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In a stunning opening sequence full of gratuitously popped heads, we’re introduced to Deunan, a legendary female soldier fighting boatloads of daunting mechs and tanks. When she is seemingly cornered, a superior “Eswat” team arrives to save her, tranquilize her and bring her to a dream city creatively named Utopia. While the rest of the world has been caught up in a devastating World War in the year 2131, this prosperous city sits peacefully isolated, apparently because half of its population is made up of bioroids–a human-created race that takes their cue from Blade Runner’s replicants, operating 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 how she feels about all this political treachery and genocidal plotting.
The second film of the year based on a Masamune Shirow manga is another one attempting 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 gracefully mimic the movement of live-action ones. Despite the exciting action sequences though, the film never really explores the world in ways the viewer wants, opting instead for overlong explanations to justify outdated sci-fi ideas. It still feels like something from the 80’s, given a superficial makeover.
Still, from the opening action sequence that opts to capture more realistic movement instead of following anime conventions—the filmmakers show that they are “cool,” “hip,” and “down” with the “kids” with all the camera swooping, protagonist flipping, explosions exploding and genuinely exciting, fast-paced action sequences. The first hour delivers, especially in one sequence when Deunan dons a mechanized fighting suit and soars through the city streets stylishly. With a well-suited techno soundtrack to add to the energy and the awe-inspiring world in the background, Appleseed is a fine example for anime action. Only when the film slows down and the characters perform normal mundane activities do they dip into the uncanny valley and look rather clunky and awkward.
Appleseed’s biggest problems, however, lie in the script, which gets buried in dialogue in the second half. Whether it is trying to cater to fans of the manga, or unnecessarily justify details of the world we’ve already accepted, the film is packed with long explanations about the survival of humanity and exasperating arguments about that “what makes someone human?” idea in Shirow’s work. The themes and commentary, however, 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 might salvage the bored audience’s attention, but it is too little, too late.
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Reviewed by Tarun
