Appleseed: Ex Machina

dope

Appleseed: Ex Machina_360P

it's a good one impressive and interesting

I enjoyed the 80's version of Appleseed when I was a teenager and when I learned of the 2004 reboot I immediately went out and got myself a copy of the DVD. It was pretty damn good and figured that it was a one-off. But now we have this sequel which proves that there is actually loads of potential and imagination in the Appleseed universe and certainly enough to warrant further sequels. Denaun Knute and her mostly robotic, rabbit-eared boyfriend Briareos are still working for ESWAT in the Utopian future city of Olympus when a new personal device, a sort cross between a cell phone and a holographic visor, goes haywire and turns the population into a bunch of techno-zombies. Briareos suffers seizures of his own too and a duplicate of his old human form has been recruited to work with them and save the city from this mysterious evil. Yes, it's nonsense. But entertaining nonsense and a weird cross between Robocop, Star Trek: First Contact and The Matrix]. But the animation is gorgeous and the story and action absurd enough to keep your attention. Come on, John Woo, give us another 'un.

it's no doubt that Masamune Shirow is a master(even he's god for me) and "appleseed" and "G.I.S." of course are masterpieces too.in fact the movies ,especially "Exchina" r quite different tastes from the original story.the script is no good ,i think maybe the "appleseed" r not quite suitable for transfer to movies.but with Shinji Aramaki and "John Woo" ,i think it's the greatest "action sci-fi animation" movie so far ...u will see so much great works by the professional CG designers such as "real" scenes, wonderful characters, beautiful robots and weapons ,awesome fighting scenes .....i think it's an awesome animation movie but i needn't watch it another time when i cool down....... so taste it if u like..

It's rare in the movie industry for someone to get a second chance to correct a huge mistake. Director Shinji Aramaki and writer Masamune Shirow get the chance (courtesy of legendary director/producer John Woo) to correct their mistakes. Both corroborated on "Appleseed" but the much-hyped film suffered from ordinary animation and a rather pedestrian plot line. There was also an inordinate amount of blood and the character of Hitomi came across as goofy and far too light. This time around, Aramaki and Shirow have crafted a much better plot and have amped up the animation through CG. Though not as good as the CG/animation mix in "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence," it's better than the original. The only problem is that CG still looks too smooth, as if the skin is made of porcelain, limiting the full range of emotions. The story, of course, centers around the elite police unit known as ES.W.A.T. and their efforts to combat terrorism in Olympus, one of the cities that popped up after a worldwide non-nuclear war wiped out half of humanity. The new cities, of which Olympus is the most advanced, are controlled by bioroids, who are genetically bred without the negative human emotions that generally cause most wars. As you can imagine, if people are trying to wipe out the World Trade Organization, they're naturally going to hate Olympus. Two of the most experienced ES.W.A.T. members are Deunan Knute and her lover/partner Briareos, though "lover" is a stretch since he's more and more a cyborg with each hospital stay. Deunan is much more spry in this version, demonstrating some nifty acrobatics that you know John Woo had a hand in recommending. The leaders of Olympus want to convince the world to unite all of their communications satellites in a bid to get the edge on terrorists. Ironically, this conference takes place during a mysterious terrorist attack that sends Olympus' human and cyborg population into a rage against the police. The story interweaves a personal storyline as Briareos' latest injury forces the department to send Deunan a new partner. Because of the bioroid technology that uses the best DNA available, Deunan's partner is Tereus, a replica of Briareos before he became a cyborg. This causes natural angst, especially when it seems that the mysterious force turning people against the government might be affecting ES.W.A.T.'s cyborgs. Though we see plenty of shots of Deunan and Briareos in action, we get to see the rest of the ES.W.A.T. and the Olympus police in action, especially in the last third of the movie when all hell breaks loose in the city, thanks to the very system of uniting the satellites that was supposed to stop terrorism and bring peace. Some of the scenes are quite jarring, but without the blood. The action scenes move smoothly and the shooting of the guns and explosions are much better than one might expect from CG. The characters are fleshed out better, especially Deunan's and Briareos' turbulent love affair (of which we get to see some background finally). Hitomi's character doesn't get enough time on screen, but when she is seen, she is more mature than the gibbering, drunken idiot of the first film. The costumes are spectacular and Woo brought in actual costume designers for many of the styles. The DVD is slim on features, but does have commentary from Woo, Aramaki and Shirow, as well as a "making of" featurette on the CG technology. It does offer several languages, as well as subtitles. Ai Kobayashi repeats her role as the voice of Deunan, but Koichi Yamadera (Togusa in the "Ghost in the Shell" movies and TV series) takes over Briareos. Yuji Kishi (Yamadera's co-star in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex") is excellent as Tereus, though he needed more screen time. Overall, this film is light years better than the original. Shirow and Aramaki make the most of their second chance and so should you.

