Fellowship of the Matrix

By RICHARD CORLISS

Is a movie, these days, ever finished? Decades after Star Wars and its two sequels were released, George Lucas updated the special effects of some scenes. He said he was "completing" the films, although he hadn't told the hundreds of millions who bought tickets to the original movies that they were watching a rough cut.

Now two other famous trilogies have been given the lavish, can't-get-too-much-of-a-good-thing DVD treatment. Peter Jackson has added 50 "new" minutes to the already capacious 200 of The Return of the King, the final installment of his Lord of the Rings epic (New Line Home Entertainment; $79.92). And a year after The Matrix huffed to its tri-part finale, the Wachowski brothers offer literally dozens of hours of elucidation on a 10-disc DVD set called The Ultimate Matrix Collection (Warner Home Video; $79.92).

In the longer Return of the King (which is buttressed by six-plus hours of nifty documentary footage), you will see a hail of flying skulls assaulting Aragorn and his colleagues when they meet the Army of the Dead. The Mouth of Sauron, a creature with really scary teeth, rides out to tell Aragorn that Frodo has been killed. Jackson (who can be glimpsed playing a pirate) also solves the riddle of the "wizard kebab"--a photo, snapped on the set, of a white-robed man impaled on a huge spike. It's Saruman, fallen to his death.

This "full" version might not have won an Oscar for Best Picture--only for longest. But quibbling is not an option for a guest at this rich banquet. In theaters, the audience soared on the wings of a magical adventure. Here they move into Middle-earth. It's a glorious place to live.

Jackson's trilogy ended on a triumphant note: Return of the King won 11 Oscars and became one of only two films (the other is Titanic) to earn more than $1 billion in theaters. The Matrix, fairly or not, is seen as a terrific film followed by two vagrantly entertaining afterthoughts (Reloaded and Revolutions). The Ultimate Matrix is the Wachowskis' grand play to establish the three films as one fabulous story. They don't pull it off, but there are goodies galore in this package.

For insights into the subtle direction of actors, watch as Larry Wachowski gives cues to star Keanu Reeves, suspended on wires for a fight scene, in a manner Ingmar Bergman may never have considered: "Head jerk. Then thrashing. Then a big thrash. And another one. Then clench. Tighter. And die."

The package contains two commentary tracks on the full trilogy: one by "philosophers" Cornel West (who had a small role on the Matrix council) and Ken Wilber, the other by top film critics Todd McCarthy, John Powers and David Thomson, who connects The Matrix to every movie from Cocteau's Orpheus to the Alien quartet. The critics are unanimous in thinking that one Matrix was enough ("If the whole series ends here," Thomson opines at the first film's finale, "you've got nearly a masterpiece") and that some scenes aren't worth remarking on. "Perhaps they'll edit it out of the DVD," Powers says. "Actually, I propose that they should start releasing Critics' Cuts of films." If so, they'd all run about 83 minutes.

But box sets are made for the completist, not the critic. Someone, surely, will watch all 14 hours of the documentary extras and, perhaps, the three films on their own, then with the two tracks of commentary, which means another 20 hours. All of which makes The Ultimate Matrix an ideal gift for that obsessive uncle or nephew who has nothing but spare time. (We're guessing that the fanatical rewatching of action-movie trilogies is pretty much a guy thing. A lonely-guy thing.)

Sadly, we couldn't fit all the cool info about the two box sets into this one story. So look for Fellowship of the Matrix: The Writer's Cut. Coming soon! The ultimate edition! Unless we think of new stuff after that.