Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007) User Reviews

"Ex Machina" - Not the future of Anime', but still very entertaining

[dee.reid · 8/10 · 11 March 2008]

"Appleseed: Ex Machina" is not the future of Japanese Anime' (Japanese animation) but it's still a very entertaining animated feature done in the spirit of its predecessor "Appleseed" (2004), and other classic Anime' such as "Akira" (1988) and "Ghost in the Shell" (1995). It's also wise to not overlook the contributions of American sci-fi like "Blade Runner" (1982), "The Terminator" (1984) and "RoboCop" (1987), with a little helping of "The Matrix" (1999) for extra measure.

"Appleseed: Ex Machina" comes to us from Hong Kong action veteran John Woo and director Shinji Aramaki. It's a continuation of the Manga (Japanese comic book) by Shirow Masamune, who also wrote ye old "Ghost in the Shell." "Ex Machina" is a visually dazzling animated feature from Japan that's almost completely CGI with a little bit of hand-drawn animation and motion-capture work. The story is rich in thematic ideas and intelligence, namely Greek mythology and the unconditional love between humans and machines, but it could have used a little bit more polishing in the character department, allowing "Appleseed: Ex Machina" to rise above above-average storytelling. The characters also seem a little one-dimensional, too.

The film follows the adventures of a paramilitary task force called E.S.W.A.T. and its operations in 2199 Olympus, a futuristic utopia where humans, cyborgs, and bio-engineered human beings called "bioroids" are attempting to live in perfect harmony. However, a series of random terrorist attacks perpetrated by cyborgs and humans alike threaten to throw Olympus into total chaos. As it turns out, these humans and machines have come under the influence of an unknown electronic signal that hacks into their nervous systems and they then become the unwilling servants of a malevolent computerized entity.

Thrown into the action is the plucky female E.S.W.A.T. warrior Deunan Knute and her cyborg lover/partner Briareos as they investigate these bizarre occurrences with the other members of their unit. Things become complicated when a bioroid named Tereus, who resembles Briareous in his human form, joins their unit and threatens to come between their relationship. But these three must put aside their differences to face an even greater threat that promises world destruction in its wake.

From the opening moments of this stunning animated feature, I was pretty drawn in. I can tell that this was a very expensive piece of Anime' from Japan. John Woo's influence is everywhere in "Appleseed: Ex Machina," not limited to dual-wielding weapons and flocks of birds appearing before the action breaks out. Like I said earlier, problems arise with some fairly deficient characters, but with enough action and special effects splashed across the eyes of this viewer, it's only a minor complaint.

Japanese Anime' continues to be a rapidly evolving genre of film-making that shows no signs of going away any time soon. It is clear that more groundbreaking Anime' does need to come out if the genre plans to make a big splash in the West.

8/10

Great flick, but...

[NiteOwl94 · 8/10 · 8 March 2011]

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.

Enjoyed every minute of it

[mergatroid-1 · 8/10 · 22 August 2009]

I've seen all the Appleseed flicks and enjoyed all of them.

This is the next logical step in improving the computer animated versions one step further.

This is not "state of the art" as the final fantasy movies are. As someone mentioned the skin of the characters looks a little plastic, and they haven't gotten the movement quite right (but what computer animated film has?). Also, where in FF The Spirits Within you could see the animation quality and the effort to make things look more realistic, in this movie the animation is actually a little step back. The best example is the hair of the characters (also as previously mentioned by someone else). The only realistic hair you see in the film is on Bularios clone, where although his hair is tied at the back, you can see individual strands. Personally I can't wait to see a computer animated movie where they get the movement of the characters spot-on.

The plot of the movie is great, well done. The acting is good and the script is also good. I thought the lip syncing could have been done a little better, but it is done well enough that you don't notice unless you look for it.

Also, thank the powers that be that it is "almost totally devoid of the philosophical musings that make" many animes so utterly boring. I remember the first time I watched Ghost in the Shell. Half way through the movie the main character starts rambling on about "philosophical musings" that bored the hell out of me and the other people who were with me seeing this film. Personally that is not why I enjoy anime.

