Final Flight of the Osiris

The Final Flight of the Osiris is referenced in "The Matrix: Reloaded" although only briefly. That makes it one of the two short movies in the Animatrix which are, the other being the incredible "Kid's Story" which actually gives that annoying sidekick from Reloaded an amazing new dimension that I had never expected.

Back to Osiris. The movie starts with some nice training fight sequence that seems to be the Wachowski's wet dream: Kung Fu + Anime + Eroticism. Seriously, I felt slightly disconcerted at enjoying the sexiness of it all. I suppose they wanted to make a point: Computer generated animation can be sexy. They made their point a little too well for my liking.

Anyway, after the strip-fight, the story begins, but to be honest, the fight took up so much of the time of this short that the rest seems oddly rushed through. Of all the shorts, this is the one that felt like it simply wasn't meant to be short, and had to be rushed too much for its own good. It's about sentinels, the discovery of the premise of Reloaded (Zion is threatened) and a desperate attempt to save the world, martyr-style.

Visually, it is stunning throughout. This left Final Fantasy (made by the same people) out in the cold, it looked so much better, especially the skins of the main protagonists. If being able to photorender people was sufficient to make a movie for humans, we'd be nearly there. Unfortunately, the animation of the mouths when talking is still not quite perfect, but everything else nearly is.

But it's all style and little substance. That's why this is definitely not my favourite short, although it is very interesting to watch.

7/10

Set just before the beginning of The Matrix Reloaded, the crew of the ship Osiris escape a flurry of Sentinels by escaping to the surface where they see the massive drillers begin their descent into Zion. The crew must warn the city before it's too late.

This could have been a spectacular short, but they just don't know what to do. A chunk of the running time is made up of a superfluous fight scene right at the start, and there really isn't much story. The visuals however are amazing (director Andrew R. Jones designed the SFX for Titanic and Superman Returns), even for 2003 standards the motion capture is very photo-realistic.

It's just a shame that it doesn't amount to much.

Unlike most the people who saw Dreamcatcher, I knew that this trailer was attached to the movie- though honestly- I went and saw 'The Core' and snuck in just to see this trailer. The people who did the fantastic CG work on 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' improved on their techniques and realism with their newest work that raises the bar on CG animation, which at many times becomes indistinquishable as CG and appears to be real actors! The sword fight scene was sensual, sexy and OMG the girl was super hot. Put me in the Matrix! The action and drama is suspensful as you realize the situation they have encountered. This short certainly helps to progress the story of the Matrix and certainly makes me more anxious in seeing the Matrix: Reloaded and its sequel Matrix: Revolutions.

While practising kung fu and flirting in the dojo training programme, the captain of the Osiris, Thadeus, is alerted to an attack by a group of sentinels. Fleeing into an uncharted tunnel system the craft reaches the surface of earth where they see an army of sentinels and a machine for burrowing. Realising that Zion is directly beneath that site the crew realise that the machines are preparing an attack on Zion. As the sentinels close in on the craft one of the crew enters the matrix to deliver the information to one of the drop off points and warn Zion – but is there enough time?

I was wanting to see this short so much that I almost went to see Dreamcatcher to get it! Happily it came onto TV a few days before the second Matrix film opened. The plot is quite simple and feeds into the sequels quite well. Being cynical you could say that this is yet another marketing tool for the Matrix and in a way it is. However I prefer to think that it performs a dual role as a trailer but also a short film in it's own right. Realistically – do you think the Matrix marketing machine NEEDS any help from this?

The film moves quickly and is quite dramatic despite the short running time. Conversely to the films the `real' world is actually more exciting than the brief entry into the matrix itself (although they do try to spice this up with fancy moves etc), the real drama is the frantic attempt by the Orsis to escape or at least deliver it's warning. It may be more style than real substance or back story but it works well for what it is.

The animation is very good. Looking at the characters faces reveal that it isn't quite as good as the real thing, but when it comes to machinery etc it does look very good indeed. I must admit to being a little sad and male by appreciating the striptease type sword fight – one example where animation can make things as good as real!! Maybe the animation is why the stuff in the matrix isn't as exciting – because we know `how they did that' – they drew it!

Overall I don't know if I'd pay to see this but it is worth a look as part of the Matrix films. It has pace and is exciting and, although the short itself has a simple plot it does fit in nicely to the wider world. Even if you view this as a cynical marketing ploy – it is still quite an entertaining marketing ploy.

Animatrix: The final flight of Osiris is a short, computer generated film which demonstrates the wonder-stuff that is the Wachowski brothers.

Osiris is a ship that like the Nebacaneza and crew of the Original Matrix feature film flies aimlessly around the matrix trying to avoid nasties and keeping its small crew alive.

The opening fight training scene is amazing to say the least. The use of this short animation film as a background filler to the release of The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions (coming out in 2003) is a clever idea that definitely gets the juices flowing and wanting more.

A tantalising teaser of what is to come and what we want to see.