Blame!

Blame! throws us into an unknown far-future post-apocalyptic setting that's unlike most post-apocalyptic settings we're used to. Natural formations like land, sea, sky, plants, and rocks are completely non-existent and what we are left with is a colossal, cavernous, metaled mess of a megastructure. Any adjective with the basic meaning of "large" that I could have chosen to describe this structure should be seen as an understatement since - according to the manga from which this film is based on - the megastructure itself, which initially started on Earth, now extends past the orbit of Jupiter.

The massive labyrinth interior of the megastructure is created and maintained by "Builders" (giant skeletal, mechanized creatures who slowly roam around)and to us humans, their design theory can probably be best summed up as ordered chaos gone amok. The viewer is overwhelmed with scene after scene of grand metal-type architecture. One can't wait to see what fresh, new, metallic gloomy backdrop is waiting around each and every corner. The animation used to depict this cold and miscalculated world is phenomenal. Based on this reason and the given "nature" of the setting, any viewer who is attracted to films because of their dark atmospheres should give this one a try.

Not to say the story is dull by any means. Plot elements include a tribe that's on the brink of destruction who question whether they are the only humans left, hyper robots with spider-like bodies and ultra-artificial human faces who eliminate humans upon detection, a wandering protagonist with a synthetic body and a super gun, a female engineer sidekick with Netsphere (cyberspace)insight and the ability to transfer her consciousness into reanimated forms, and that's just to name a few. This is a sci-fi nerd's wet dream.

Some might criticize the protagonist's quiet and shadowy attitude, but I suppose it fits since who knows how long he has been wandering around for. Maybe thousands of years? I found myself longing to know more about his own history, the sights he'd seen, and the experiences he'd had along the way.

My own point of criticism would be the children characters' "coming of age" story whose names, faces, and personalities seem to all run together. Their part in the film should probably be included, but maybe with a little less focus and their characters a little more distinguished.

One warning I give to the potential viewer is there are some sci-fi concepts in the film which are unexplained and rely wholly upon the audience's familiarity with sci-fi in general. Some examples of these concepts are transhumanism and theoretical replication technology.

Have fun watching Blame!. I thought it was a blast!

I suppose after the gigantic Netflix logo spins around on the screen, announcing yet another copycat production, the expectations drop considerably. Fortunately but it seems (I didn't bother to check) like Netflix just signed the cheque to purchase the title, I doubt they could have much to do with this movie. Firstly, it's anime made by the Japanese in Japanese language and everything about it is Japanese, it feels way more genuine than Appleseed. The story was excellent and the visuals were absolutely stunning, I think that's why I'm giving it 7 stars. Otherwise it wasn't a masterpiece but still very solid and enjoyable. The characters were a little bit flat, for example they don't seem to be bothered much when dozens of men and children get ripped to shreds or lose limbs, they all mostly stare at the camera with their fakely large eyes. But well, it's mostly an action anime, so there isn't much time to develop any depth. So yes, there is a lot of shooting, running, action but the balance is right - there is also a lot of suspense, story, sci-fi, dreamy cityscapes, exoskeletons, cyborgs, monsters and heroes. However, it's far away from the American superhero movies with happy ending, the overall mood is gloomy, post apocalyptic and the ending is more of a "walk into the mist" rather than "drive into the sunset" which I personally like.

An automated city continues to grow inexorably. A glitch has caused the pest control system to classify humans as vermin to be exterminated. The huge, lifeless city sprawls on for ever with only a few humans surviving a meagre exist.

I loved the premise of this film. The first half an hour is excellent and really immersed me into this juggernaut of a system that has gone runaway.

Then some new characters appear with some very special talents. These newcomers "break" a lot of the world's set up and make the main characters survival seem a bit trivial.

What really let this down for me was the pace. I am accustom to Eastern films having a more considered and careful approach and normally enjoy it. But here it feels like nothing happens for really long stretches at a time.

Then when the action does start, someone pushes a button that fixes the situation. I feel this time could have been spent on more action or better characterisation.

I enjoyed the bits I enjoyed very much, but feel it could have been condensed to a much, much shorter film.

This movie was much better than I expected.

As a fan of the Blame! manga, I think the film keeps the same pace and atmosphere as the original.

The movie has no deep development of characters or the universe, but it gave enough details without destroying the original pace of the narrative, what many screen adaptations are often do trying to explain everything in a limited time.

It's definitely worth watching.

POLYGON Studio continues to amazed us with its wonderful CGI pictures. the Director Hiroyuki Seshita did a good job, he moved the image well from the source. I think the story still have more beautiful things, but this doesn't prevent us from enjoying this good movies. Now i'am going to read the manga to discover the whole story. . So enjoy it