Sick Product of a Sick System

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The first must-see film of the year.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Inside a fight training program outside of the matrix, two warriors continue their games. When one reveals that he has struck a deal with the agents to return the matrix, he offers his female partner to come with him. When she refuses he has no choice but to begin a fight that only one of them will survive.Part of the series of animations making up the Matrix companion piece `The Animatrix', I saw this as a stand alone piece recently at a festival of shorts and animations. The film gripped me immediately with it's visuals - very stylish, very manga in it's style. The plot was slick as well as being involving - the two protanginists talk until the point where it is obvious that there is only one way to resolve it. It is very enjoyable right until the epilogue that occurs outside of the training programme - that is poor and takes away from the short.The film may have more in the way of style than substance but it does well enough to support the visuals with a basic premise that is interesting. It is flawed of course, but I have found that many of those who criticise the shorts that make up the Animatrix have not seen a great deal of short films or animations. With only a few minutes to do it's job, this short does well despite a rather bad conclusion that just spoilt it a bit for me.

This is a very good effort, one of the most enjoyable shorts that make up the Animatrix.The story begins with a fight, indeed the entire story is a fight, between a girl and her friend or mentor, within a training programme, or perhaps it is a recreation programme, who knows? Either way, her opponent begins to display a more sinister side: He feels just like Cypher in the original Matrix, and asks her to join him in an effort to be reinserted, or die...The animation is great, the story is thrilling and overall this is definitely a good short movie, fitting in very well in the Matrix-universe8/10

**Warning! Slight Spoilers Ahead!**The visuals in "The Program" were excellent, as superb as any I have seen in my limited anime exposure. The color contrast stood out, as it underlined the murky battle of good and evil. Also exceptional was the visual scope of the short. Numerous shots, such as the early one that tracked the fiery arrows, spanned great distances. My personal favorite was the dolly back across the tiled roof, revealing both the protagonist and the antagonist.The story, as in most shorts, was simple enough. But it was solid, nicely complementing one story arc from "The Matrix." Even without the twist at the end, the tale of love and betrayal, told through battle, worked quite well. The twist worked, and I was very pleased with the fitting final act by the heroine.Bottom Line: Excluding the computer-generated "Osiris", "The Program" was my favorite anime short on the "Animatrix" DVD. 9 of 10.

A story set in the Matrix world, it shows a soldier of Zion in a samurai training program (like the construct where Morpheus and Neo have a kungfu duel.) She has to choose between her loyalty to her comrades and the cause, and love for her boyfriend who wants to return to the Matrix... The backgrounds and the Japanese temples are very beautifully portrayed and the fight sequences are excellent. The overall look is like any anime action movie.