The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance Part II

I love history in all its forms, even made up movie history. And this movie was one hell of a history lesson. It displayed suffering like I've never seen before. It gave more meaning to the other movies. And it also made think. Is the human rebellion against the machine slavery just? (Don't want to express further thoughts about that in this comment because it would spoil the movie). And the animations were fantastic. In short: one hell of a movie.

Who is the lesser of two evils?

I think the hook in this film was how the machines located their city, 01, in an area of great turmoil: The Middle East.

When the peaceful robots offer recognition, the world reacted negatively. When the world fell, 01 tortured the world that abused and refused them.

Is it really justice for the machines to enslave humanity? Is it really the best interest for the world to destroy itself to destroy its enemy through private agendas and contractors, likewise, is it really the best interest for the enemy to the world through terrorism and fear that the world will continue to use them for what they can only provide?

The terror does not come from 01 or the world, it comes from people with personal interest, great influence, and strong ideology.

Like all good films, they are the red pill stories. This is one of them.

Wake up, it's not a dream! IT IS REAL! An inevitable end...WAKE UP! Delay the apocalypse by taking action and responsibility for ones own mistakes.

This is the third part of 'The Animatrix', a collection of animated short movies that tell us a little more about the world of 'The Matrix'. It is part 2 of 'The Second Renaissance' and this part tells us how men tried to wipe out the machines but were wiped out themselves. We see how the machines use the energy from the human bodies in their own benefit. We see what was told in 'The Matrix'. Again a little history from the world of 'The Matrix'.

With the robot city isolated and it's ambassadors ejected from the United Nations, a trade war begins to protect the human economy from superior products. When the trade war escalates into war the machines begin a seemingly unstoppable march across the globe. With solutions running out man darkens the sky to try and shut out the machine's main energy source, but the machines keep coming and the war for earth reaches it's horrifying conclusion.

The second part of the history of the Matrix leaves aside the civil unrest and political build up and launches straight into the war for earth. Where part 1 used fictional news footage to good effect, here the main use is cameras belonging to the human soldiers. The violence, terror and speed of the war is well brought out and I found myself unable to look away as it was really gripping. Some of it is very gory but the overall impression is that man was overcome by sheer weight of numbers.

As a sister to the films this works very well. You don't need to have seen this short to understand the film but it enriches your experience. Unlike some of the other shorts that you do need to see to understand the films (or bits of them anyway). The animation is very frantic and very slick and the thing is pure style with the strong substance.

Overall it is easy to dismiss this but it does have enough style of it's own to justify it's existence as a short in it's own right. It suggests that (unlike many blockbusters) this trilogy (for all it's flaws) was established in a world that was planned rather than one which was expanded when the box office suggested that it would be a good idea to try to do so.

Of the Animatrix shorts, this is the third, and, obviously, of The Second Renaissance, it is the second part. After the first one(which perhaps had more to say, but that is debatable) told us the events leading up to the war, this shows just that: The stand-off between the two forces. We already know the final result, so this is not about the destination, but the journey. The depiction is very dark, bleak and apocalyptic, and it achieves what was obviously one of the things they went for: It is not a pleasant sight. The irony is bitter and arguably cruel. The story-telling is similar. The animation is nice, with a well-integrated mix of 2D and 3D. Very effective direction and choice of color schemes. This has nudity or what comes very close to it, and definitely violent and disturbing images, and is not for the faint of heart. This is controversial, just as the one before it. On the DVD, there is a making of that goes over both, and is very informative and well-done, and a commentary track, not in English but with subtitles, and it is definitely worth taking in. I recommend this to any fan of the Matrix franchise, Part I of these(watching it is a must for the experience of this one) and/or science fiction in general. 8/10