Assault Girls (2009)

Wow! Such a good movie.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

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

Four hardcore gamers are forced to cast aside their differences and work together in order to defeat a giant sand worm monster in a computer simulated virtual reality world. Sounds like a really cool and fun premise, right? Well, it just ain't. Writer/director Mamoru Oshii gets the picture off to a cracking start with the gnarly CGI monsters, striking shots of a bleak desolate landscape, and rip-roaring action scenes. However, the movie runs out of gas early on and becomes bogged down in an increasingly tedious and tiresome brooding existential moodiness that strives for profoundness only to wind up coming across as extremely boring, irritating, and pretentious instead. The meandering and repetitious narrative goes around in circles just like the thinly drawn characters trudging through this ordeal. While Oshii does deliver several stunning visuals (one girl gamer sprouts wings and takes flight in a particularly breathtaking image), the annoying bickering between these unlikable individuals with one-note personalities, the draggy pacing, a frustratingly lame'n'abrupt ending, and the general mind-numbing ennui make this film a serious chore to endure. Worst of all, the fact that everything is simulated negates any genuine tension or urgency because one never gets the impression that anything substantial is at stake at any given time in the story. The basic point seems to be that combat in between fighting is dull. Pity the movie itself proves to be pretty blah and dreary as well.

This is a bad movie. Honestly this movie is a big waste of time and not in a good way. Its slow, its boring and its pointless.The starting 8minutes is someone Japanese guy narrating, in English, some pseudo psychology about humanity and war and how people escape into the virtual world for their excitement and of course killing. The guy drones on with only still images on screen.Then the movie starts and this is where I give the movie major points, the CG is very very well done. amongst the best I have seen thus far in regards to flow, texture etc. (otherwise I would've given this movie a 1).The Characters...lets just say there is no character development. You only see the characters (avatars) as they are in the virtual world. One of the characters, Lucifer (crow girl) seems to be there only to fill up space. No idea why she seemingly dances (badly) for no reason. Hard to believe that she is actually an Oscar nominated actress.The plot is they are going to kill some giant worms for points. Thats it. Like I said some of the shots are very well done, CG and live landscape shots. But pointless and slow, a lot of just walking around. I mean at least half the movie is walking around aimlessly with landscape shots and shots of a snail.For those of you old enough to remember video games (before CG really took off circa early-mid 90s) where the cut scenes were real actors (wing commander, privateer etc), this movie is like that.Waste of time. watch it for the CG and some nice landscape shots but have your remote handy to fast forward the movie.

I've read a lot of reviews about how bad this movie was, so I decided to give it a watch to see if I feel the same. (I discovered the movie by watching the video for the closing song) After watching it I feel like I got a different take then most people. I guess being use to watching a lot of Asian cinema and playing mmorpg games gives me a different perspective then those that expect this to follow the standard movie formula.First off if your interests are watching a movie about girls with guns kicking butt, then you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a traditional story line, then again you will be disappointed. If you are looking for fast paced action, yet again you will be disappointed. Going into this is less like going into a movie and more like watching a mmorpg play out. The long walks...the strategy...the stats discussions, I've done them before. All mmorpg.And for the characters, as far as a movie goes they appear very shallow, however from a mmorpg perspective each one plays into one specific aspect that gamers carry: admiration, enjoyment, escape, and determination.To go into more detail by explaining the snail scene as well as give evidence to back up, read below: (and this is where *MAJOR SPOILERS* come in. Skip this if you haven't seen the movie.) Colonel is the symbol of admiration; the type of gamer that says, "Oh wow, look at those graphics". In the snail scene she places the snail on the status and just sits there and watches it move then leaves it. Also in other scenes she is shown walking around looking to the sky or the ground as if she is viewing her surroundings.Next Lucifer is the symbol of enjoyment. She plays for fun. Hence why at the snail she took off her hat and played a game similar to peek-a-boo. Outside of that scene she is always dancing and goofing off (one scene she is told to stop dancing during battle). Also the way she is introduced is through what I would assume to be a unnatural entrance: crashing from the sky.Then Jager is the symbol of escape, aka the role-player. He picks the snail ups and eats it. To him the game is a 2nd life. He is also the only character seen eating and sleeping. Also his camp mode is very different then the other camp mode. Towards the end Gray says that it is "not the time to play the role of the adventurer" to him. (At the end he mentions he is changing his character type to PVP - yet another type of gamer) Finally Gray symbolized determination, the character that plans their growth to level up fastest and become the strongest,hence the crushing of the snail shell. She is the only one (apart from a comment from Colonel about hitting xp ceiling) that talks about or is talked to about her level and stats. Also when she walks around she is always looking through a scouter as if she is looking for something to kill.*END SPOILERS* If you want to watch this movie, know what you are getting into first. This is less of a movie and more of a game. To the average viewer I recommend skipping it. But if you love mmorpgs then this might be a good movie to try.Again all others stay away or you will discover boredom quickly.

I can't say for sure that I understood what's this movie about, but I think I kinda got it. So there are above mentioned characters in some VR world, they are playing some futuristic MMORPG, and they kinda need to work together to complete a difficult quest (which is killing some sort of dragon). Two girls are obviously pro gamers, one is total nutcase but still has gosu skills. They contact one guy for help, even though he is total noob, because he has like some advanced tier weapon. Snail is a NPC and has nothing to do with the story but still director wastes on him about ten minutes out of 70 (which is full running time of this film).This movie could be interesting to MMO game addicts, which I am not ... I was lured into it with it's catchy title. I kinda got what I expected, three sexy heroines, armed with heavy artillery and in futuristic combat suites. Their hair is waving throughout the movie carried by a chilly breeze in the desert like looking scenery. There is some music in background. Some long shots aiming at girl's faces, searching for emotions I guess. A bit of a special effects and also a little action ... when I think of it as a whole, there is little of everything. I wish that director had made up his mind and put more either of these elements ! Looking forward for Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" to fix this next year !