The Matrix Revolutions: Reprogrammed

[NewSpock]

Hi NewSpock thanks for reviewing my edit. You're right that the fight at the beginning of the movie doesn't serve much purpose in the narrative. The problem with removing it is that the Matrix sequels (much more-so than the origional Matrix) are action movies and without that fight there is no action for an extremely long period to begin the movie.

There were actually a number of cuts to almost every fight sequence including the burly brawl and the ending. It's just hard to eliminate a significant amount without the cut becoming obvious.

The extra scenes from the video game "Enter the Matrix" are actual scenes deleted from the film and not digital scenes like you might have been expecting. I'm glad you didn't notice the additions because I worked hard to integrate them as seamlessly as I could into the movie. The extra 5 minutes that I upconverted from the video game release were the scenes at the very beginning of the movie and the extra Niobe and Lock scenes in Zion.

Glad you enjoyed it even if it couldn't completely save the sequels for you!

Ah, I see, I really thought it would be game-graphics that would appear. Well kudos to your quality-improvement-skills cause the scenes from the game didn't stick out at all.

If I were you, I wouldn't have bothered about genres, this being an action-movie or not, and simply made the best and most interesting possible story and cut out what doesn't help achieve that goal.

Still, a great job as it is!

 

[jerick]

If I were you, I wouldn't have bothered about genres, this being an action-movie or not, and simply made the best and most interesting possible story and cut out what doesn't help achieve that goal.

Yeah I'm one of those Matrix apologists that like it as an awesome action popcorn flick, but there's always room for more Matrix edits!

 

[NewSpock]

Yeah I'm one of those Matrix apologists that like it as an awesome action popcorn flick, but there's always room for more Matrix edits!

I love the action in Matrix as well, so long as it also has meaning and purpose. In that regard the use of action and its execution was better in part 1 than in the sequels. Still, I love that whole action-scene in the Marowinger's place and the following action-scenes on the highway and I love the action-scenes when Trinity goes for that electricity-grid.

But then there are other action-scenes or fights that imho don't work or have little to no meaning, these I would if possible have cut or reduced.

As to me trying my hands on a matrix edit, I don't think that's possible for the foreseeable future because a) I'm bound making movies out of the Buffy-TV-show and b) making a Matrix-edit would require me to do it in HD and with 5.1-sound.. and for that I don't yet have the right equipment, and c) I doubt I could have made such a well-crafted one as you did.

 

[henzINNIT]

The action scenes in these films are hard to edit because almost every single fight is irrelevant to the plot. You could remove all of them and the film would work the same (albeit it with some dodgy visual continuity). I wouldn't bother to question how any fight in these films were treated in an edit because of this.

 

[jerick]

The first post has been updated with a link to my Vimeo album where this film can be streamed. There is also information in the album that explains how to download the movie on bluray.

 

[jerick]

Is everyone sick to death of Matrix sequels edits??? I know I'm not

I'm very thankful for how well my original "The Matrix Revolutions: Reprogrammed" has been received around here. But recently I have come up with some new ideas for the film and have begun working on a much leaner "Revised" edition. The new information has been added to the OP and is included below...


Revised Edition Now In Development (not due for imminent release):

The goal of "The Matrix Revolutions: Reprogrammed Revised" will be to cut the original edit down to a more digestible run time. This will be done by eliminating all unnecessary dialogue and action sequences. My goals will remain the same and the narrative will not be significantly altered. I will also not be cutting any sequences that are necessary to make the movie flow naturally.

In the example video below, a number of new edits are on display. Morpheus's speech has been changed to indicate he never intended to return with Niobe to Zion and will forge his own path to seek out The Oracle. As a result Neo is never seen questioning himself or his purpose and now feels like the same character from the end of the original "The Matrix". A new Zion sequence has been edited together so that the viewer still gets a proper introduction to this important location. All unnecessary action and dialogue have been stripped from the first half of "Reloaded" to create a much leaner edit reducing the run time by nearly a half hour.

Password is: 'revised'

 

[henzINNIT]

It's eerie how often I'm thinking of a new edit idea for these films and find you've arrived there first. Just last night I was thinking about tweaking the dialogue in Red Pill meeting to remove Morpheus's need for another crew to locate the Oracle, and yup, I track down this thread and you're on it already haha.

Watched the clip, and again there's some great ideas at work, and very well implemented for the most part.

There's a ton of thin characters in the sequels that I find under-developed to the point of uselessness, so I enjoy the little pieces of game footage you've inserted that flesh out a couple of them. Niobe's crew have that extra material to mine, so padding her story out is as good a plan as it was for your first go-around. Locke is necessary to the plot overall, but terribly one-dimensional in the films. You've wisely given him a little more substance.

