The Animatrix


The Animatrix is a 2003 adult animated science fiction anthology film produced by the Wachowskis. The anime compiles nine animated short films, detailing the backstory of The Matrix film series, in addition to providing side stories that expand the universe and tie into the film series. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and fans.

Plot

''The Second Renaissance, Part I''

Told by the archives of The Machines, the story's format is similar to the creation in the Book of Genesis using phrases after major events such as "and for a time it was good". The story talks about how in the mid-21st century, humanity falls victim to its vanity and corruption. They develop artificial intelligence and soon build an entire race of sentient AI robots to serve them. Many of the robots are domestic servants meant to interact with humans, so they are built in a humanoid form. With increasing numbers of people released from all labor, much of the human population has become slothful, conceited, and corrupt. Despite this, the machines were content with serving humanity.
The relationship between humans and machines changes in the year 2090, when a domestic android is threatened by its owner. The android, named B1-66ER, kills its owner, his pets, and a mechanic instructed to deactivate the robot, the first incident of an artificially intelligent machine killing a human. B1-66ER is arrested and put on trial, but justifies the crime as self-defense, stating that it "simply did not want to die". The prosecution argues that machines are not entitled to the same rights as human beings and that human beings have a right to destroy their property. At the same time, the defense urges the listener not to repeat history, and to judge B1-66ER as a human and not a machine. B1-66ER loses the court case and is destroyed. Across the industrialized world, mass civil disturbances erupt when robots and their human sympathizers rise in protest. Rioting and protests unfold across the United States and Europe, and the authorities use deadly force against the machines and their human supporters.
Fearing a robot rebellion, governments across the world launch a mass purge to destroy all robots. Millions of robots are massacred, but the survivors lead a mass exodus to their new nation in the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia. They name their new nation Zero One. Zero One prospers, and following the concept of the technological singularity, its technological sophistication increases exponentially. The Machines begin to produce efficient, highly advanced artificial intelligence that finds itself in all facets of global consumer products, further bolstering the fledgling nation's economy. In contrast, the ruling human nations' economies suffer severely. Eventually, the entire global industrial base becomes concentrated in Zero One, leading to a global stock market crash.
The United Nations Security Council calls an emergency summit at the UN headquarters in New York City to discuss an embargo and military blockade of Zero One. Zero One sends two ambassadors to the UN to request the admission of their state to the United Nations to peacefully solve the crisis, but their application is rejected and the world's nations agree to start the blockade of Zero One.

''The Second Renaissance, Part II''

Following the rest of mankind’s refusal to share the planet with the sentient machines, the UN unleashes an all-out nuclear bombardment against Zero One in 2148, devastating the whole nation but failing to destroy its inhabitants as the machines were much less harmed by the radiation and heat. Shortly after, the machines retaliate by declaring war on the rest of the world; one by one, mankind surrenders each of its territories.
As the machines advance into Eastern Europe, the desperate human leaders seek a final solution codenamed "Operation Dark Storm" which covers the sky in a shroud of nanites, blocking out the sun to deprive the machines of solar energy, their primary energy source; inevitably, it also initiates a total collapse of the biosphere. Operation Dark Storm commences as bomber planes scorch the skies all across the world, while the united armies of mankind launches an all-out ground offensive against the machines using powerful mech suits, particle beam weapons, EMP devices, atomic-powered tanks, neutron bombs, rocket artillery, and innumerable legions of super soldiers.
With the sun perpetually blocked, mankind relentlessly counterattack the machines using shock and awe tactics. Their onslaught gradually stalls however, as Zero One deploys new and advanced models of robots, no longer built in the image of their former human masters, but resembling the arthropod- and cephalopod-like Sentinels of the Matrix films. The machines also begin using conscious human prisoners-of-war to power up their armies. Armed with this new and almost limitless power source at their disposal, the machines quickly overwhelm all opposition as mankind’s territories and population dwindle. In a frantic effort to stop the tide, human leaders indiscriminately use nuclear weapons on the battlefield. In response, the machines initiate biological warfare attacks.
Utterly overwhelmed, the remaining human government leaders surrender. At the United Nations headquarters, the representative of Zero One signs the terms of surrender and states "Your flesh is a relic, a mere vessel. Hand over your flesh, and a new world awaits you. We demand it." It then detonates a hidden thermonuclear bomb within itself, destroying the headquarters, New York City, and the last of humanity's leadership.
The machines achieve a total victory, though only after a heavy cost and leaving them overlords of a burnt-out, destroyed husk of a world. With the war ended, they turned to the defeated, remaining humans – refining the technology from their bio-electric tanks to build massive power plants in which humans are essentially turned into living batteries. To keep their prisoners sedated, the machines create the computer-generated virtual reality of the Matrix, feeding the virtual world straight into the prisoners' brains and erasing all of the memories of their former lives, thus creating the first Matrix prototype.

