Handlebars by Flobots

It's a lot easier to understand once you're able to tell the difference between the two main characters.  Just wanted to get that out there, because I at first thought that it was just about one guy.  The video starts with two guys riding bicycles down a hill.  They hug and go their separate ways -- one goes down a path with a dove on the sign and the other goes down a path with a stylized copyright symbol on the sign.  The dove-sign man goes down a sidewalk and watches people doing happy things, like dancing and jumping rope.  He picks up a fallen apple and puts it back in its container.  On the sidewalk is a chalk drawing of two people going down a hill on bicycles.  The other guy going down the copyright path is then shown receiving a call from the first guy.  He is surrounded by automobiles and advertisements for sex and clothes.  As a minor note, one of the things in the background is a raven or crow in the sky.  A skyscraper is being built in the distance.  He soon becomes head of a business and then a nation.  His friend from the beginning walks by and sees him on the television as a dove is attacked in the sky by a raven or crow.  People become less happy as security cameras start popping up.  The friend from the dove path gives a call to action against the changes.  The scenes get darker and darker and more security cameras appear (especially chilling is the one that targets on the friend from the dove path on the word "assassination").  Finally, the two former friends meet.  The one who took the copyright path has snipers and a riot squad with him, while the one from the dove path is simply leading a group of citizens with handmade bombs.  The friend who took the dove path is killed while the other friend wears a look of horror.  The two are then shown riding bikes once again down the hill.  Powerful stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLUX0y4EptA&ob=av2e

1 point if the music video in question has very good dancing or no dancing.
Here's the problem: when I made this criteria, I meant random dancing that the main characters do that really serves no purpose but to look cool.  There's dancing, but the few seconds of dancing are used to illustrate that the people on the dove side are happy.  I will give it both points and go by the spirit and not the letter of the system I created.
1 point if the music video has no dancing.
 Point.
1 point if the music video has something from the beginning come into play at the end.
The beginning and end are marked by the two friends riding bicycles down a hill in a carefree manner.
1 point if the music video has a series of related images, a theme, or a plotline.
Plotline here.  The length of the summary at the beginning of this post should have been the first clue.
1 point if the music video has a theme or a plotline.
Oddly enough, I at first thought it was a theme because I didn't distinguish between the two characters.  Make sure to remember: one has brown hair and the other has blond.
1 point if the music video has a plotline.
Goodness yes.
1 point if the music video is either depicts extreme coolness or extreme realism.
Here's where it fails.  The animation goes from horrible to square in the center of the uncanny valley.
1 point if the music video, if it has a plotline or theme, has no diversions from it.
None at all.
1 point if the music video does something that makes you think. 
Despite all of the underlying messages, it doesn't apply to this video in the sense I mean this point. 
1 point to spare in case I really like it.
I love this music video.  It's full of things that make you say "oh" the second time you watch it.  The story will give you those chills you get when you see a movie or read a book with a good, dramatic ending.


This video gets an 8/10. 
I am HIGHLY up for suggestions for music videos to review.