That was an excellent one.

Powerful

Good movie but grossly overrated

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

In this Animatrix short, the debut of Takeshi Koike (who went on to direct popular anime Redline), Dan, an athlete threatens to break through the digital rain and wake up in the real world. He runs so fast, attempting to break his 9.8 second 100-metre dash, his muscles burst but he keeps going, desperate agents watching every step.Dan does manage to wake up in his gel-pod, but is quickly put to sleep again (I guess the machines force-fed him the blue pill). Back in the Matrix he's crippled and the agents are satisfied. But he breaks the rules of being a cripple and manages to stand. It seems Dan is unknowingly realizing that there is no spoon.A good short, if a little to sparsely drawn.

Oh my, it's another one of those Animatrix shorts. And it's yet another disappointing one.Dan breaks the world record 100 meters but is accused of taking drugs to enhance his performance. One day he decides to fight back and go for it again. While his muscles snap and his bones break (well, something to that extend anyway), his willpower keeps him going on. Which, obviously, in a 'real world' could not happen.Looking at it like this, it sounds like a great story, but I was left disappointed. The animation is not my taste (to say the least) and the story somehow isn't told very well. Very confusing. Not to the point. Could have been better all around.5/10.

This is the eighth part of 'The Animatrix', a collection of animated short movies that tell us a little more about the world of 'The Matrix'. Again with a new style in animation. We see how an athlete frees himself from the matrix during a 100m. run. Although the premise is very good the short itself was a little disappointing. Still entertaining though.

Honestly, this short isn't given nearly enough credit for what it deserves. You take an obvious idea from The Matrix like this one (which was: "What happens if someone pushes themself so far, they free their mind by themself?") and made a story that wasn't at all as obvious or contrived as you expect.SPOILERS. DOOMED IS YOUR MIND, IF YOU EYES VENTURE THIS FAR.The story starts out at the day a big race for a pro athlete ready to set a world record, and basically just builds up to the instant he passes the finish line. You can see how psyched Dan has gotten and how hell-bent he is to earn this record for himself, between fatherly advice his dad gives him on the phone and Dan's ADD-stricken hip hop buddy. Being pushed this far, his muscles are at threat of positively exploding, but what does that matter in The Matrix?Agents (who've taken on the director's completely original design) can't hope to catch up, when the call is given to keep him from waking up. He does, though, and at this moment for Dan, it is like waking from a dream you didn't want to wake up from, or having a nightmare instead, all together. The machines make short work of him, electro-shocking his brain and rendering him a lifeless vegetable, before sending him back into The Matrix. Just after his return, he sets a new record and his hospitalized.Towards the end, Dan gets up from his wheelchair before a nurse, out of metal braces and restraints, muttering "Free." leaving the viewer to decide whether he'd just been robbed of his humanity, or he'd finally freed himself.THOSE WITH HEART PROBLEMS CAN START READING AGAIN.Not the best short (that's a toss-up between A Kid's Story and Beyond) but overall worth watching, if just for the stylish animation. Actually, all of them are worth watching for the animation, but this one's particular throbbing muscles in slow motion in its fluid movement is an orgiastic feast for the eyes. They should do an Animatrix 2.9/10