Appleseed Ex Machina (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]
Starring: Kara GreenbergDirector: Shinji Aramaki
Studio: Warner Home Video
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release: April 1st 2008
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DVD Review
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: DVD HD Genre: SCI-FI/FANTASY/FANTASY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 085391200659 Manufacturer No: 120065
User Reviews
Exmachina Greatness!!! - Rating: 5/5
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! - Rating: 5/5
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
awesome! - Rating: 5/5
it amuses me that there's always a handful of people who can give a 1 star rating for just about anything. if you wanted to watch shakespeare in the park then you're to blame - not the people who created this awesome work. the animation is incredible, the action scenes are fantastic, the repeat viewability is very high. if you're looking for serious brain stimulation, do sudoku. if you want to enjoy a fun animated film - this is 5 stars for sure.
John Woo's greasy fingerprints all over - Rating: 2/5
Appleseed the original movie (from the early 90's) was great. Appleseed the CG update from a few years back was also great. This sequel is awful. The creative hand-off from Shirow Masamune to John Woo could not have been worse. Woo, you'll remember, gave us such heartwarming tales as "Face/Off" and "Mission Impossible 2". His signature idiom is that violence is *beautiful*. In CGI, that becomes an even MORE flawed premise than it is for live-action film because the constraints imposed by physics are removed. Most directors of anime are content to continue modeling such normal forces as, say, gravity or anatomy. But that apparently gets in the way of Woo's violence-porn story. In the future as envisioned by Woo, EVERY man is a muscle-bound spartan god, EVERY woman is a gorgeous D-cup. Woo is also in love with Matrix-style slow-motion spinarounds, his theory being that if a little of it is good, then gobs'n'gobs of it is better. The film speed slows down so often so we can watch superhuman gymnastics or visible bullet-trails that I wanted to ask the movie if I should get out and push.
Visual problems aside, the story is nothing to write home about. There's some vague use of the idea of human/cyborg tension and the awkwardness of meeting your own clone, but it goes nowhere and is dumped in favor of a villain whose "I'll-rule-the-world!" monologues make Doctor Evil look nuanced and believable. At one point, the villain's lieutenant commits suicide and I ran the DVD back three or four scenes because I couldn't figure out why. But I still couldn't figure it out and I'm pretty convinced that either there's simply no reason for it or else they accidentally edited out whatever reason there was supposed to be for it. Even the hero's dialog jangles like a handful of loose change.
I never thought I'd watch anime that I enjoyed so little as this film.
Good anime, good plot, good film - Rating: 4/5
A very good new story for the appleseed series. Is good (not excelent) in all the film aspects, but it worth every penny.
