World Famous Comics: Appleseed Ex Machina [Blu-ray]
Appleseed Ex Machina [Blu-ray]
Starring: Kara Greenberg Directed By: Shinji Aramaki Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: Blu-ray Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Release Date: March 11, 2008 Running Time: 104 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Product Description: The next installment in the Appleseed franchise Appleseed: Ex Machinaavailable on DVD! Produced by John Woo and Directed by Shinji Aramakiand featuring next generation CG technology Appleseed: Ex Machina isback bigger and badder!Based on the manga from reknown creator Shirow Masamune in this movieDeunan and Briareos are both partners and lovers. As members of ESWATthe elite forces serving Olympus they are deployed everywhere troublestrikes. The two fighters find their partnership tested in a new way bythe arrival of Tereus who uncannily resembles Briareos before thewartime injuries that led to his becoming a cyborg. At the same timeOlympus finds itself under a stealth attack . Cyborg terrorism deadlynanotech zealots and rioting citizens are just some of the threats thatDeunan must contend with as she fights to save Olympus.System Requirements:Running Time: 104 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085391200666 Manufacturer No: 120066
Amazon.com: Produced by John Woo and directed by Shinji Aramaki, Appleseed Ex Machina (2007) ranks as the most elaborate, stylish, and violent of the three adaptations of Masamune Shirow's manga. When it was released in 1988, the original Appleseed felt like a summary of anime's past, while Akira pointed the way to the future. The second Appleseed (2004), also directed by Aramaki, was an unimpressive motion-capture CG feature that borrowed elements from other sci-fi anime. In this latest incarnation, Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus of the E.S.W.A.T. team are charged with preserving the peace of the city-state of Olympus, a hi-tech paradise on a largely ruined Earth. Screenwriters Kiyoto Takeuchi and Todd W. Russell have given the story a contemporary twist, adding attacks by "cyborg terrorists" and an effort by the ruler of Olympus to control a world-wide satellite surveillance system. When cyborgs and human launch coordinated attacks on the government headquarters in Olympus, Deunan, Briareos, and Tereus swing into action against a mysterious enemy. The plot has little in common with the earlier films: the Appleseed technology that was at the core of the story isn't even mentioned. The look, tone, and characters in Ex Machina recall Shirow's Ghost in the Shell, rather than the original Appleseed. Not surprisingly, the elaborately choreographed fight scenes reflect Woo's signature style, with slo-mo martial-arts combat, close-ups of falling shells, dynamic camerawork, and all-out gun battles. But the weightless movements of the motion-capture characters and the limited rendering of the skin textures gives Appleseed Ex Machina the feel of an extremely elaborate computer game. Despite the limits of the mo-cap technology, Appleseed Ex Machina is a fast-past, take-no-prisoners cinematic adventure that will delight action-movie fans as well as anime lovers. (Rated PG-13: violence, violence against women, profanity, grotesque imagery, potentially offensive religious imagery.) --Charles Solomon
Stunning visuals lacking substance. I second many of the reviews here in recommending the high definition version of the film. The visuals are simply amazing. The detail is crisp, and the animation is fluid. Out of all the high definition films I've seen this one impressed me the most with its visual clarity.
The story content of the film is disappointing when compared to the first film or the graphic novels. The story, while more complex than the previous movie, is poorly paced and far too predictable. The plot seems to be more of an excuse to string together the fantasticly over-the-top John Woo action scenes.
Perhaps my expectations were too high. Based on Masemune Shirow's other works, such as Ghost in the Shell and the earlier Appleseed stories, I expected a much deeper and well organized story.
This is a fantastic film to demonstrate the power of HD, but don't expect a huge emotional payoff when the story's over.
I am really impressed I purchased this blu-ray a while ago and never watched it till last weekend. And I have to say I am really impressed. The quality is amazing and in FullHD it is a real eyecatch. That is what High Definition stands for.
I enjoyed watching this flick. But as I am not that huge anime expert / fan I cannot tell you if this fits in the Appleseed Universe.
I do not regret buying this disc. But I think rental would have done it as well.....
good animation and music, thin plot and naive dialogue, cool pradas you can see john woo's hand prints all over this one. the plot was thin, the characterization shallow, the dialogue naive. nothing like the "ghost in the shell" series. the height of this was when our hero pouted, jumped up and down and left the party almost hysterically and dramatically like a distressed school girl when she found out she had to stick to her new partner even though her old one (so obviously her lover) was up and running again. she was depicted as acting extremely unprofessionally, by assuming that she has the right to be outraged at a change of partner, just because she happens to be in love with him, and therefore suggesting that she potentially will be more than willing to jeopardize any larger goals for as long as she and her lover cum ex-partner can work together. a lot of other scenes could have been made more elegantly, but this was the worst. perhaps many years from now, advance psychological research may found that being emotionally entangled with the person you partner up with professionally is a healthy thing, especially in an extremely high stress profession like our heroes here. but even so, unless it is part of the story that human beings have by then evolved into a highly specialized being, where being a good combat soldier means loosing some of your maturity, or, they are so advanced that our hero is in fact a highly trained ESWAT soldier by the time she was 12 years old, this lover cum war combat partner dynamic was clumsily done, and the whole thing came across awkward and embarrassing.
also, how idiotic is it to traumatized someone by giving her a biological copy of her lover's former body as her professional partner to replace her still-existing-now-machine ailing one when it is widely known in the story that she has an emotional attachment to the latter?? i figured some of the old sciences must have died during all those wars which preceded our story here, one of them must be psychology. and perhaps some of the old political system too, is olympus a democracy? how come national decisions were made by the two women rules alone?
the movie is nothing like its trailer. it is boring to watch a lot of the times.
other than that, it has beautiful animation, great music, and some cool pradas (anime has a habit of dressing their women as elegantly as pole dancers. it is nice to see that prada managed to get involved here. pity fashion can't help the quality of movies. sex and the city anime anyone?)
Exmachina Greatness!!! I really loved the storyline and graphics. I'm not going to spoil the movie for you but if you loved the first Appleseed then you will love ExMachina.
Appleseed Rocks! This DVD is a sequel to the movie released in 2004 [Appleseed (Widescreen) (2004)] not a remake. This is a "must see" not just for Appleseed fans but for all fans of Japanese Anime. The bonus features are entertaining and informative. Add to cart, you won't regret it. (AliasQTip is a real person, not a paid celebrity.) :D