Rubicon “Rubicon City”

2003-rubicon-rubicon-city“Rubicon” was the final of the seven tracks Rubicon had funded from their debut album. That’s pretty extreme, and by this final video it feels like they’re not even making much of an effort.

For a start, the band aren’t even in the video. It’s animated, done in that rough style that involves lots of repetition and little action.

The animated Rubicon are playing a gig on top of a tall building, when along comes a woman looking like Trinity from The Matrix – a film that was already five years old and becoming a bit of an overused trope. The Matrix drama continues with Rubicon city suddenly getting the shimmering green outlines of the Matrix, then all the concertgoers turn into Agent Smiths.

The drama progresses from Smiths to trolls to cyborgs, and then in a twist worthy of M Night Shyamalan, it turns out it was all a dream – or rather, a computer simulation called Rubicon City Training Program. With the program ended, Rubicon go back to, er, the rooftop concert simulation where the fake crowd wildly cheer their heroes.

The animation feels rushed and the video doesn’t have any original ideas behind it. For a song that’s a stonking rock number introducing the band (it’s the album’s opening track), the video’s simple animation struggles to capture the band’s spirit.

Best bit: the giant’s loin cloth.

Director: Ian Moore
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… lazy bogan afternoon.