This movie is pretty much none stop action all the way through, as we would expect from John Woo. It's done very much in his style, which is good. The actual rendering of the characters has been changed a little, talking another small step back away from the big puppy eyed classic anime character look. However, they didn't go overboard, and it still has that look we all love so much. (read, the babes still look awesomely cute). They sort of rub your face in it a little as the main character Deunan Knute has a great tush that apparently is so strong that while the rest of her body is covered in body armor, her tush is not. Hey, I'm not complaining....it IS anime.

I have watched this movie four or five times, and it's every bit as good now as it was the first time I watched it.

Anyone who is an anime lover (there are more and more of us all the time) will love this movie to pieces. People who just enjoy animated movies will also enjoy this movie because it is not your classic anime, but a little bit of an evolution of that genre.

Just as good as the first

[nikkiten1979 · 6/10 · 4 November 2008]

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.

John Woo Needs To Be Stopped

[ebossert · 6/10 · 16 March 2008]

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.

Good by itself but not nearly as great as the 2004 Appleseed

[lucius_420 · 6/10 · 5 March 2008]

May contain possible spoilers!

Tt was decent. The previous installment of Appleseed from 2004 is way better, but this was pretty cool. Definitely better than Disney/pixar movies. Quick capsule review: the terrorist attacks continue to assault the city of Olympus and its up to Deunan and Briareos to save the day. Yippee ki yay. This doesn't seem to be directed or written as well as the others and the animation is a little different, but it is similarly based on the manga comic book by Shirow Masamune.

They mention the rebuilding of the bioroid lab, but that is delivered by a brief scene that never goes anywhere in that direction plot-wise. There is no mention of the reproductive organs they made happen in the last movie. They did show the holes in the pyramid where the giant walking platforms had climbed up in the last movie. There was the new character, the bioroid clone clone who you think is going to be a big problem when things go bad, but he just ends up being a big waste of plot space. The new enemy is really cool looking, but dies much faster than its goons. The ending was really bad. The 2004 movie was heart-wrenching at the end just like the 1988 movie because the climax had built up real good and got stuck in suspended animation at the last second, but this was just over and done with real quick.

When it was done I didn't have any questions of morality or images of mortality left in my head as I did with the previous two Appleseed movies. It was just over with nothing left. This movie definitely suffered from a bad screenplay. Someone was hoping for a quick dollar, but didn't make a big splash. It is truly a shame that this movie was made and didn't live up to the standards of film-making set by the other Appleseed movies.

It is worth a watch, sure, and was entertaining to some degree I admit, but I would rather re-watch the 2004 Appleseed than see this one again. That one had more action and way better music and the writing was excellent. I think the animation was actually much better also. 2004 Appleseed rocks my world. 2007 Appleseed is merely OK.

Fantastic Action & Romance Superbly Captured in Blu-ray

[scho2002 · 9/10 · 24 April 2008]

I saw this movie on Blu-ray, and it was fantastic!

On the surface, the Appleseed Ex Machina may appear to be a glitzy, shoot'em-up anime mecha action show. And on that, it is fabulously rendered. But there is more, much more in the offerings for those who are willing to appreciate them. For those with open mind and are willing to peer into the multi-thread story lines, they are in for visual delights that are woven with thought-provoking ideas about: the pursuit of utopia leading to dystopia, introspection and what makes us human and authentic, coping with the past and really facing yourself to find a path forward, the self-actuation process of a clone, and (corny as it may sound)­ unwavering love that transcends the human-machine line.

Call me trite simple but I LOVE it!

Those who are highly critical of this 3D anime movie might have missed great offerings from a fairly new medium. There is no need for such innate fears of CGI – it will never replace human actors (those that tried, for instance, the Final Fantasy: A Spirit Within, flopped utterly in such attempts), but it will expand the anime genre and broaden it with fantastic visual appeal.

Regarding the Blu-ray video quality, some "Blu-ray experts" did not think it was crisp enough for Blu-ray. Well, my take on it is that the softness is deliberate, in part to help focus the viewer's eyes on the important parts of a scene, and in part to heighten the human aspects of the story. It says this movie is not all about the CGI glitz but that it has gone beyond that so the viewer can enjoy the highly stylized actions and romantic moments.

