Appleseed: Ex Machina

I've never been a huge fan of John Woo. I think Hard Boiled (1992) is one of the greatest action films ever made, and I liked The Killer (1989), A Better Tomorrow (1986), and Bullet In the Head (1990), but we need to be honest with ourselves and recognize that this guy sold his soul to Hollywood in the mid-1990s and hasn't made a great film since 1992.

He has, however, completely destroyed a sequel to one of the best American movies of recent memory (Mission Impossible) by over-Hollywoodizing a uniquely non-Hollywood film made by Hollywood. That's quite an ironic feat that he should be particularly ashamed of. Now we have Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007) to add to the list of Woo-ish debacles over the past 16 years.

This sequel to the exceptional anime drops the ball in a number of respects, yet still proves to be a marginally entertaining movie. The most obvious fault is that numerous events are near copies of science fiction movies from the West, thus making this endeavor much too conventional for a Japanese anime. In addition, the storyline wasn't as well-conceived as the original. Luckily, this movie has just enough positives to earn a watch. The protagonists are very likable characters, the plot is engaging, and the visuals are very good. The action scenes don't reach the levels of exoticism or quality of the original, but they are still moderately entertaining. In the end this is a very flawed picture that will only satisfy anime action junkies that can look around some mediocre elements. I'd give it a 6/10 compared to an 8/10 for the original.

Now, there were some very specific Woo-ish aspects that really annoyed me. First and foremost are the doves. Yes, there are heaping amounts of flying doves in this Japanese anime film! Why the hell is John Woo so obsessed with doves? Yeah, they provide some ironic symbolism during action scenes, but using them to the degree that he does I have no doubts that he touches himself to pictures of doves when he's alone at night. And the fact that he uses these little birdies in almost every one of his movies proves to be almost as annoying as Rob Zombie's habitual use of white trash folk in his movies. Yes, it's that annoying.

But wait. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions regarding just how much influence Woo had in this watchable (yet severely disappointing) sequel. So I fired up the Special Features option on the DVD menu and watched the 16-minute "Making Of" featurette that focuses specifically on John Woo's influence as a producer. It provided some much needed information regarding just how far this has-been shell of a director has fallen. Let me run down some of the statements made by the Japanese director and producers of this film:

"This is the first time a big time Hollywood director has tried to tackle Japanese Anime."

So Woo isn't even recognized as a director of Chinese cinema anymore. How quaint. No one in this "Making Of" feature even mentioned his Chinese filmography.

"Japanese producers wanted to expand into the Western market and saw that working with John Woo would be a good match."

Nice. If your name is dropped by someone as the foremost expert in Hollywoodization, would you really take that as a compliment? Man, this guy has really hit rock bottom.

"John brought his years of experience in Hollywood to it."

Well, he certainly brought all of the negatives of Hollywood cinema to this production. That was obvious from watching the movie. How many times do you see a Japanese Anime film copy scenes from I Robot and The Matrix Revolutions? Yes, it's really, really pathetic.

The most enlightening statement was with regards to the preliminary Japanese storyboards.

"John took a look at it and came up with some really great notes."

What was particularly hilarious about this statement is that on-screen you see John Woo's head shaking in a disapproving, almost disgusted manner while watching the initial storyboards. It's almost like he's saying to himself, "This is way too Japanese for an American audience. We need more slow-mo shots and conventional elements to reach a wider audience and make more money." Nice job Johnny boy.

Director Shinji Aramaki apparently conceived Ex Machina to be nothing more than a tribute to Woo's work. He says:

"We devised the Cathedral scene before John showed up to pay homage to his work."

It's really too bad that Aramaki was so accommodating to implementing all of Woo's ideas into the film. It effectively crippled a movie that should have been as good as the original.

I hate to say it, but John Woo is a no-talent has-been who has only harmed the international film industry since making Hard Boiled in 1992. I have no problems with him making tripe in America. Heck, that's what American cinema is for. But don't you DARE to take your new-found money-grubbing mediocrity to Japanese anime.

Someone needs to stop this guy before he attempts to wreck another Asian movie.

