A Detective Story (2003)

I love film noir. The aesthetic, the mystery, the cynicism; it all really appeals to me. In this Animatrix short Ash, a private detective is hired to find Trinity. All other PIs have failed to locate her, either winding up dead or crazy. But Ash perseveres and meets with Trinity on a lonely train, where the Agents are waiting to apprehend them.Although featuring modern technology the rest of the animation design is of 1940s vintage. This is my absolute favorite look for movies. I wish my whole life was a film noir. If I could go into the Matrix I'd ask the Agents to make that wish come true. One of the better Animatrix shorts and a great short in its own right.

This short looks gorgeous, but doesn't necessarily add anything either to the Matrix storyline or the overall Animatrix short's exploration of the world. It makes sense that the Agents would hire private investigators to track down the hacker avatars of the main characters, but nothing really useful is made out of this story. Instead, the animation itself is really just an homage to the film noir stylings that are homaged in the main movies, especially the first Matrix. It's pretty, there's no denying that--but a lot more could have been made of it.--PolarisDiB

Film noir meets anime... brilliant! This was one of the highlights of the surprisingly creative Animatrix shorts. This was one of my favorites if not my favorite (I also loved World Record). This is basically a reference to those classic film noir detective stories and movies of the 40s, except it's animated and involves the Matrix. But by being animated, it is able to take the extreme camera angles, the detective life style, the shadows, and everything film noir to an entirely new level. The Femme Fatale? Trinity. The detective in this story seems to be living in the 40s in his mind but stuck in a modern world, and everything becomes too much for him when his case suddenly involves science fiction and agents when a mysterious woman in black walks into his office...My grade: 9/10

The detective story is not typical for the Matrix Universe. It is a film-noir-esque private eye story, with a strong narrator and a very rich feel. Rich, in terms of its visual appeal. The snowing scenes, the grainyiness, it all stuns the eye.But what about the story? It is interesting, even if it feels a little out of place. The agents hire a privat detective to track down Trinity. He finds out that they tried the approach before, but with hazardous consequences for the hired detectives. Still, he tries to locate her and eventually succeeds, through Alice in Wonderland references and hackers and chat rooms. Then things begin to get interesting...All in all, this is a perfectly satisfying short animated movie.8/10