The Matrix Reloaded 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

The Matrix Reloaded 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 27, 2018

Warner Brothers and Best Buy have collaborated on a store-exclusive SteelBook release for 'The Matrix Reloaded.' This review focuses on the SteelBook packaging and, from a technical perspective, exclusively on the UHD video presentation, with emphasis on the Dolby Vision color enhancement. Michael Reuben has reviewed the UHD presentation with its HDR-10 coloring. This is not a replacement of his review but rather a companion look at a second color format option available on the disc.

For more on the film, Michael Reuben's review of the wide release UHD offers a well-written opening primer while a review of the three film Blu-ray collection offers more insight into one of the most talked-about film franchises of all time.

The Matrix Reloaded 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

The Matrix Reloaded may have disappointed, and continues to disappoint, audiences rightly expecting something more in-line with the original film's storytelling depth and balanced approach to big-time action, but there's no disappointment in Warner Brothers' 2160p 4K/Dolby Vision video presentation. The image is right in-line with The Matrix in terms of its dynamic delivery, the refined colors, the awe-inspiring textural grace. The intensity and stability of shades of green, the stability and brilliance of whites, the depth and balance of blacks just at the opening studio logos and titles make for a beautiful sight. The movie's green tinting appears a little more reserved, generally, compared to past iterations on home video, ore perfectly complimentary of themes and world visions. The shade does seep into, and visually comes to define, many surfaces, clothes, backgrounds, and even faces and skin tones, the latter to the point that Neo's perpetual facial hair shadow takes on a light green color tint. The film appears desaturated in many of the green-dominant scenes, emphasizing the color and leaving behind any trace of competing and more intense colors. Scenes in Zion take on a more traditional tonal balance, certainly defined by the bleak gray grunge colors throughout the background rather than the green saturation found elsewhere. Primaries are a little more robust, particularly against the ironically lifeless locations. Scenes featuring brilliant white surfaces or character garments or hair offer a level of near purity that enhances the scenes' visual impacts. Dolby Vision's dynamic color grading allows the film's diverse color palette and scene-by-scene needs to find a greater extension and precision that allows each scene to take full advantage of the widened spectrum, from the most intense whites to the deepest blacks and everything in between, particularly those greens and dingy grays.

From a textural perspective, the image's stability is first-rate, its filmic credentials beyond reproach. A fine, consistent, and complimentary grain structure remains for the duration, thrown off only by the odd effects shot that occasionally (very intermittently) flatness the image. But dramatic complexity and textural intimacy are the norm. Faces are the absolute highlight, Morpheus in particular but the movie brings out the gruff, weathered faces of battle-tested warriors with striking intricacy and tangible depth. Neo is the exception. In the film he is treated as a divine being by the masses. He's almost unnaturally unblemished, but the UHD does manage reveal the finest of the fair skin details. The grungy backgrounds in Zion are a feast fort her eyes. The rough-edged walls, wear and tear, accumulated grease and rust -- the world is a treasure trove of visually complex and rewarding surfaces that only the UHD can present to the level of textural depth and definition and realism the environment's carefully crafted locales were made to convey.

There is no comparison between this release and any previous issue, including the remastered Blu-ray. The 1080p image is comparatively flat with textures that are much less sharp and precise colors that cannot come close to matching the depth, intensity, and perfection of the UHD's Dolby Vision palette.

The Matrix Reloaded 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a full audio review of the film's impactful Dolby Atmos soundtrack, please click here.

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

The key to The Matrix Reloaded's 4K UHD SteelBook release is keys. The front cover features a predominantly black background with vertically oriented green digital characters. Three keys on a chain are the prominent front-side subject. Within the keys are floating head character portraits of Trinity, Neo, and Morpheus, all sporting sunglasses. The rear side carries over a similar design but is more densely digital and features a city skyline growing from the vertical code. The spine is made of a fairly flat black color with some little green wear and one tear-looking segment towards the bottom. The film's title is approximately centered. A UHD logo sits atop and a Warner Brothers logo appears at the bottom.

