music
• The Music Revisited (3:14:51): A 41-song playlist. A "play all" function is included.


• Rock Is Dead (480p; 1.33:1; 3:20): The Marilyn Manson music video.



• Trailers
• The Matrix Teaser (480p; 1.33:1; 1:01)
• The Matrix Trailer (480p; 1.33:1; 2:33)
• The Matrix TV Spots (480p; 1.33:1; 3:54): A "play all" function is included.
• Manson
• Reality
• Forget Everything
• Mystery
• Buckle Up
• The Answer
• Kung Fu
• Whoa

The Matrix 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner's 4K presentation of The Matrix joins Unforgiven and Blade Runner as exceptional examples of catalog films brought to UHD in the best possible way. It belongs in every 4K fan's library and, thanks to the remastered Blu-ray, every Matrix fan's library. The film itself remains an indisputable classic of action and sci-fi. Highest recommendation.