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Appleseed: Ex Machina - Collector's Edition
R1 - America - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Andreas Petersen (16th March 2008). |
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The Film
 Only moments after finishing my first viewing of "Appleseed: Ex Machina", did I find out that this film was a sequel to another "Appleseed" movie. Adding onto this, while I knew it was based on a manga, I had never read it before. To put it simply, I went into this movie blind to the franchise it has been built upon. This is something to possibly put into account when reading my review. So what did I think of the movie? I have to say, as someone who isn’t a particular fan of anime (though far from a hater), I expected much less out of this direct-to-DVD animated movie. Knowing the movie was done with motion capture performances made "Beowulf" (2007) echo in my mind. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how solid the movie looked. Produced by legendary action filmmaker John Woo and directed by Shinji Aramaki, the movie never seems to attempt to imitate real life, but rather sticks to an animated look. It’s a wonderful medium in between Robert Zemeckis’ stupid looking mo-cap movies, and Richard Linklater’s pretentious rotoscoped films. The film has an amazing 3-D polish to it, but still looks 2-D in all the right ways. This isn’t the only thing done right in the movie. "Ex Machina" certainly lives up to the John Woo association when it comes to action. The talented work of Aramaki never felt too frantic, as the camera work during intense action scenes were controlled and steady, allowing the viewer to actually see what the hell is going on (a huge problem that most modern day action movies have). While the style and action are great, the characters, acting, and overall plot seem to fall completely flat. The film tells the story of Deunan (Luci Christian) and Briareos (David Matranga), two members of the elite crime fighting unit ESWAT. They uncover a plot to create an army of zombies using some sort of new-fangled head phone. The plot itself is ridiculous, and the twists and reveals seem to be arbitrary and out of no where. I found the film’s title to be very fitting when it came to the narrative of the movie. The weak plot is most certainly not helped by the melodramatic dialogue and voice acting. It is hard to re-create the lines in the written word, but at times, I found myself unable to sift through the cheesy lines when trying to follow the plot, which ultimately unfolds into a shameless rip-off of the final battle at Zion in "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003). However, I wouldn’t say the voice acting and melodramatic lines hindered the movie per se. The movie felt almost like a cut-scene to a high end Japanese RPG. In a way I liked this, but in another way, I felt like it didn’t work as a whole movie. I think this movie could have worked better as a 45 minute short film. But perhaps that is because I don’t know these characters too well and I’m not familiar with the world surrounding them. I feel as though if this was an entry into a franchise I already knew, maybe I wouldn’t be so down on it. Also, I would just like to add that I watched the movie with English dubs, and after I finished the movie, I went back and watched a few scenes with Japanese audio and English subtitles, and it enhanced my experience greatly. It at least took away the cheesy deliveries.
Video
"Appleseed: Ex Machina" is presented in an impressive widescreen 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. The picture quality was outstanding, and I really have no complaints. This is a colorful movie, and the superior picture at least kept my eyes entertained.
Audio
The film is offered in both an English Dolby Digital 5.1 track and an original Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1 track, as well as French, Spanish, Chinese, and Portuguese language tracks in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The audio, as the picture, is incredible. The sound was always clear and the movie has an impressive array of electronic sound effects and explosions that just all seem to come out at just the right places. Optional subtitles are included in English, Chinese, Japanese, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
Extras
Warner Brothers has released this film as a "Collector's Edition" 2-disc DVD set, included is an audio commentary, a collection of 2 featurettes and some bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements broken down per disc. DISC ONE: First up is a feature-length audio commentary with animation historian Jerry Beck, who interviews producer Joseph Chou. The track is a healthy mix of comfortable conversation with a heavy dose of interesting information concerning the motion-capture process, why certain shots were chosen to be in the film, and what changes were made from the manga to the movie. Chou also divulges in some interesting stories about his journey as a producer to get the movie made with fellow producer John Woo. At times however, I felt like the commentary was slightly self-congratulatory, feeling that Beck couldn’t imagine that the movie has any sort of problems, while Chou admits that certain aspects feel rushed. The disc also includes some bonus trailers, they include: - "Speed Racer" which runs for 2 minutes and 1 second. - "The Sickhouse" which runs for 2 minutes and 6 seconds. - "Journey to the Center of the Earth" which runs for 2 minutes and 8 seconds. - "I Am Legend" which runs for 32 seconds. - "Speed Racer: The Game" which runs for 16 seconds. - "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" which runs for 35 seconds. DISC TWO: "Team-up: John Woo and Shinji Aramaki, running at 16 minutes and 26 seconds, is an interesting featurette discussing how Aramaki’s eye for realism mixed with the Chinese action sensibilities of Woo melded together to make "Appleseed: Ex Machina". "Revolution: Animating Ex Machina" is a featurette running at 18 minutes and 37 seconds, is a behind-the-scenes look at the animation process behind the film. This clip spends time comparing "Ex Machina" to the first "Appleseed" movie, and how the team learned certain lessons from their first effort. Also, the audience is given access to the motion capture sessions used for the film.
Overall
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