Inside, the digital copy floats. The left hand side tab holds the UHD disc. The right-hand side houses two Blu-ray discs in the usual staggered-stacked pattern. The inner print features a two-panel spread image depicting a packed house party inside Zion. Small, unobtrusive billing appears bottom-left.

As for the on-disc extras, there are many. Various reviews of past iterations break down the content more thoroughly. Below is a basic listing of what's included on each disc. Note that various trailers and TV spots have not been ported over.

UHD/Blu-ray feature film:

• Commentaries: Included are Written Introduction by the Wachowskis, Philosopher Commentary by Dr. Cornel West and Ken Wilber, and Critics Commentary by Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson.
• In-Movie Experience: Blu-ray only.

Blu-ray Disc Two (Special Features):

• Behind the Story: A six-part feature.
  
  
  • Behind The Matrix: Includes 'The Matrix' Unfolds, Pre-Load, Get Me an Exit, and The MTV Movie Awards Reloaded.
  • Car Chase: Includes The Freeway Chase, Oakland Streets and Freeway: Unseen Material, Tour of the Merovingian's Car Garage, Queen of the Road, Arteries of the Mega-City: The Visual effects of the Freeway, Foresight: Preplanning the Mayhem, Freeway Truck Crash: Anatomy of a Shot, Fate of the Freeway, and Freeway Action Match.
  • Teahouse Fight: Includes Two Equals Clash and Guardian of the Oracle: Collin Chou.
  • Unplugged: Includes Creating the Burly Brawl, A Conversation with Master Wo Ping, Chad Strahelski: The Other Neo, Burly Brawl Action Match, and Spiral Virtual Shot: Anatomy of a Shot.
  • I'll Handle Them: Includes The Great Hall, Building the Merovingian's Lair, Tiger Style: A Day in the Life of Chen Hu, and Heavy Metal: Weapons of the Great Hall.
  • The Exiles: Includes The Exiles and Big Brother Is Watching: The Architect's Office.
• Additional Footage: A Two-Part Feature.
  
  
  • Enter the Matrix: The Game
  • Enter the Matrix: Included are Scene 01: Niobe & Ghost Jack In, Scene 02: Last Transmission of the Osiris, Scene 03: 72 Hours, Scene 04: Hallway of the Keymaker, Scene 05: A Kiss from Niobe, Scene 06: A Kiss from Ghost, Scene 07: Clean Exit, Scene 08: The Logos Returns to Zion, Scene 09: Lock and Niobe, Scene 10: Ghost & Trinity, Part 1, Scene 11: Ghost & Trinity, Part 2, Scene 12: Lessons of the Oracle, Scene 13: Off the Freeway, Scene 14: Sparks Directs Traffic, Scene 15: Saving Morpheus, Scene 16: Three Hours to Attack, Scene 17: EMP Aftermath, Scene 18: Niobe Visits the Oracle, Scene 19: Ghost Visits the Oracle, Scene 20: Niobe Leaves the Oracle, Scene 21: Ghost Leaves the Oracle, Scene 22: Picnicking Sentinels, and Scene 23: One Hell of a Ride.
• Music Video: "Sleeping Awake."

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

Warner Brothers has revisited The Matrix Reloaded on UHD and has done a remarkable job of bringing the film to the flagship home format. The 4K resolution renders the film sharp as a tack, supremely detailed, and organically filmic. The Dolby Vision coloring is a revelation and a solidification of the film's overreaching and subtly intimate coloring alike. Black levels might very well be the real highlight, with brilliant whites not far behind and the film's frequent green push a beautiful sight to behold, particularly blended in with the black. The Atmos track is one of the finest in the industry and the package's supplemental content is thorough, highly enjoyable, and eye-opening. The SteelBook is, bluntly, a disappointment. The cover lacks character but with a film as complex as this perhaps its was thought the play-it-safe approach was best so as not to confuse buyers with something a more creative mind could conceive. Nevertheless, The Matrix Reloaded's UHD SteelBook comes very highly recommended. The set is also available in basic wide release packaging as well as a trilogy box set.