The second film of the year based on Masamune Shirow’s work is another one trying to push the limits of animation. Instead of Ghost in the Shell 2’s stylistic 2D emphasized blend, Appleseed plops its viewer down into a fully realized 3D world with cell-shaded characters that move with the grace of live-action ones. Besides the exciting action sequences though, the film never really explores the world in ways the viewer wants, opting instead for overlong explanations and justifications of outdated sci-fi ideas.
In a stunning opening sequence full of gratuitously popped heads, the viewer is introduced to Deunan, a legendary female soldier fighting a boatload of daunting mechs and tanks. When she is seemingly cornered, a superior “Eswat” team arrives. They save, tranquilize and retrieve Deunan to bring her back to a dream city, creatively named ‘Utopia.’ This prosperous city sits peacefully in the year 2131, while the rest of the world’s been in a devastating World War. Apparently, half of Utopia’s population is made up of bioroids, a human-created and resembling race that operates on limited emotion and a frequent life extension procedure to keep them in check. Political treachery ensues, genocidal plots come to surface and people fight for the safety of their race, all while Deunan reunites with an old friend, Briareos, and must determine her role in all of this.
From the opening action sequence—fashioned to mimic live-action movement instead of anime—the filmmakers show that they know ‘cool,’ with camera swooping, protagonist flipping, and genuinely exciting, fast-paced action sequences. The first hour delivers, especially in one sequence when Deunan dons a mechanized fighting suit and soars about the city stylishly. With a well-suited techno soundtrack to add to the energy and the awe-inspiring world, Appleseed is a fine example for anime action. Only when the film slows down and the character perform normal activities do they dip into the uncanny valley and move in a clunky, awkward manner.
Appleseed’s biggest problems, however, lie in the scripting, which grows dialogue heavy in the second half. Whether it is trying to cater to fans of the manga, or justify unnecessary aspects of the world, the film is packed with long explanations about the survival of humanity and exasperating arguments about that “what makes someone human?” idea Shirow loves. The themes and commentary are nowhere near as groundbreaking as the animation and the film suffers from many of the same problems as Kazuaki Kiriya’s Casshern—stunning its audience with great, early action and following it with heavy-handed, overlong commentary. Luckily, unlike Kiriya’s film, there is at least a satisfying build-up to a final action sequence that salvages the audience’s attention, but it is too little, too late.
Fans of the original and casual viewers alike will be split between the pretty visuals and the poor storytelling as the filmmakers struggled to update Shirow’s work to resonate with the uniqueness it once had.
Reviewed by Tarun