The video bit rate is fairly good, generally range from high teens to around high 20s Mbps. It's not the best encoding, however, because you can see some color banding (when the color gradient is supposed to be smooth) and, occasionally, jagged line definitions. There are only a few compression artifacts that I could see. By the way, I thought the CGI rendering STYLE, was excellent – it sort of infuses the feel of cell animation into the smoothness of 3D CGI animation.

Regarding the audio quality, it is excellent in both spatial/channel separation and clarity. The dialogues are fairly easy to pick up. One nick-pick of mine is that I would have liked to hear the techno music pumped up higher during some of the kick-ass action scenes – you know, to let our neighbors know how much we are enjoying watching an incredibly tight futuristic-action flick. The English dubbing was quite good (good enough that it didn't detract from the feel of the movie).

The ending seems a bit hurried, and is far fetched (like so many anime movies). I would love it see the last parts filled-in and polished a bit more so that it's more poignant and warm at the same time.

It is a great 9-star to me. It's worth seeing just for the CGI effect. If you do see it, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Appleseed vs the Borg

[siderite · 7/10 · 8 August 2014]

Deunan and Briareos are police in the ESWAT team. Having saved the world in the previous installment, they have been awarded a life of danger and anguish. That's the new world for you. Anyway, somehow they get tangled with the villain in an improbable sequence of events, then he pretty much takes over the world, even if he was dead, only to be defeated in the end in a huge battle with a Borg cube. What is not to like about that?

Anyway, to me it seemed like the animation style didn't progress at all since the 2004 film, perhaps it even went to worse for some reason I can't just put my finger on. Also the story, as action packed as it was, seemed lazy. The typical Woo action scenes didn't impress either, as they go against any reasonable military training I can think of.

There were some interesting parts, though. The Briareos bioroid and the interactions between the characters were funny enough, the villain method of capturing the minds and hearts of consumers (now you know where the Apple in Appleseed comes from :) ) and some hidden gems like the quote "A human, a cyborg and a bioroid working together... Only in Olympus". It was nice to get a glimpse of the world outside Olympus, too.

Bottom line: they tried too hard. I also watched the English dub version, which may or may not have taken some soul out of the film. It was enjoyable to watch, but a simple story dragged on by useless action scenes (and by useless I mean not furthering the story) can only go so far.

A feast for the eye

[Silphermane · 10/10 · 16 September 2008]

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!

A huge improvement over the first "Appleseed"

[Rectangular_businessman · 7/10 · 8 May 2012]

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.

State of the art anime!!!

[contact_vad · 10/10 · 6 March 2008]

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!

a John Woo movie?? "spoilers"

[sigu828 · 5/10 · 10 March 2008]

I was surprised and glad to see John Woo joined this project. I was expecting a bigger and better Appleseed with a John woo twist, but I was disappointed.

pro: John woo's style dominates the whole movie. cool fighting sequence, double-team shooting back to back, bullet time. It's such a reminiscence of John's 80's HK movies. I highly recommend this title, if you like John Woo and has not seen "appleseed 1".

However, all the characters and CG are really really pretty, if you like the Japanese style, which I like better than Disney.

Con: John changed the whole Appleseed style, and he has lost his creativity. I'm sorry to say this, since I'm a huge John woo fan. I would rather see a new title or a completely different setting, than naming this a sequel to Appleseed. Remember what he did to "mission Impossible"? He did it again.

The twisted plot and subtleness of story-telling is all gone. The characters got insanely talkative and cliché. John woo focused on the main characters, but they are mundane and quite predictable. John woo has told the story 100 times in HK and similar plot has been in 1000 Hollywood movies.

After all, "appleseed 1" was a great Japanese anime following "ghost in a shell" heritage. "ex machina" is a just another pretty-looking Hollywood movie with John Woo, but not to the height of "face off" or even "broken arrow". If you want to see a great anime, go see "appleseed 1". If you just want John Woo, then "ex machina" is what you want.

I think John Woo has lost his edge since "face off". I hope he picks it up in the next big production "Red Cliff" (chi bi).

taste it u like..

