“The Matrix” is the movie equivalent for me of “Led Zeppelin II” or Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”. Every time some slightly new upgrade in technology or packaging comes along I end up shelling out the sheckles so I can display it proudly at the forefront of my collection. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before there was some fancy-schmancy new Blu-Ray edition of the film and I was prepared to lay down my hard-earned money for it, and have some excuses prepared for my girlfriend as to why we’d have to skip our weekly “nice” dinner out on the town.

First off, I’m just gonna say it: “The Matrix” is my favorite science fiction action film. It sits comfortably nestled on top of “Wrath of Khan” and “Serenity” but it’s got a death lock on that top spot. You may denigrate if you please but it won’t matter to me. I’ve heard it all and it slides off me like mace on the Co-Host (which, incidentally, won’t surprise you to know has been attempted many, many times). I ADORE everything about the film; the effects, the soundtrack, the action choreography, the script…although it’s hard to say ‘the acting’ in a movie featuring Keanu Reeves. He was perfectly used here, mainly having to react instead of act, getting to make that “whoa” face quietly in response to a better actor’s lines. Keanu, when used properly, can be exactly what you want, and generally by “used properly” I mean, have a minimum of actual dialogue and a maximum of kicking the crap out of people. He gets that just fine.

You can pick this up in a single edition, or as part of the “Ultimate Matrix Collection” but let’s be sincere here: how many times are you really gonna sit down with the other two films? There are some lovely visual bits but storyline wise they’re not too much less of a disappointment than the Star Wars prequels. There was so much promise with “The Matrix” and what would come next and no end of online speculation about it. Pretty much every fan-written scenario I came across was much better than what we actually ended up with. Still, I sure would have liked to have that included upgraded version of “The Animatrix” including some extras and the other two bonus discs full of goodies. Ever notice that no matter how good you have it, there’s always a way you can find to complain anyway?

So what’s so special about this special edition then? This could have come without a single extra feature and it still would be a perfect review for it’s amazing transfer to the highest possible quality 1080p taken straight from the digital cameras it was filmed with. You want a definitive ‘show-off’ disc for your giant HD screen? This is the one. Add to that the audio in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround that will almost freak your shit out with its quality and you’ve got yourself a disc worth making excuses to your girlfriend for in order to buy.

All that being said, this comes with all the extras. All of them. Ever. All the stuff from the DVD version, the HD version and of course, the two hour plus documentary from “The Matrix: Revisited” disc. Brand new for the Blu-Ray version is a Picture-in-Picture commentary, but this is all just stuff culled from all the other documentaries and featurettes included on the disc. Of course, for those who don’t feel like watching the hours and hours and hours of documentary footage, you might enjoy this as almost a ‘highlights’ reel spliced into the actual film.

Here’s a list at what you actually get, besides the movie, for your cash:

-A 37 page book with pictures, cast info and ramblings about “What is the Matrix”. You know the sort of thing I’m talking about.
-The Picture-in-Picture commentary unique to the Blu Ray edition.
-4 commentary tracks.
Philosophers who liked the movie
Critics who didn’t like the movie
Cast/Crew by Carrie Anne Moss, Zach Staenberg, and John Gaeta
Composer commentary
-The feature length documentary “The Matrix Revisited”
-Behind the Matrix Documentary Gallery with 7 Featurettes
-Take the Red Pills Documentary Gallery with 2 Featurettes
-Follow the White Rabbit Documentary Gallery with 9 Featurettes
-The Music Revisited – 41 track audio selection of music cues from the film
-Marilyn Manson’s “Rock is Dead” music video
-Theatrical Trailers and TV spots

You didn’t read much further than the “Critics who didn’t like the movie commentary track", did you? The brothers explain the what-what on the disc with a short essay about comparing and contrasting and examining all sides of something being important. What’s shocking is that they actually talked Warner Brothers into it. Where’s my paycheck for talking smack about “Transformers”? Oh wait, they couldn’t find any philosophers who liked it to do the positive review commentary.

One of the most interesting things gleaned from all this was the involvement of comics artist Geoff Darrow, who I have referred to before as drawing “Where’s Waldo” books if they were filled with hookers, killer robots and people being torn to pieces by shrapnel and bullets. His name belongs right up there next to Ralph McQuarrie for Star Wars and H.R. Giger for Alien in the sense of having been so essential to the look of the film. It was interesting to get a lot of his perspective on the ‘real world’ in the film, the Nebuchadnezzar , and the Sentinels.

Overall, this is a complete success. If you’re a fan of “The Matrix” this is just as good a reason to finally buy a HD set up for your living room as the original DVD was to buy a DVD player. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. After ten years, this science fiction action classic still holds up just as well as it ever did. Keanu naysayers be damned, for the best of the best of entertainment you need not look any farther. This is, "the one".

Click Here to Buy The Matrix 10th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray Book [Blu-ray]