The Matrix

DVD Details: Anamorphic Widescreen Audio Tracks: English, Commentary, Music Only Subtitles: English/Closed Captioned Talent Bios/Filmographies Several Behind-the-scenes Features Lots of Other stuff (see below) R, 136 minutes

If you don't know what the Matrix is at this point, I'm sorry, but you'll have to look somewhere else. I don't have time to write what's been written about this movie already, all I'm gonna do is tell you about the disc. That's all you really wanted, isn't it?

One word, AMAZING! When you get this disc, it's hard to see how they could get all the stuff on one side of the disc. Thanks to that second layer (that few discs so far have used) Warner Brothers was able to pack this disc full of junk. I still don't think I've seen it all, but I don't have time to try to figure out where everything is. For starters, you get a crystal clear version of the movie. Then there are a few different featurettes (one on bullet time, another on the general making of The Matrix) There's a "white rabbit" mode, where you can see some behind the scenes stuff for specific scenes, although these are harder to access since you have to watch the movie in a special mode, and watch for a little logo in the corner. Menu access to these things would have been much preferred, but it's ok how it is. And on the subject of the menus, they're all animated and very well done. Nice to look at, although it seems like at times a bit busy.

Then there are the DVD-ROM features. DVD-ROM means you have to have a computer with a DVD drive (almost standard nowadays, but not a guarantee) and you have to install some software (which I don't like doing, no matter how good the movie) to access the special stuff. My favorite DVD-ROM feature is the storyboard mode you can watch the movie in. As your watching the movie on one half (or more) of the screen, the original storyboard for that shot/scene is shown along side it, so you can get a good comparison of how the idea the Wachowski brothers originally had actually turned out. Very interesting. There are also a couple little games, the screenplay, some trailers, but nothing too special. Overall, the DVD-ROM features are more for the real DVD enthusiast, who loves every extra on a disc. Unfortunately, it's the DVD-ROM extras that have caused the problems you've probably heard about for this disc. Most stand alone players aren't quite up to the specs that were originally given out, and thus very few people can watch this disc without a computer. If you're not sure, it'd be best to go rent the disc for a night and see if you can play it before buying it.

Now on to the audio. The regular audio on the disc is of course great, but that's not the best part to The Matrix. A nice commentary track is included, as well as a Music Only track. It's interesting to watch the Kung Fu scene without any sound effects or talking. But maybe that's just me.

So, overall, a very good disc. There's nothing I can think of that's really missing. I guess they could've put another commentary track on it, or added some music videos, but nothing really is missing. So, if you loved this movie, you should definitely buy this DVD. If you just liked it, or haven't seen it, there's probably someone you know who has it. Just borrow it from them and enjoy!