Niobe's material, and the different introduction to Zion are well intergrated. The removed action scene with Seraph is another winner. It's gone and you wouldn't even notice. Nicely done.

My only notes of concern in the footage so far are these two:

-While I like the added piece where the doormen alert the meeting of the Agent's presence (always felt odd to me how everyone disbands off-screen in the film), the subsequent cut into Neo fighting the Agents is a little jarring. It's not bad by any means, but I feel you may have been a little eager to trim in this instance. The entrance of the Agents was pretty good, their near poetic description of Neo is a great re-introduction to his character and abilities, and conveys their nature at the same time. There's also the moment at the very start of the fight where Neo notices they've been upgraded, which goes some way to explain why he's fighting them at all after so readily taking down Smith at the end of the last film. These are important pieces of information in my opinion, and worth retaining. Definitely bias on my part though. I love the action sequence, it's probably the only one in either sequel that is restrained enough not to outstay its welcome.

-The other concern I have is the cut between Niobe at Zion, and Neo entering the Matrix. I know you're tackling a lot of footage to cut this down to a more reasonable length, but this jump felt a little severe. Depending on what footage you're using and where etc, it might be smart to use a little more footage of Morpheus/Link landing the ship and Neo being jacked in, just to ease the viewer in to the location of these characters. It's hard to juggle when you're really familiar with the material, but as I'm a little distanced from it, I did feel a little lost in where people were. You see Morpheus/Trinity/Link looking on, but you're not aware of their presence until that point, even if you know that logically. This may not be such a big deal in the context of the whole film, but worth noting.

Will be keenly following this. Love Matrix edits, and loved your previous version.

 

[jerick]

It's eerie how often I'm thinking of a new edit idea for these films and find you've arrived there first. Just last night I was thinking about tweaking the dialogue in Red Pill meeting to remove Morpheus's need for another crew to locate the Oracle, and yup, I track down this thread and you're on it already haha.

Watched the clip, and again there's some great ideas at work, and very well implemented for the most part.

There's a ton of thin characters in the sequels that I find under-developed to the point of uselessness, so I enjoy the little pieces of game footage you've inserted that flesh out a couple of them. Niobe's crew have that extra material to mine, so padding her story out is as good a plan as it was for your first go-around. Locke is necessary to the plot overall, but terribly one-dimensional in the films. You've wisely given him a little more substance.

Niobe's material, and the different introduction to Zion are well intergrated. The removed action scene with Seraph is another winner. It's gone and you wouldn't even notice. Nicely done.

My only notes of concern in the footage so far are these two:

-While I like the added piece where the doormen alert the meeting of the Agent's presence (always felt odd to me how everyone disbands off-screen in the film), the subsequent cut into Neo fighting the Agents is a little jarring. It's not bad by any means, but I feel you may have been a little eager to trim in this instance. The entrance of the Agents was pretty good, their near poetic description of Neo is a great re-introduction to his character and abilities, and conveys their nature at the same time. There's also the moment at the very start of the fight where Neo notices they've been upgraded, which goes some way to explain why he's fighting them at all after so readily taking down Smith at the end of the last film. These are important pieces of information in my opinion, and worth retaining. Definitely bias on my part though. I love the action sequence, it's probably the only one in either sequel that is restrained enough not to outstay its welcome.

-The other concern I have is the cut between Niobe at Zion, and Neo entering the Matrix. I know you're tackling a lot of footage to cut this down to a more reasonable length, but this jump felt a little severe. Depending on what footage you're using and where etc, it might be smart to use a little more footage of Morpheus/Link landing the ship and Neo being jacked in, just to ease the viewer in to the location of these characters. It's hard to juggle when you're really familiar with the material, but as I'm a little distanced from it, I did feel a little lost in where people were. You see Morpheus/Trinity/Link looking on, but you're not aware of their presence until that point, even if you know that logically. This may not be such a big deal in the context of the whole film, but worth noting.

Will be keenly following this. Love Matrix edits, and loved your previous version.

Thanks for the feedback I'll definitely keep it in mind. This version will only ever see the light of day if I can come up with a way to greatly reduce the last hour of the movie while maintaining a proper ending. I'm playing with some different ideas but any suggestions are certainly welcome.

 

[henzINNIT]

One word: Zion. You did a great job re-cutting the Sentinel attack, but that scene is so superfluous it could be cut entirely if you wanted. There's not a single pivitol character in it, and what happens there has no bearing on the outcome of the film.

 

[jerick]

One word: Zion. You did a great job re-cutting the Sentinel attack, but that scene is so superfluous it could be cut entirely if you wanted. There's not a single pivitol character in it, and what happens there has no bearing on the outcome of the film.

