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
