The Final Flight of the Osiris - IGN (original) (raw)

We serve up the juicy details on the first chapter from the Animatrix.

Two sequels --in the same year no less-- to one of the most beloved action movies in recent times apparently just isn't enough. With the Animatrix, Larry and Andy Wachowski, the creative forces behind the burgeoning Matrix empire, are giving their legions of fans plenty of extra content they know we need. A series of nine animated short subjects intended to flesh out the universe of characters and stories first introduced to us in The Matrix, the Animatrix will fill the months leading up to and between the release of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. At least four of the shorts will be released online, with all of them eventually making onto the Animatrix DVD this summer. The first short film, The Final Flight of the Osiris was unveiled at the joint Warner Brothers/Infogrames press event recently and left all in attendance in awe and thirsty for the next film.

The subject was directed by Andy Jones with Square hopping on board to lend some of their experience and expertise with high resolution computer generated animation. Final Flight is set in the time immediately following the events of The Matrix and in nine minutes follows the final adventures of the crew of the hover ship Osiris. But as a defacto Matrix 1.5, Final Flight begins in the familiar confines of a martial arts training program where we find Thaddeus --captain of the Osiris-- and Jue --his first mate-- engaged in an exhilarating round of blindfolded sword training. The room is a brilliant white with minimal decorations. But the sharp eyed Matrix fan will recognize the pattern of writing on one of the tapestries hanging from one of the sidewalls as characters used in the Matrix code itself. It turns out that this is merely foreplay for Thaddeus and Jue as the two display considerable expertise at stripping one another of all clothing with delicate sword slashes. The characters look even better than what we saw in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within right down to their freckles and pores. In fact, late in the strip fencing sequence, Jue loses her outfit to reveal what has to be the roundest, most lifelike CG ass ever presented to the masses escaping the elasticity of an oh-so-tiny red thong. The influence of Sir Mix-a-Lot is far reaching indeed.

This arousing interlude is disrupted by an alarm and we're brought to the bridge of the Osiris where the rest of the multicultural crew is in a state of alert. Thaddeus and Jue join them there where they discover thousands of mutli-legged sentinels are directly above the ship, near the surface. Plus a separate, smaller squad of Sentinels is racing towards them. The captain gives the order to move out and we're taken on a wild chase through the tunnels of earth's core, careening and swooping with Osiris all the way. Eventually the ship makes it to the surface, where the crew is shocked at the same time by the utter destruction of what used to be a major metropolis --they don't get to the surface often-- and the sight of thousands of sentinels buzzing about. From a wide angle we see just how many sentinels we're talking about because they appear to be the size of insects. Although we never see it directly, the Osiris' monitors display a giant drill like structure moving into place surrounded by sentinels. Thaddeus realizes that the machines are attempting to drill a hole straight into Zion, the last human city, so they can wipe out humanity once and for all.

Just as the decision is made to attempt an emergency broadcast to send somebody into the Matrix to warn Zion, the sentinels begin attacking the Osiris. The sheer volume of sentinels is awesome. They're all individually animated and swarming in patterns that make the whole attacking force look like one giant wave or stream of solid matter. That is, attempting to warn Zion by sending somebody into the Matrix with a message for the threatened city. The action that follows is riveting. Jue is sent into the Matrix to make a "drop," which we later discover is a package dropped into a mailbox within the Matrix that can somehow be retrieved in the real world. The sentinels chase the Osiris throughout the ruins of the city at breakneck speed. The crew mans several machine gun turrets that fire conventional bullets to ward off the hordes of sentinels who nonetheless begin to attach themselves to the ship. Switching back and forth between the sentinel/Osiris battle and Jue's race through the Matrix to reach the mailbox, the tension mounts. The desperation is clear as the pilot of the Osiris begins smashing the ship into buildings in attempts to sheer the sentinels off the ship's hull.

If you didn't want it to be spoiled for you then you wouldn't be reading this, but we can tell you that the ending is obvious but still very satisfying. Just as Jue reaches the mailbox, an old lady is in the way but immediately apologizes and steps aside as our heroine gets there. The two exchange pleasantries before the old lady tells Jue "she'll be lucky if the package gets there at all." As the camera closes in on the old lady's face, you're convinced that she's going to turn out to be an agent, but the transformation never comes and Jue drops the package in the box and leaves. Back in the real world the Osiris is now completely overrun by sentinels and we see Thaddeus engaging them one on one with an energy weapon. They've already killed several of the crew members that were manning turrets, burning them with lasers and gutting them with their tentacles. It's gruesome but not gory. The scene cuts back to a bloody Thaddeus when all of a sudden there's a blinding flash and explosion. A cut back to the Matrix and we see Jue, who had begun dialing her cell phone to get back to the real world, has fallen dead. A short pause to let us digest what has just happened --her body died in the real world along with everybody else on the Osiris-- and the credits roll.

The formula for the Matrix, great action used for great storytelling, is still effective and Final Flight of the Osiris is the perfect vehicle to whet eveybody's appetite for the next film. Final Flight will begin playing before Dreamcatcher when that film is released on March 21. We have a short clip of Final Flight available in the media section.

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