Yeah everybody wants Zion cut and I get it I really do but it just wouldn't be 'Reprogrammed' without it, it would be closer to 'deZionized'. I'll probably have to do it though and just give the edit a different name and let it live in conjunction with 'Reprogrammed'. I'd much rather cut Bane though, if only there was a way to get Neo to the final battle in a way that hasn't been tried before...


...OOOooooh I just had a really neat idea while typing out this post. It'll probably never work, but I'll edit it up and post it here tomorrow just to see how it goes.

 

[herowoac]

On the subject of removing bane, I would suggest doing it something like how it was done in Matrix Revolutions the Epic Editon by Geminigod. He very successfully removed bane entirely but still made a completely coherent story.

By the way love your ideas for the revised edition. My main problems with your original edit was that it was even longer and contained even more redundant story lines than the epic edition.
I always did wish for a shorter version though. Not removing zion or character building moments (more than they have been already) but by trimming and removing unnecessary action scenes.

Like many have noted before me, much of the action in the sequels is simply pointless from a story perspective,
ever since it was revealed in the first movie that Neo is indeed "the one" and hence couldn't possibly lose.

The sequels are filled with action for the sake of action, which makes them very much action movies
for people who love action movies. And most of these action movie buffs don't want to part with it
and will criticize you for cutting it.
Others, like me, can stand the action but actually feel that it makes the movie less interesting.
And others still, like my mother, wouldn't even watch it because of all the action.

The action in the sequels should be about those who actually credibly can lose, which at this point we know
(from watching the first movie) isn't Neo or Morpheus, and even though they try to sell us the idea that Trinity might die
even that seems a bit contrived. After all, after watching the first movie you would fully expect Neo to save her, and he did.
The people who really seem like they are going to lose are mainly the people of Zion.
Regretfully most of them don't have enough screen time to build any character or make us care about them.
So my suggestion is to focus as much as possible on those that do.

In summary: Less pointless action scenes, especially with Neo, Morpheus and (to a lesser degree) Trinity and more focus on building whatever other characters you can with the footage available.

If you could reduce the proportion of screen time devoted to action scenes with Neo, Morpheus and Trinity
and otherwise keep the same basic structure that you had (minus Bane),
you could very well end up with what I would consider a definitive version of the Matrix sequels,
and more importantly, a large audience that loved the first Matrix movie because it was good movie despite being an action movie,
and who hated the sequels because they were even more action movies, while at the same time being vastly less interesting from a character standpoint.

 

[henzINNIT]

haha I know Zion is the go-to answer for cutting ideas, but within the context of this edit and the new attempt to streamline it, there is material/characters ripe for the chop. Zee, the Kid and Milfune (or whatever he's called) would be pretty much erased if you cut the Neb's return to Zion from the start of the film, so it seems natural to remove their tiny roles later on.

I totally agree on the action of course. As Jerrick already perfectly displayed on the last page with the Neo/Seraph fight, most fight scenes disappear without a trace because they're so redundant. They are an iconic element in the series and shouldn't go completely, but there's a lot of room to crop and drop.

Cutting Bane? Interesing idea. I like Smith bleeding into the real world (and his attack on the logos is one of the few fights that did actually feel consequential) but it's a damn shame there wasn't a real character involved in that story. I can see why there'd be a motivation to cut it, he's a nobody that pops up for a few minutes in total.

 

[jerick]

On the subject of removing bane, I would suggest doing it something like how it was done in Matrix Revolutions the Epic Editon by Geminigod. He very successfully removed bane entirely but still made a completely coherent story.

Cutting Bane? Interesing idea. I like Smith bleeding into the real world (and his attack on the logos is one of the few fights that did actually feel consequential) but it's a damn shame there wasn't a real character involved in that story. I can see why there'd be a motivation to cut it, he's a nobody that pops up for a few minutes in total.

It's amazing how you can think about a problem at various times for literally years and never come up with a solution and then BAM while you're typing a response on a thread an answer can just hit you!

Well as promised here is a potential solution to the 'Bane Problem'. This edit combines over 40 small edits into one 4 minute sequence and it certainly isn't perfect but it stands up shockingly well. I can't promise it's the best solution to remove Bane as it creates various other problems (leaves Trinity alive for example, although that might be a good thing) But I'm very happy that it is a unique (as far as I know) solution that doesn't plagiarize Geminigod's own very unique solution.

Take a look and I'd love to hear what you think!


Password is: 'revised'

 

[WyndorfDave]

Well done!

 

[herowoac]

Technically it looks great. I probably would change one or two things,
like having Trinity say something a little more dramatic then "gotcha"
After all a sentinel just burnt Neos eyes out, right?

And I would probably remove those one or two seconds after around 2:23-2:25
when Trinity and Neo are just sitting next to each other continuing the flight
as if nothing big just happened.