[occyrus · 7/10 · 28 March 2008]

it's no doubt that Masamune Shirow is a master(even he's god for me) and "appleseed" and "G.I.S." of course are masterpieces too.in fact the movies ,especially "Exchina" r quite different tastes from the original story.the script is no good ,i think maybe the "appleseed" r not quite suitable for transfer to movies.but with Shinji Aramaki and "John Woo" ,i think it's the greatest "action sci-fi animation" movie so far ...u will see so much great works by the professional CG designers such as "real" scenes, wonderful characters, beautiful robots and weapons ,awesome fighting scenes .....i think it's an awesome animation movie but i needn't watch it another time when i cool down....... so taste it if u like..

Very entertaining

[yannick-semail · 9/10 · 2 March 2008]

I really appreciated this post modern SciFi saga. There are some scenes and themes that reminded me of Star Trek Borgs assimilation, The Matrix Sentinels attacks, Blade Runner city atmosphere and commercials, Star Wars space vehicles landings and political environment, Transformers battle of machines and not to forget the zombies from Resident Evil. The graphics are really stunning. The way the city landscape has been designed is phenomenal. The motion capture is seamless. The camera movement is very realistic. The love story in the movie was touching in the way it depicts how love is unconditional. The scene where Deunan is stumbling, and then you see that she took of her high heel shoes to feel comfortable is so hilarious, knowing what a tough cookie she is. What was missing in the story was to understanding better why and when Briareos became extensively replaced through cyborg equipment. I was lucky enough to see the English dubbed version.

Great sci-fi fantasy

[CuriosityKilledShawn · 8/10 · 8 August 2008]

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.

Excellent movie, beautiful script, excellent "camera work"

[Oto_Melara · 10/10 · 1 March 2008]

I just saw it now and I must say that I'm impressed. The graphics are so beautiful even for me...I really don't know what to say. The voice acting is top notch, especially that of Briareos (the fully android guy).Even the voice alone get's the drama in the blood in specific moments. The story also shows some scenes from the past, explaining the relation between android and girl. Also the story is clearly linked with the last Appleseed movie, the one from 2004 I think, showing the rebuilding of mega-rooftop of the city and the building where they create the bioroid. But, if you can, watch the movie with a big TV and some decent speakers(aka HomeCinema). This is the first anime I saw with this setup and suffice to say... this is the first comment I do on IMDb.

Others have said this....

[jeffpk · 5/10 · 9 April 2009]

I don't have much original to add. Its an okay action film, and it moves as an action film, but it is almost totally devoid of the philosophical musings that make good anime so interesting.

For all the bragging the principles do in the special features, the animation really isn't all that great. The characters have plasticy skin and look more like moving action figures then people. About the only hair motion we see is Duenan's and that move in large clumps.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was much more sophisticated in its animation and render technology back in 2001. IMDb wont let me post the URLs to the images to compare, but a quick google will show you exactly what I mean.

A second chance for a first impression

[tangent-cc · 8/10 · 8 February 2009]

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.

Really visionary

[oovag · 9/10 · 6 May 2019]

This movie is amazingly good for a manga adaptation. Like good science fiction, it treats current problems. Except that the problems treated here were in 2007 not as current as they are today. Whatsapp did not exist yet. Mark Zuckerberg was not yet the most dangerous terrorist on this planet.

Derivative Borg/Zombie rehash in a cartoon style

[bob_bear · 4/10 · 24 March 2013]

A film that looks like a video game. The quality of the animation varies from the superb to naive. Visually it's unbalanced but largely engaging.

The storyline could have been written on the back of a postage stamp -- which is just as well as that way it doesn't interfere with the action sequences which seem to be the film makers primary interest.

The idea of an artificial intelligence taking over and assimilating humanity has been done before and better by Star Trek's Borg and appears to have been borrowed wholesale here. Personal "devices" cause the general population to morph into homicidal Zombies who stagger down the street like rejects from Michael Jackson's Thriller video. Yet, despite discovering this, our heroes don't even try to eradicate this "fashion accessory". Well, there wouldn't be a film if they did.

I can understand the film's appeal to a narrow band of the population -- mainly young men, I'd imagine -- but don't believe the raves or the 7.1 rating. It's nothing special.

Disappointed - Didn't really "feel" like Appleseed I

[tina-175 · 3/10 · 2 May 2008]

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.

