[Hollowpoint]

Just finished watching this movie. I loved the original and the new CG one that they release in 2004 (I think it was 2004). This one is right up there with it. This had a great story and some history. The CG was top notch. You could tell that John Woo had a hand in the production of this movie. Great fight sequences and Landmate battles. Very cool camera angles. The only thing that brought this down were some really cheesy dialog moments. Voice acting was just as good as the first Except in the cheese moments. You could tell some of the lines were being forced. And Takara Tomy have ads all over this movie. Just look at the billboards in the scenes. Kinda funny. Explains why they did a Duenan.

I highly recommend this movie!

Edit: Damn, I want those two figures now more than ever. MX22, hurry it up man!

 

[saiko]

I agree, it was pretty good and the John Woo influence really shone during the fight sequences. Its fanciful thinking, but a 1/6 Landmate would be wicked cool, along with the Poseidon hammerhead ones, even the magenta one

 

[DunkleGelb]

Liked it but not as much as the first movie.
The Finale was kinda lame me thought.

 

[joecrazy]

I only watched the Appleseed movie for the first time a couple of months ago and really like it and Ex Machina was awesome IMO. I wish Hollywood could make a live action version.

 

[Hollowpoint]

I only watched the Appleseed movie for the first time a couple of months ago and really like it and Ex Machina was awesome IMO. I wish Hollywood could make a live action version.

Now wouldn't that be nice!

 

[Fab5Freddy]

Visually stunning. I liked the story. I've never read the manga but nice to see continuity with supporting characters. I'd like to know how much time has passed is in comparison to the first movie (2003?).

 

[Devilguns]

I liked it. Not as much as the first. The first seemed more Shirow like to me.

I know it's only a movie, sci fi and animated at that, but the opening siege sequence, if directed/written by Shirow would have been different. As would have some of the other tactical and action sequences. There was a lot of shooting but it seemed a lot of time was wasted on watching the guns go off rather than see what they were hitting. Lots of close up muzzle flash, then when the shooting stops the camera pans away and all the bad guys are lying on the floor.

I do like how Briareos was handled in this version. He seemed more humanized in this one compared to the first installment. He was more like his character in the manga this time around.

The animation is leaps and bounds better than the first. I'd really like to get a high def version, it just looks amazing on a big screen.

 

[5x5!]

I only rate this one as "meh."

I loved the first movie, esp the music, the scale, the physics, and the sheer levels of all-out destruction. It had a great plot that built to a HUGE finale.

This one was OK I guess. Music was flat and lame. Action scenes, when they finally do happen, were in that stagey "Woo" manner, which I thought was pretty awesome in 1989 but was REALLY tired of by MI:2.

I guess my biggest disappointment was that the movie felt painfully derivative of other big-budget SF spectacles, esp STAR WARS (JEDI), MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, and ALIENS. I guess it is a cultural thing with the Japanese film industry and its audience, they do not react to mimicry in the same way the Americans do (or, at least, the way *I* do). I understand that a lot of western entertainment is available in Japan, esp pop music and film, and a lot of it gets appropriated and made "more Japanese." The problem that I have is that when the Japanese product gets re-exported to the US, I usually see exactly where they got their ideas. It always feels really lazy to me.

Anyway, I felt the whole chase at the end through that huge structure had been done before in JEDI. They race to "the core" and a lot of the pursuers crash along the way like Tie fighters. Then the heroes get to the evac point on foot only to find their dropship isn't there --- but it shows up cos the platform was getting unstable. And all the drones in swarms was straight out of the Matrix trilogy.

This is really one of the most frustrating elements of Japanese pop culture for me, because I think they have the potential for making amazing, original, engrossing product. But I have seen SO MANY overt ripoffs that it becomes kinda depressing after a while. (Examples include REVOLVER borrowing from MATRIX, CASSHERN stealing from LORD OF THE FREAKIN' RINGS, even GAMERA THE BRAVE appropriating KING KONG.)

 

[deoxyrna]

Just watched this and felt it was a bit of a letdown

Too little character development (or perhaps poor character development). And I never actually felt that the characters were in any real risk of being offed!

oh well at least the landmates were cool