The Second Renaissance Part I

Entering the archives of Zion we are allowed a look at the history of the matrix. Many years before the machines turned the world into one of machines, man was on top and robots worked to support their lifestyles. When the destruction of a machine is ruled as legal under property rights, large marches for civil equality lead to murder and destruction, the machines retreat to the middle east where they set up a city - however trade wars soon lead to greater conflicts as peace becomes increasingly unlikely.

Having seen the animated short that sets up the warning on the attack on Zion I was then interested to see the vision of the rise of the machines. Part 1 exists separate from part 2 and I am looking forward to seeing the conclusion of the rise. Part 1 is delivered in a mix of Japanese and Western animation styles that is perhaps a little more graphically violent than I had expected. Starting with one machine's `rights' the film chronicles a civil rights movement that mirrors many events in recent human history, these bits don't work that well as it feels like it isn't being clever and is just re-imagining real history. However the actual story is gripping - mainly because even though events seem small, we know where (in this world) events will lead.

The animation is stylish but a little too violent - a human skull crushed and a `woman' sexually attacked are beyond what I expected to see, even though they do hammer home the point forcefully. Some of the machines are a little too crude to be convincing but overall the animation is strong and the direction is slick. It would be easy to dismiss this as a cynical marketing ploy I think it has more value than just that purpose. This short tells me more about a universe that I am interested in. I have not seen Reloaded at the time of writing this (but will be in a matter of days) but I know that the first film was hooked on discovering what the matrix was and the audience uncovering the extent of the false world at the same time as Neo did. This short succeeds because it allows further understanding of this reality.

On the whole it is easy to dismiss this but it does have enough style of it's own to justify it's existence as a short in it's own right. It shows that (unlike many blockbusters) this trilogy (for all it's flaws) was established in a world that was planned rather than one which was expanded when the box office suggested that it would be a good idea to try to do so.

This short film forms part of the backstory of the Matrix universe. It shows a lot of violent imagery inspired by historical atrocities to show that humans were evil and shortsighted in their treatment of the robots. At times it went too far in this direction and the humans seemed unrealistically evil and made ridiculous decisions. A single robot kills its owner so the humans try to destroy every robot in existence, even though that is their entire labour force? Could they not have just done a product recall or software update? The story doesn't make a lot of sense but it was well made.

Brilliant visualisation. Love to see a full length version by the animators.

This is the second Animatrix short, and the first of them to be what one could call 'artistic'. It contains a lot of references, metaphors and symbols in the dense amount of material, especially with a running time of 9 minutes. I've heard some complaints that this is "anti-human", or tries to direct hate towards man, for their "sins against machine". I don't think that's true; it merely uses the robots to show us, that as humans, we aren't particularly accepting or open-minded towards anyone different from ourselves. I'd say it does a great job of that. The plot is good... it plays as a historical document, recounting what led to one of the main conflicts in the trilogy. Thus it holds clips from fictional news reports and the like. The voice acting is very good, if there is not a lot of it. The animation is nice, and the use of color, in spite of the usually realistic drawing style, makes it more open to do the smooth transitions and other surreal imagery. This has several bits of strong violence and disturbing visuals, as well as a little nudity. The disc holds a commentary, not in English but subtitled, and worth a listen/read. There is also a well-done and informative making of, based on both parts, so I would advise watching it after seeing the next one, as well. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys the Matrix universe, and/or science fiction in general. 8/10

along with it's partner, this is the greatest piece of animation ever created. the images and styles are amazing, and match perfectly with the story which is a brilliantly realistic reinterpretation of our own world, where is has been, and where it could go. quite affecting and sometimes painful to watch, it it a masterpiece of the visual art.