BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

scientiiaa Appleseed Alpha is a computer-animated military science fiction cyberpunk movie. It had an advance digital release on July 15, 2014. The movie is set in different series of events, so you will not have to watch alternative versions of it, which aired a long time ago, only to understand it. Appleseed Alpha focuses on the early days of Deunan Knute and Briareos in the 22nd century, as they start their journey throughout the ruins of New York in search of the mysterious city called Olympus. Deunan Knute and Briareos are hired by criminals to help them deal with the robots that seem to hinder them a lot. On one of these missions, our duo encounters Iris and Olson, who are on a mission, too. It is later revealed that Iris and Olson's mission is somehow connected with what Deunan and Briareos are looking for. Appleseed Alpha's weakest part is, of course, its story-line. One can write a novel simply by listing things that the story-line of Appleseed Alpha does not explain. And believe me, there are many aspects this movie does not touch upon. Indeed, it has one of the worst story-lines you will ever find, but the good thing is that you will not have to watch prequels, read manga, or look for some additional information only to understand it. No. Appleseed Alpha relies only on a) animation and b) soundtrack. All in all, I would not argue that this movie has, perhaps, the most stunning animation I have ever seen in my life and that its soundtrack is amazing, too. But a better story-line is something this movie does not have. Of course, if animation is the only criterion you care about, you should definitely watch this movie. If not, do avoid it. By the way, this movie has superb English dubs.

iamgerardthomas Hands down, 'Alpha' is the best interpretation for the original Manga to date.While many bemoan Alpha as being 'Westernised' or not Animé, the reality is that the 5 'book' Manga series (originally published in English by Marvel's offshoot, Studio Proteus, and then later by Dark Horse) was never overly Japanese in its styling and indeed, most of the central characters are not Japanese but rather from 'all over'.The 2004 Appleseed movie, with Studio IG on production, was quite successful at blending 3D and Animé. Using the crispness derived from 3D but keeping it to a stylised rendering style, it delivered a nicely balanced form of 3D Animé. Films like 'Ex Machina', and even the 'Appleseed XIII' mini series (which was a Studio IG production) failed (in my mind) by departing with this style and trying to create what could best be described as a realistic Animé, and ultimately not succeeding on any front - Ex machina not helped by the fact it was just a poor film all round.Where Alpha succeeds, is that it creates a realistic interpretation of Shirow's character and hardware design, in a way is so much closer to the Manga series than anything to date. Where the 2004 Appleseed was Animé at the next level, Alpha takes Appleseed out of the Animé realm and moves it to pseudo reality; the world depicted in the pages of the Manga have become real enough that you could walk outside and touch it.There is no doubt that the technical mastery of the CG space here gives the viewer moments where one has to really stop and ask themselves if what they are seeing is real or CG. Shirow himself said when talking about Alpha:"The challenge with CG production is that, as you get more photo-realistic, you lose the ability to use over-the-top anime-style expression without being unnatural. And if you go too anime, the realistic expression becomes out of place. Mr. Aramaki showed great skills for the previous films with anime style, but I was very excited to see the realistic textures with damages (the post-war environment visuals) and lighting effects. (My) first impression was, in a positive way, that it looked like today's state-of-the-art video games."Story wise, Alpha is an interesting interpretation of the first book of the series. Characters and events have been drawn out of the Manga and reassembled to form a new story. So if you know the Manga, there will be more than a few moments where you will recognise a scenario or character but realise they are not where they should be. Regardless, Alpha is entertaining enough, maybe more so if you are intimate with the Manga series, to provide an enjoyable experience.But it's not all trumps. Why is Deunan running around in combat armour/gear with her bust hanging out? Does Iris need to be in that skin suit? And the very sultry combat cyborg?? There is more than a slight smack of 'boyish' sexism going on here that, while on the surface seems harmless, really just reeks of the 'boys club' that's being talked about all over in regards to the movie industry. There was zero purpose to portray Deunan in the manner that has been done and in fact, I found it to a 'jolt', preventing me from being fully immersed into the movie. In this aspect, Alpha disappoints in a big way. What could have been really good was let down by some guys not getting away from their screens enough.Overall though Appleseed Alpha is worth watching once, twice, maybe even three times, something I could not say of Ex Machina.

Sean Curtin This is one of the most amazing animated Cyberpunk films I've seen since Akira and Cyber City.This production is truly up there with works such as Final Fantasy The Spirits within.The level of art and realism in this movie is incredible.If your a fan of Cyberpunk your going to love this film.What annoyed me about the film and in fact the only thing that annoyed me was the artists vision for Deunan.Essentially the issue is that for someone who is wearing armored body jacket gear, I found myself questioning 'what is the point'. The issue is that she's wearing armor but her front section has her tits basically hanging in the breeze with a lousy tank top that says, 'hey shoot here, I'm an open target'. What's the point of wearing armor of you essentially expose yourself to having your tits blown off? So very poor gear for Deunan but everything else in the film is superb. I'm getting the sex sells vibe but seriously, Appleseed doesn't need this clichéd marketing nonsense. It would sell just as well without it and the story would actually benefit by taking into consideration some serious thought about the characters.Appleseed deserves outfits for it's characters that make sense, not just stupid nonsense that some weird persons wet dream is made of.Nothing to give away here, go watch the movie if your a fan of the series you will not be disappointed except for the obvious technical error that stands out like a raw prawn.An instant Cyberpunk classic.

gj_oosting I was curious about the movie, because of the high rating. I was really really disappointed. I never wrote a review, but after this movie it had to... I will start with a positive thing. I liked the graphics and look of the surrounding and machines and stuff. Great ambiance. But, i was very disappointed about the rest. The inhuman look of the human-characters and the related bad acting made it hard for me to connect with these characters. The dialogs felt like a hodgepodge of cliché film quotes. With the consequence that it was hard to empathize with the characters. The storyline wasn't original, a little superficial. Last thing.. why the overgrown boobs and decolleté of the girl... why? Just because it's sexy? It doesn't make it more credible or deep what she says.