Appleseed: Ex Machina (2008)

Thanks for the memories!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

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 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.

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.