Final Flight of the Osiris

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.

Presents a new wave in the marketing of trilogies. In 2004, "The Year of the Matrix", the filmmakers have promised us not only parts 2 and 3 but nine parallel mini-features - some of which are downloadable from the web. This, longer, mini-feature has a mini Matrix story using the high-tech animation (fully life-like characters) that we saw in Final Fantasy. The two leads manage to exude sexiness in an initial sword-play fight scene, the main objective of which seems to be to remove / slice off the opponent's clothing. the second scene involves a battle with seekers.

This short was visually stunning and full of action. It created a different world within the mind's of matrix fans. It made me care about other characters outside of the one's featured in the movie. Jue made me wish Lucy Liu had been cast in an upcoming sequel.

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.

It was interesting that it was short and animated at the same time. The Matrix is a series of movies with a very interesting subject and I love it. I already knew about this subject, but I had never watched this animation. It was good. In this episode, the fight scenes were very good.