On its own singular merit, ExMachina should get a solid 10, however, its target audience has lots of exposure to anime and cgi films. When held up to movies like Akira, The Incredibles and others, ExMachina excels exceptionally at action scenes and choreography, but lacks the grandiose semi-philosophical structure from Akira, and the emotional realistic impact from The Incredibles. Its not wrong to expect such qualities to be standard in a production that clearly had a lot of care and thought devoted to it. ExMachina hardly suffers from this too much, and is actually quite an impressive action movie that delivers some exceedingly thrilling scenes that aren't easily forgotten. The characters are fun, interesting and memorable and are quite unique which is one of Appleseed's biggest strengths. (even the manga)

ExMachina is produced and influenced by John Woo, but stop praising him so much for this! He didn't write or direct ExMachina, stop giving him undue credit. SERIOUSLY. Its NOT a "John Woo" film. Furthermore, ignore the pretentious slobbering half informed fanboys who blindly review ExMachina with less than half of their facts correct... they irritate me beyond belief.

Finally, Appleseed ExMachina is a top quality sci-fi adventure that can be judged independent of its impressive use of CGI. It will 'wow' you. Absolutely recommended.

From the first minute on the movie was playing, I was in love! Appleseed Ex Machina, is brilliant! The first installment, when I discovered it a little over a year ago, was good; an exiting journey in cool environments and with a captivating story. Ex Machina, takes that to the next level.

The action scenes are better, the motion capture is grander and the camera movements even sweeter. The whole movie long your in that world. Feeling all the emotions displayed by the beautiful, yet still traditional anime-style looking characters. The storyline is beautifully symbolic and the characters a dream to come true! Their cool, strong and yet so human.

I wish more 3d movies like these where made, with so much tender, love and care for the materia that is sometimes so underestimated by the grand audience. I take my hat of for the amazing team that has been working on Ex Machina - it's incredible from beginning to start and I can't wait to watch it again!

While Appleseed from 2004 had a fantastic story, Ex Machina has the best graphics that I've ever seen since FF VII:Advent Children. If you are a fan of Ghost in the shell & Matrix this is for you "a must see anime" The connections between the first part and the second aren't many, so if you haven't watched the first part, there is nothing that you won't understand in this anime. Unlike some other anime with complexed plot and long boring scenes with never ending conversations, this is anime with great story (although as I said from the first part is better) and you won't wanna miss a second. The action scenes where cyborgs with big machine guns fight combined with awesome music will blow you away. Another good thing is that they aren't so much nasty bloody scenes like in the first part so this anime can only be watched by the younger audience. 10 out of 10 no doubt about it!

I'm not a huge fan of anime or 3D animation, but i am a fan of great animated movies that have substance, a story-line that holds from the beginning to the end, thorough and not rushed out character development, great scenery and camera shots that make sense for the moment.

There are many things i liked about this movie, and a some i didn't like.

Some might say that the animation in this movie was flawless. I say it was not and it has nothing to do with opinion. It has something to do with fact and what is capable to be done. I believe that the animation could have been much, much better. The still objects such as the city, buildings, and vehicles were definitely excellent, but the people didn't stand, move, or talk realistically enough and nowadays it is possible to come VERY close to that - but it seems like they ran through that and didn't put enough effort into it. I'll just assume they had a time limit and that was the least of their worries - a lesser worry than the story-line should be.

So I assume than the story line and character development would be the main focus here, since little was done to better or outdo the first Appleseed movie. I have to say it was in a way equal to the first. A few things i liked the most about this one was the interaction between the character or Deunan and Tereus. The chemistry was well illustrated, and I wish the envelop was pushed a little further and there was some type of physical contact, kissing or something, anything more than just a hug. This way to explore love in a different between a human and a biologically engineered human being that is the copy of someone that you still love.

The cinematographic was entertaining, but the music wasn't that great. I can't stand the upbeat electronic music and wish it had been replaced by something more suitable like some different electronic music that made sense for the movie and the action scenes. A few times i felt trapped in a rave club or some rave party, which i enjoyed when i was in high school, but never enjoyed in a good Sci-Fi movie. I would have stuck with organic or industrial sounds for effects.

Overall this movie isn't better or worse than the first. It's very entertaining and i greatly enjoyed it.