Appleseed: Ex Machina (2008)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

When I saw Appleseed 1 I was over the moon. I really enjoyed the subtle story, the plot that was so twisted, the hidden messages... everything. I loved it, because it had a twist, something elusive. The graphics were great and well made following the popular Anime style but fresher and sharper somehow. I couldn't wait to see Appleseed II...Unfortunately I was greatly disappointed but I "entered" warned as I had read some comments here about it. It felt like "just another Hollywood movie". First off, they had redesigned the characters to a Hollywood standard. All pretty and nice ... (I will however admit that Terreus was gorgeous lol). Deunan reminded me of Barbie in more than one instances! She had lost her "edge" and acted like a love sick fool that desperately needed protection. Nothing like her "I can do it on my own" self of Appleseed I.The fight scenes were nice but cliché. I recognized many scenes from previous Woo films. The plot was very swallow and predictable. The characters talked too much. There was no twist, no agony... some scenes and the reaction of the characters were actually silly. You had a hard time bonding with the characters ... they just seemed so... predictable. I can't think of another word. What's worse I saw the English language version and this made things worse. It really did feel like a silly Hollywood movie. And the title... The title had a meaning in Appleseed I but was totally irrelevant with Ex Machina, except to remind us this was a sequel.I was fully expecting to see a continuation of the first story... get some answers on things that were put into motion in the first movie. Instead I got a totally irrelevant story, with the characters changed, some beyond recognition. Briareos is so... gentle... so human... he wears cool clothes. Deunan is this fragile creature that every time Briareos gets hurt (and it happens a lot in this movie) she calls out to him like a love sick fool. I wasn't sure if I watching a sci-fi version of Romeo and Juliet or an anime film. The whole thing was very "americanized" in so many levels... not Japanese at all.I give it a 3 for the graphics, the cool scenes and Terreus ;) I would have had a totally different opinion if Woo had made a totally different film and not call it "Appleseed II" because it does not feel like a real sequel at all.

I've never been a huge fan of John Woo. I think Hard Boiled (1992) is one of the greatest action films ever made, and I liked The Killer (1989), A Better Tomorrow (1986), and Bullet In the Head (1990), but we need to be honest with ourselves and recognize that this guy sold his soul to Hollywood in the mid-1990s and hasn't made a great film since 1992.He has, however, completely destroyed a sequel to one of the best American movies of recent memory (Mission Impossible) by over-Hollywoodizing a uniquely non-Hollywood film made by Hollywood. That's quite an ironic feat that he should be particularly ashamed of. Now we have Appleseed: Ex Machina (2007) to add to the list of Woo-ish debacles over the past 16 years.This sequel to the exceptional anime drops the ball in a number of respects, yet still proves to be a marginally entertaining movie. The most obvious fault is that numerous events are near copies of science fiction movies from the West, thus making this endeavor much too conventional for a Japanese anime. In addition, the storyline wasn't as well-conceived as the original. Luckily, this movie has just enough positives to earn a watch. The protagonists are very likable characters, the plot is engaging, and the visuals are very good. The action scenes don't reach the levels of exoticism or quality of the original, but they are still moderately entertaining. In the end this is a very flawed picture that will only satisfy anime action junkies that can look around some mediocre elements. I'd give it a 6/10 compared to an 8/10 for the original.Now, there were some very specific Woo-ish aspects that really annoyed me. First and foremost are the doves. Yes, there are heaping amounts of flying doves in this Japanese anime film! Why the hell is John Woo so obsessed with doves? Yeah, they provide some ironic symbolism during action scenes, but using them to the degree that he does I have no doubts that he touches himself to pictures of doves when he's alone at night. And the fact that he uses these little birdies in almost every one of his movies proves to be almost as annoying as Rob Zombie's habitual use of white trash folk in his movies. Yes, it's that annoying.But wait. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions regarding just how much influence Woo had in this watchable (yet severely disappointing) sequel. So I fired up the Special Features option on the DVD menu and watched the 16-minute "Making Of" featurette that focuses specifically on John Woo's influence as a producer. It provided some much needed information regarding just how far this has-been shell of a director has fallen. Let me run down some of the statements made by the Japanese director and producers of this film: "This is the first time a big time Hollywood director has tried to tackle Japanese Anime." So Woo isn't even recognized as a director of Chinese cinema anymore. How quaint. No one in this "Making Of" feature even mentioned his Chinese filmography."Japanese producers wanted to expand into the Western market and saw that working with John Woo would be a good match." Nice. If your name is dropped by someone as the foremost expert in Hollywoodization, would you really take that as a compliment? Man, this guy has really hit rock bottom."John brought his years of experience in Hollywood to it." Well, he certainly brought all of the negatives of Hollywood cinema to this production. That was obvious from watching the movie. How many times do you see a Japanese Anime film copy scenes from I Robot and The Matrix Revolutions? Yes, it's really, really pathetic.The most enlightening statement was with regards to the preliminary Japanese storyboards."John took a look at it and came up with some really great notes." What was particularly hilarious about this statement is that on-screen you see John Woo's head shaking in a disapproving, almost disgusted manner while watching the initial storyboards. It's almost like he's saying to himself, "This is way too Japanese for an American audience. We need more slow-mo shots and conventional elements to reach a wider audience and make more money." Nice job Johnny boy.Director Shinji Aramaki apparently conceived Ex Machina to be nothing more than a tribute to Woo's work. He says: "We devised the Cathedral scene before John showed up to pay homage to his work." It's really too bad that Aramaki was so accommodating to implementing all of Woo's ideas into the film. It effectively crippled a movie that should have been as good as the original.I hate to say it, but John Woo is a no-talent has-been who has only harmed the international film industry since making Hard Boiled in 1992. I have no problems with him making tripe in America. Heck, that's what American cinema is for. But don't you DARE to take your new-found money-grubbing mediocrity to Japanese anime.Someone needs to stop this guy before he attempts to wreck another Asian movie.

While Appleseed from 2004 had a fantastic story, Ex Machina has the best graphics that I've ever seen since FF VII:Advent Children. If you are a fan of Ghost in the shell & Matrix this is for you "a must see anime" The connections between the first part and the second aren't many, so if you haven't watched the first part, there is nothing that you won't understand in this anime. Unlike some other anime with complexed plot and long boring scenes with never ending conversations, this is anime with great story (although as I said from the first part is better) and you won't wanna miss a second. The action scenes where cyborgs with big machine guns fight combined with awesome music will blow you away. Another good thing is that they aren't so much nasty bloody scenes like in the first part so this anime can only be watched by the younger audience. 10 out of 10 no doubt about it!

If you are watching Appleseed Saga: Ex Machina for the first time - this is top notch at all. The world is shiny, beautiful, scary. But comparing it with Appleseed (2004) this is nothing new. Poor script, same cool (but same) graphic quality. For me personally the major disappointment is the music (OST). The previous (2004) was moving by the marvelous techno rhythms by Oakenfold and Boom Boom Sattellites. This is action! This time, action B-class, SF movie and... script is getting stuck in some places and very boring clear complicated j-acid and electro OST is doing nothing for help. Finally, if you haven't seen prequel - you will not understand the movie. Well, just enjoy the pretty picture. If you have watched it - you will find nothing new.