I just saw it now and I must say that I'm impressed. The graphics are so beautiful even for me...I really don't know what to say. The voice acting is top notch, especially that of Briareos (the fully android guy).Even the voice alone get's the drama in the blood in specific moments. The story also shows some scenes from the past, explaining the relation between android and girl. Also the story is clearly linked with the last Appleseed movie, the one from 2004 I think, showing the rebuilding of mega-rooftop of the city and the building where they create the bioroid. But, if you can, watch the movie with a big TV and some decent speakers(aka HomeCinema). This is the first anime I saw with this setup and suffice to say... this is the first comment I do on IMDb.

Even when the first "Appleseed" had an interesting style of animation (Which combined the anime aesthetics with CGI) I found the plot of that movie to be shallow, boring and way too cheesy to keep my interest. Fortunately, this sequel corrects almost all the flaws from the original movie, being a highly entertaining experience from beginning to end, with likable characters (Which are much better portrayed than in the first movie) good action, better animation and a funny story. The overall result is much more satisfying and enjoyable, and even without having the same level of complexity and deepness than "Ghost in the Shell", this worked very well for me.

When I saw Appleseed 1 I was over the moon. I really enjoyed the subtle story, the plot that was so twisted, the hidden messages... everything. I loved it, because it had a twist, something elusive. The graphics were great and well made following the popular Anime style but fresher and sharper somehow. I couldn't wait to see Appleseed II... Unfortunately I was greatly disappointed but I "entered" warned as I had read some comments here about it. It felt like "just another Hollywood movie". First off, they had redesigned the characters to a Hollywood standard. All pretty and nice ... (I will however admit that Terreus was gorgeous lol). Deunan reminded me of Barbie in more than one instances! She had lost her "edge" and acted like a love sick fool that desperately needed protection. Nothing like her "I can do it on my own" self of Appleseed I. The fight scenes were nice but cliché. I recognized many scenes from previous Woo films. The plot was very swallow and predictable. The characters talked too much. There was no twist, no agony... some scenes and the reaction of the characters were actually silly. You had a hard time bonding with the characters ... they just seemed so... predictable. I can't think of another word. What's worse I saw the English language version and this made things worse. It really did feel like a silly Hollywood movie. And the title... The title had a meaning in Appleseed I but was totally irrelevant with Ex Machina, except to remind us this was a sequel. I was fully expecting to see a continuation of the first story... get some answers on things that were put into motion in the first movie. Instead I got a totally irrelevant story, with the characters changed, some beyond recognition. Briareos is so... gentle... so human... he wears cool clothes. Deunan is this fragile creature that every time Briareos gets hurt (and it happens a lot in this movie) she calls out to him like a love sick fool. I wasn't sure if I watching a sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet or an anime film. The whole thing was very "americanized" in so many levels... not Japanese at all. I give it a 3 for the graphics, the cool scenes and Terreus ;) I would have had a totally different opinion if Woo had made a totally different film and not call it "Appleseed II" because it does not feel like a real sequel at all.

I've seen all the Appleseed flicks and enjoyed all of them. This is the next logical step in improving the computer animated versions one step further. This is not "state of the art" as the final fantasy movies are. As someone mentioned the skin of the characters looks a little plastic, and they haven't gotten the movement quite right (but what computer animated film has?). Also, where in FF The Spirits Within you could see the animation quality and the effort to make things look more realistic, in this movie the animation is actually a little step back. The best example is the hair of the characters (also as previously mentioned by someone else). The only realistic hair you see in the film is on Bularios clone, where although his hair is tied at the back, you can see individual strands. Personally I can't wait to see a computer animated movie where they get the movement of the characters spot-on. The plot of the movie is great, well done. The acting is good and the script is also good. I thought the lip syncing could have been done a little better, but it is done well enough that you don't notice unless you look for it. Also, thank the powers that be that it is "almost totally devoid of the philosophical musings that make" many animes so utterly boring. I remember the first time I watched Ghost in the Shell. Half way through the movie the main character starts rambling on about "philosophical musings" that bored the hell out of me and the other people who were with me seeing this film. Personally that is not why I enjoy anime. This movie is pretty much none stop action all the way through, as we would expect from John Woo. It's done very much in his style, which is good. The actual rendering of the characters has been changed a little, talking another small step back away from the big puppy eyed classic anime character look. However, they didn't go overboard, and it still has that look we all love so much. (read, the babes still look awesomely cute). They sort of rub your face in it a little as the main character Deunan Knute has a great tush that apparently is so strong that while the rest of her body is covered in body armor, her tush is not. Hey, I'm not complaining....it IS anime. I have watched this movie four or five times, and it's every bit as good now as it was the first time I watched it. Anyone who is an anime lover (there are more and more of us all the time) will love this movie to pieces. People who just enjoy animated movies will also enjoy this movie because it is not your classic anime, but a little bit of an evolution of that genre.