If a sentinel just burnt Neos eyes out then Trinity has to be freaked out about it
Maybe so freaked out she flys straight out of the atmosphere, even though it should be suicide?
It should be extremely dangerous, otherwise why don't they do it all the time,
more importantly why don't the machines go above the clouds and use the sunlight as a power source?

I still cringe a little every time I see them flying above the clouds seeing the sun.
It shouldn't be that easy to access the sun. Otherwise the machines would do it,
and there would be no need for any humans or the matrix.

After all, humans scorched the sky and destroyed the atmosphere
all to stop the machines from doing just that.
Seeing the sun should be impossible, or at the very least synonymous to certain death.

It just needs to be more dangerous, more alarms going off, more things falling apart.
That would make the short break in suspense seeing the sun all that more dramatic and emotional,
as well as the following crash.

But yeah, as I'm sure you can tell I think you're on to something here,
and I'd love to see it within the context of your revised edit.

And in case you haven't noticed all ready:
For me the journey to machine city was one of those redundant story lines I was talking about,
that I was glad geminigod removed.
But just maybe you might change my mind about that...

 

[henzINNIT]

That's pretty good I must say. The "machine vision" when the sentinel attacks isn't convenient though, would it not be more simple to have his eyes harmed in the crash itself? More effective streamlining though. I never thought about removing Bane before but this simple continuity fix can have him disappear without a trace. Bravo.

What was Geminigods solution? Don't remember it, will have to have a look.

It's kind of nice to see Trinity survive that crash for once. Not sure where that would leave her in the resolution of the story though.

I was knocking ideas about for a new, happier ending and thought maybe it would be nice to establish that Limbo station somewhen (Neo meeting Sati and her parents and discovering machines' love etc), so you could return there after the events of the film. Neo sacrifices himself as usual, and you cut back to the station where Neo resides again, with Trinity arriving to take him away (where to is up to the audience). Might be a little cheesy, but I thought it might be a nicer resolution for the couple.

 

[jerick]

Well done!

Thanks!

Technically it looks great. I probably would change one or two things,
like having Trinity say something a little more dramatic then "gotcha"
After all a sentinel just burnt Neos eyes out, right?

Great point! I took your advice and changed "gotcha" to Trinity screaming "Neo", this works much better I think. I didn't change anything else because it's too disruptive to the visual continuity. The only reason this edit works is because the visual continuity of all these little pieces mashed together somehow works so wonderfully.

I also didn't add any new alarms or anything for the same reason. Somehow I was able to make the audio continuity/crossfading work with all these new sources mashed together and it just doesn't sound right with new effects added in.

That's pretty good I must say. The "machine vision" when the sentinel attacks isn't convenient though, would it not be more simple to have his eyes harmed in the crash itself? More effective streamlining though. I never thought about removing Bane before but this simple continuity fix can have him disappear without a trace. Bravo.
...
Neo sacrifices himself as usual, and you cut back to the station where Neo resides again, with Trinity arriving to take him away (where to is up to the audience). Might be a little cheesy, but I thought it might be a nicer resolution for the couple.

I think the machine vision works okay here, this edit is never going to be perfect and since my movie doesn't establish to this point that the machine vision is "Neo's new ability", then it just comes off as a neat little CGI effect that makes it seem like the sentinel is specifically targeting Neo for an attack. My original plan was to have Neo sustain his injury in the crash like you suggest, but I didn't enjoy the result. It felt like a cop-out for this to happen to Neo off camera. The sentinel solution was the answer to that problem and I feel like it works much better.

As for the ending, I've heard the idea of using the train station as an ending for Trinity being alive and that certainly is a possibility here. Didn't someone use this for an edit recently? Although I have another idea, I just kinda doubt my idea will be possible to accomplish with the footage available.


Thanks to everyone for the feedback, any new viewpoints would be greatly appreciated!


Password is: 'revised'

 

[henzINNIT]

Trinity surviving opens up some opportunities for a different resolution for her character. Maybe there is enough salvagable material in her and Morpheus' visit to the Oracle from the start of Revolutions to maybe have one last visit to close out the story...

 

[herowoac]

The new version is definitely improved.
I didn't even think about two seconds after around 2:23-2:25 in this version.

I'd have to see it in the context of the edit to say if it works for me or not on the whole though.
Suffice to say, it just might work...
Color me interested, definitely looking forward to seeing this revised edit once it's done.

 

[jerick]

This edit is now old news and will no longer be supported. After an exhausting amount of work I have created something that far surpasses the original promise of Reprogrammed 2.0. Please help me welcome my new creation The Matrix Revolutions Decoded. A hearty THANK YOU to everyone who has supported this release from day 1 and helped me get my edit to where it needed to be! Please contact me if you would like to watch Decoded early through Vimeo streaming. I will be happily handing out the password to anyone willing to write a short review about their experience.