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The Final
Flight of the Osiris
Reviving
an old cinema tradition, Warner Brothers is including a cartoon
with their feature release of Dreamcatcher. But Bugs
Bunny it ain't.
Instead,
they're giving you The Final Flight of the Osiris,
a computer-animated short set in the world of The Matrix,
because evidently Warner has concerns that some of you aren't
yet in a rabid frenzy in anticipation of The Matrix Reloaded.
The short serves as a prelude to the May release, in ways
that haven't yet become clear.
In the
span of a tense six minutes or so, the Wachowski Brothers
provide all the elements that made the first film so cool,
without Keanu. (Or even a computer-generated version of him,
for fear the CG might look more real.)
No need
for introductions, then, as after a brief glimpse of The Matrix
itself, we plunge right into a virtual dojo. An African man
and an Asian woman face off with swords, with the catch that
they're both blindfolded.
It turns
out to be a sort of a strip duel. With each pass of the blade,
a piece of their oh so constrictive clothing falls to the
digital floor. It's a sweaty minute of Matrix foreplay.
Soon
enough, the rest of the elements fall into place, and the
protagonists are brought back into the harsh reality that
is life outside of Zion and The Matrix itself. From the title,
you can guess that a dark foreboding hovers over the whole
thing.
So you
know that these characters cannot destroy the machine, but
they can add depth to an already well-realized world. And
computer animation also allows for stunt work beyond what
the live-action films can do. Why? Because there's no shift
from actor to CG figure - it's seamless all the way through.
Director
Andy Jones takes full advantage of that, too, with a tremendous
sequence of the heroine reaching the ground from atop a skyscraper.
You know it's all computers, but it's easy to get swept up
in the action. (Wait a minute - isn't there an irony to this
film using computers? Perhaps the world has already
been pulled over our eyes.)
Thankfully
for every actor but Reeves, the figures aren't quite photorealistic,
but they're getting closer. In a couple of shots, if you squint
you could mistake the captain for a real man. Not surprising,
really, as Jones worked on Final Fantasy, ground-breaking
for its time in every way but story.
The
Final Flight of the Osiris is one of nine short films
making up what the Wachowskis call The
Animatrix, and right now, the only one to be released
theatrically. Only four of the nine will be written by the
brothers guiding the whole series, but all will appear on
the web, with a DVD release slated for June.
Okay,
fans, start that frenzied foaming.
Pre-order The Animatrix at Amazon (we'd be fools if we
didn't offer...)
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