Very poor, no advance

[late-6 · 5/10 · 4 March 2008]

If you are watching Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina for the first time - this is top notch at all. The world is shiny, beautiful, scary. But comparing it with Appleseed (2004) this is nothing new. Poor script, same cool (but same) graphic quality. For me personally the major disappointment is the music (OST). The previous (2004) was moving by the marvelous techno rhythms by Oakenfold and Boom Boom Sattellites. This is action! This time, action B-class, SF movie and... script is getting stuck in some places and very boring clear complicated j-acid and electro OST is doing nothing for help. Finally, if you haven't seen prequel - you will not understand the movie. Well, just enjoy the pretty picture. If you have watched it - you will find nothing new.

Rated Two out of five John Woo doves

[Darkside-Reviewer · 5/10 · 15 July 2020]

Appleseed was always one of my favourite Manga series growing up along with the Appleseed (1988) Anime movie which is still one of my all time favourite Anime movies to this day.

Appleseed Ex Machina was certainly a step in the right direction for the Appleseed series focusing more on the strong bond and partner relationship between Deunan and Briareos which is explored more in this movie than in the (2004) Appleseed movie or in the prequel movie Appleseed Alpha (2014). One of the more interesting parts of the story is the inclusion of a Bioroid copy of Briareos who looks like Briareos before he became a Cyborg this leads to Deunans character having mixed feelings about the two of them. This movie does give us a better idea of what Briareos character was like before he became a Cyborg.

The main storyline is just a rip off of every hive mind science fiction storyline ever written where a villain takes control of satellites to send out a signal around the world that turns people and machines into part of the hivemind collective. Think Star Trek The Next Generations Borg mixed with anime style mech suits and you get the idea.

The action scenes are pretty decent especially in the last twenty minutes of the movie but when there's no action on screen the movie just drags the storyline just isn't interesting enough to keep your interest sure there are some interesting scenes between Deunan and Briareos but those scenes are few and far between.

The animation style used hasn't aged well at all the animation looks more like graphics from a JRPG game than it does a serious CG movie the animation could of been so much better. The CG Resident Evil Degeneration movie was released just six months after this movie which to this day still looks amazing twelve years later.

This movie was actually produced by John Woo, Yess! that John Woo the same guy who made Mission Impossible 2 and Face Off had a hand in making this movie and My God! does it show within the first minute of the movie there are Doves on screen and then just ten minutes later there are more doves flying past then just when you think the movie is done being "John Woo" the storyline actually involves robotic doves. When I sat down to watch this anime movie I didn't think I'd be uttering the words "Please no more Doves".

I don't recommend watching this movie if your a fan of the original Appleseed Manga series or the 1988 original Appleseed movie because you will be disappointed with this movie but if your just looking for a quick hour and a half time waster that's somewhat entertaining then it's worth at least one viewing.

Meh...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 17 July 2023]

I am familiar with the "Appleseed" Anime from 1988, as I watched on VHS back in the day. It wasn't something that overly won me over, and thus I haven't kept up to pace with all the releases that the franchise has to it. However, I had the opportunity to sit down and watch the 2007 "Appurushido: Ekusu Makina" (aka "Appleseed: Ex Machina") here in 2023, and opted to do so.

Writers Shirow Masamune, Kiyoto Takeuchi and Todd Weinger put together a fair enough script and storyline. However, I have to admit that while I watched all 105 minutes of it, I wasn't really impressed or overly entertained. Sure, it was watchable, but that was also all there was to it for me.

The version I watched was an English dubbed version, luckily a good English dub. However, I have to say that I prefer to watch movies in their original language, and never been much of a fan of dubbed versions. Dubbing just takes away from the overall enjoyment of the movie for me.

The art style in "Appurushido: Ekusu Makina" was a bit strange. It was CGI animation with a tint of Anime to it, without being too much. It was interesting, and it looked good. And the animation was pretty good as well. And that definitely helped to make it all the more watchable.

After having watched "Appurushido: Ekusu Makina", I am still not considering myself a fan of the "Appleseed" franchise.

My rating of director Shinji Aramaki's 2007 animated movie "Appurushido: Ekusu Makina" lands on a five out of ten stars.