While the Wachowski brothers slaughtered the sequels to one of the best movies of all time – The Matrix – one area they remained consistent in was retaining Don Davis to do the musical scores for all three movies. The Wachowski brothers could learn a lot from Davis; like the importance of keeping the same feel as the first movie without diverting to the point of making your fan base dislike your work. In both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Davis’ work is taken to a new level with funding to produce strong orchestration and amazing-sounding choral elements. And while some of the magic of the first movie’s simplistic sounding tech score is lost in these upgrades, the ability of Davis to advance the tech sound in an upgraded fashion is virtually flawless.

The Matrix Revolutions soundtrack is perhaps the greatest achievement ever for Davis. One could only wish that the same could be said of the Wachowski brothers efforts. Davis does a flawless job of capturing the elements on screen without sacrificing the quality of his work.

Choral elements, like in the scores Neodammerung and Navras, are extremely well produced and effective in achieving the heightened emotional state of the action. These scores are so good, in fact, that you could probably enjoy the movie more by closing your eyes and just focusing in on the score.

Davis had to rise to the occasion in The Matrix Revolutions because, unlike the previous movies, Revolutions deepended heavily on the score and less on songs. Davis accomplishes this with success, keeping the same underlying theme as in The Matrix movie, but taking it to much more dramatic levels to influence the deepening conflict taking place on screen. From hormonal chants and choirs, to beating drums and apocalyptic sounds Davis rises to the occasion. He’s able to use underlying themes to create several types of emotion in one song. For example, in Navras, he chorally captures the upcoming defeat of the battle while at the same time presenting an underlying orchestration of the excitement that the battle portrays. This creates a double-heightened experience for the listener.

While the Wachowski brothers will always be questioned for lackluster sequels that don’t match the story-driven power of the first movie, Davis can rest assured that his consistent development of The Matrix musical themes will always be recognized as the true masterpiece in the trilogy.