Appleseed Alpha

Another solid entry in the Appleseed series. Action packed with a solid story line. It is beautifully rendered and if you have the option to see on blu-ray, choose that one. The character designs are excellent (well for the main character especially). The storyline would have greatly benefited from a multi episode arc instead of being crunched down to 90 minutes, but it delivers in the end, and lets you look forward to the next in the sequence without beating you over the head with the half-assed open ending. There were so many plot points that could have been expanded into their own episodes, I would have much enjoyed further detail on the relationship with Two-Horns and Olympus, and even the backstory of the villains themselves. Solid voice acting and direction deliver the goods and the action is solid and engaging.

I remember little from the Appleseed anime that I saw when I was younger so this is basically me commenting on this movie as standalone. The Third World War came and went, leaving the entire planet in chaos. The story follows two former soldiers that are now working as mercenaries for a thug. They meet a mysterious girl and her cyborg protector and decide to help them out in their mission against some psychopathic bad guys.

The end of the world theme, the political or social commentary usual in Masamune Shirow's work, they are all downplayed, almost not existent. Instead the entire flow of the movie is centered around fighting. The animation is decent, considering it is 3D CGI in its entirety, but when you think about it, they worked with about 10 body models. All the henchmen look alike, for example. They did a good job, but I think the physics looked off for most of the time: nothing gets destroyed unless it explodes, the cars are moving in weird ways and the hand to hand combat is clumsy.

Bottom line: as vaguely as I remember the 1984 Appleseed anime, I remember seeing it. This one will probably be forgotten by the time I save this review. Not bad, but not terribly good either. Animation was decent, but not great, the story simple and the characters formulaic and hard to empathize with. I think the fact that the character I connected most with was the thug, rather than the various heroes and villains, says it all. And I am still waiting for 3D animation to make me feel like a good anime does.

To be perfectly honest what this movie misses most is a game controller. The movie consists of good action scenes great boss battles and over the top weapons and abilities. Why then do I have to sit still and watch instead of actually engaging in the battles?

The plot of this movie is nothing to write home about. You have seen it in one form or another a million times before, often better executed. Would've done nicely for a game though.

The artwork however: sublime. I really doubted in the beginning of the movie whether it was animation or live action (other scenes are less convincing but still). The ruins of New York look like a delight to wander around in and to just explore.

I can honestly say I watched this movie for the art, not the story.

Lovely bosom

Gorgeous animations

Empty visuals

The camera makes sure that we don't mistake Deunan Knute for a boy for in the opening scene it focuses on her bosom. It is hard to miss anyway as it is packed in a skintight white top that sticks out from her otherwise green combat armor. Guys need something to look at, I guess. The camera will come back to her discerning features at times so we can check if she hasn't been turned in a man somewhere along the line. Just so you know.

Her exposed bosom and belly made me think of this book I once read that reported that most soldiers died from harm to their head and belly, both parts of her body that are not protected in her ridiculous outfit.

That is really odd as Deunan is a mercenary eking out a living in the ruined city of New York, in a world not quite our own as it is devastated by a world war and has cyborgs and other artificial beings as inhabitants. One of those is her cyborg buddy with the fancy name of Briareos. Jack could have been enough because he acts like a human being in every respect. My guess is that it is probably because it is cool.

The whole movie is a puzzle for it serves up all the staple manga ingredients: the little girl with the strange powers, the brooding hero, the loyal servant, the deadly girl and so on and so on.

Deunan herself mostly functions as eye candy, for next to some scenes in which she actually fights, most of the time cyborg buddy, or some other guy, has to rescue her. And she is there so she can show her female side by occasionally breaking down in tears so her cyborg buddy can comfort her as the real man, eh robot, he is.

The script is at times downright baffling. Why does this two horns guy try to kill Deunan and her cyborg? Because someone else tries to kill him because he wouldn't want to give them up or kill them.

It is a movie for people who so dearly love manga that they will swallow any rubbish as long as there is a pretty girl in it and perhaps for those who want to see the latest state of animations that hasn't a big budget like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. The big question is why you would want to make an animated movie that aims to look real? You could have used actors instead and they would have had much more soul than these animated graphics..

The movie is nice to watch but otherwise an empty shell.

I've been a big fan of Appleseed ever since I first bought the original VHS back when I was 17. The franchise saw reprints of the Manga come and go until the reboot and the 2007 sequel, both of which I also really enjoyed. This particular movie, despite being from the same creative team, is sadly not in continuity with the others and is a "soft retelling" of how Deunan Knute and her rabbit- eared cyborg boyfriend Briareos fought their way through a post-WIII America before arriving in Olympus City.

It is by no means bad, but still a bit of a disappointment. I will chalk this up to the fact that Sony have gotten their dirty hands on the franchise since they have a long history of mis-managing pre- existing properties. This instalment honestly feels and looks more like one of the disposable CGI Resident Evil movies than Appleseed. There is a decent atmosphere in the empty cities and quiet, lifeless deserts but it doesn't have the gloss and tech that I am used to from this series. The tech on display here is old and war-scarred, adding a riff of grubbiness to it that I'm not used to. Plus, there's very little to identify with, Deunan seems to be the only pure human with no bio- mech augmentations. I know it's a clichéd criticism to make of such movies, but it did honestly make me feel like I was watching a video game cut-scene. A bit more of the human element would have balanced things out and eliminating that truly, truly, utterly awful soundtrack would have pushed my final score a little higher. The soundtrack was honestly so awful I was disappointed that there was no Japanese track on the Blu-ray. I would have happily read subtitles if it meant the removal of all those terrible hip-hop sounding songs.

I don't know what Sony were thinking. I liked the Japanese textures of Appleseed, and their attempts to Westernize it just don't sit well with me as a fan. It's worth watching but definitely the least appealing in the entire series so far.