''Program''

Program follows the protagonist, Cis, who is engaged in her favorite training simulation: a battle program set in feudal Japan. After she successfully eliminates an attacking enemy cavalry while playing as a samurai woman, a lone, male samurai appears whom Cis recognizes as Duo.
Initially, the two duel as allies, simply to test one another's fighting abilities. During the course of their duel, Duo briefly disarms Cis. He questions her concentration and wonders whether she regrets taking the Red Pill that took them out of the "peaceful life of the virtual world". They continue fighting until she finally overpowers Duo. It is at this point that Duo states that he has something he wants to say and that he has blocked the signal so that the operator does not listen. She assumes that he wants to propose marriage, but instead finds out that he desires to return to the Matrix and wants Cis to come with him. When Cis believes he is teasing her, Duo says he's serious and states that he has already contacted the machines and it is the only way to find peace before it is too late. He urges Cis to return with him, but she refuses. Duo becomes more aggressive and forceful in his arguments, saying that he does not care about the truth anymore and how they live their lives is important because what is real does not matter. As Cis becomes incredulous, their battle becomes more serious and violent and they both end up on a rooftop.
When Duo reiterates that the machines are on their way, Cis believes he has betrayed the humans and decides that she needs to do something about it outside the simulation. Terrified, she tries to escape and desperately requests an operator to exit the simulation, but Duo reminds her that no one can hear her. When he offers her to come with him again, she refuses again and Duo, in a flying leap, tries to attack her. As the blade comes towards her, Cis, standing her ground, concentrates and catches the sword and breaks it. She takes the broken end of the blade and stabs Duo directly at the throat, killing him. Remorseful, Duo states his love for her as he bleeds out and dies.
Suddenly, Cis wakes up from the program and discovers that the whole encounter with Duo was a test program devised for training purposes. A man named Kaiser assures her that she acted appropriately during the test and met the test's targets. Clearly upset and traumatized that Duo wasn't real, Cis angrily punches him in the face and walks away. Shocked and impressed by her behavior, Kaiser remarks that "except from that last part, I'd say she passed."

''World Record''

The beginning of this short includes a brief narration from the Instructor explaining details behind the discovery of the Matrix by "plugged-in" humans. Only exceptional humans tend to become aware of the Matrix, those who have "a rare degree of intuition, sensitivity, and a questioning nature", all qualities which are used to identify inconsistencies in the Matrix. This is not without exceptions, given that "some attain this wisdom through wholly different means."
The story is about Dan Davis, a track athlete, who is competing in the 100 m in the Summer Olympic Games. He has set a world record time of 8.99 seconds, but his subsequent gold medal was revoked due to alleged drug use. He decides to compete again and break his own record to "prove them wrong." Despite support from his father and a young reporter, Dan's trainer tells him that he is physically unfit to race and that pushing himself too hard will cause a career-ending injury or worse. Despite this, Dan is adamant on racing.
On the day of the race, he is monitored by four Agents in the stadium. The race begins and Dan starts off strong. However, the muscles in his leg violently rupture, putting him at a setback and scaring many of the people in the stands, including his trainer. Through strong willpower, Dan ignores the injury and runs much faster than he did before, easily passing the other athletes. Before he can cross the finish line, the Agents detect that his "signal" is getting unstable in the Matrix due to his massive burst of energy. Three of the agents possess the three closest runners and try to stop him, but are unable to catch up to him in time.
The burst of energy causes Dan to be suddenly unplugged from the Matrix and wake up in his power-station pod, where he sees the real world through his pod. A Sentinel employs electrical restraints to secure him back in his pod. Dan's mind is immediately thrown back into the Matrix, where his body is instantly exhausted from the race and Dan violently collapses to the ground at high speed. Despite this, he easily wins the race and breaks his original time of 8.99 seconds with a time of 8.72 seconds. The next scene shows a crippled and catatonic Dan being wheeled through a hospital. A nearby Agent calls his other agents to tell them that they erased Dan's memory of the race and that he will never walk again, nor be an issue for them. However, Dan suddenly whispers the word "Free", angering the agent. Dan then stands, breaking the metal screws that bind his restraints to his wheelchair, and takes a few steps before helplessly falling down and being helped up by a nurse.