Mars Express

Its a cyberpunk noir about a detective hired to track down a missing student from a prestigious tech university. Set in a future where humans have spread across the solar system, some people are a cyborg or synthetic or just augmented and computers are fleshy biocreatures with a single eye. Robots, synthetic humans, holograms and AI are just part of daily life. People can even upload and backup their personalities into robots when they die, sort of like digital immortality.

In this futuristic cyberpunk thriller with parts of detective noir, the rich have settled on the neighboring planet.

If youre familiar with Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell, theres not much here that will surprise you. The scifi concepts feel a bit dated like the T-1000, but the animation looks great, the action is fun and the plot is decent though nothing groundbreaking, love the aesthetics/world building.

Should have been a miniseries!

For many sci-fi animated movies, audience captivation is driven purely by world building. Neon scenes and expansive horizons are often used to draw attention from a weak story. Not so in this beautifully animated sci-fi detective drama. The story finds the perfect balance between much loved detective clichés and unexpected turns in a story line, that has no need for smoothing by over hyped futurism. Despite this, the imaginative graphics cleanly place the viewer into the future, pushing us just far enough into the 'what could be' to retain a believability that compliments the story. This should be on your list of sci-fi movies to see before you die.

Extremely derivative work but in a good way. It reminded me of The Matrix, Terminator, I, Robot, Fifth Element, Blade Runner, Scavengers Reign, Minority Report, Chinatown, Ghost in the Shell and other cyberpunk animes. And these are just a few I didn't even write down.

But the fact that it is derivative it doesn't matter that much. It's just a very interesting and kinetic animation about robots and robot A. I., all part of a big conspiracy conducted by a cool duo formed of a woman and her partner, Carlos, a human in the body of a robot. I can say I was just absorbed by the story and animation. It's not something new but it's just something I enjoy.

I wasn't prepared for the level of attention to detail and plot in this adult animated thriller sci-fi. The Three Laws of Robotics, which are included in Asimov's Robots novel series, were even used by the writers to explain the behaviour and interactions of the robots with humans.

There is a lot to enjoy about this movie even though it may not be a genre-bending one. Let's start with the exquisite animation style, which is incredibly colourful, flowing, and detailed throughout. I thought Carlos was one of the best-written and most well-designed characters. A lot of attention has gone into creating the futuristic environment, down to the smallest elements, which provide realism to the film.

However, everything happens very quickly, and several significant personalities or events are merely skimmed over. 'Mars Express' needed a bit more screen time to better develop these elements, but official sellection of the Cannes Film Festival usually doesn't like overlong animations, and this was one of those films in 2023!

Overall, it was a great animated feature to enjoy!

The world building really elevated this movie. It felt like there was a tv season's worth of material compressed into a 1.5 hour movie, but it worked, and it worked wonderfully. The world world was well thought-out, everything fit together well.

It's about a private investigator and her robot partner investigating the disappearance of a college student. As we learn more about the case, we also learn about the world this story is set in. This movie is like a perfect showcase for "show, don't tell". There's very little exposition, if any.

It's one of the best sci-fi movies I've watched recently, animated or otherwise. Highly recommended.