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
More action! I'm very happy I purchased Appleseed Ex Machina. I really enjoyed this movie. I have been a fan of the Appleseed franchise for many years. The John Woo touches were deliciously over the top. Every highly stylized scene had me saying, "Nice!"
A great sequel to an amazing original, and on Blu-ray! The original Appleseed, in my opinion, was a masterpiece. I had doubts when I heard of a sequel, and how it was being criticized. After watching Appleseed: Ex Machina, I almost wonder if the reviewers and I watched the same film. I found Ex Machina to take me into the neo-future of Olympus with it's new cell-shaded look and amazing 3D animation. The story, still deep and twisted, the action, mind-blowing, and the quality of work is top-notch. I have only praises to give to this masterpiece, and urge others to not miss out on the phenomenon that is Appleseed: Ex Machina.
pure win what can i say on blue ray this is a stunning work with high quality animation and a splendid story that continues the Appleseed franchise very well only problem is with some of the voice actors but that's standard for anime in general, if curious this was viewed on a PS3 connected via HDMI cables to a HDTV. So i did enjoy it to the fullest.
Pretty good as a movie but as a blu-ray its just ok This movie is cool. Lots kickbutt action, good story, but just a little bit too similar to the first one as far as the action goes. The blu-ray version of this movie is not much better quality than a DVD, I couldn't notice much of a difference between the clarity of this blu-ray and the clarity of the first movie which I have on DVD. So I think would have rather have gotten this on DVD. Overall it's a good movie though.
Fantastic movie! Hope they make another in the series! I really loved the first 3D animated Appleseed movie when I saw it in the theater a few years ago. This movie however was visually superior in every way, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The action scenes are great and the story was pretty engaging as well. I felt an emotional connection with the characters, and the english voice acting was also well done. Extremely well done 3D visuals, FX, and superb animation blended with motion capture made this movie one of the favorites of my entire collection.
Personally I don't have any complaints except one scene where a part of the character Brearios's head clips through his body a little when he is laying in a hospital bed, it was the only serious visual flaw I noticed during the whole movie.
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