4K Blu-Ray's

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."