Appleseed: Ex Machina

In the utopian city of Olympus, the peace is kept by the elite warriors of ESWAT.  Among their ranks are Deunan Knute, a beautiful warrior from the wasteland, and Briareos Hecatonchires, a cyborg soldier who was once Deunan’s lover.  As effective as they are together, their partnership becomes tested when theyre assigned a rookie: A Bioroid named Tereus, who bears the likeness of Briareos’ human form.  This comes at a time when a string of berserk cyborg attacks begin to escalate across the city.  In the end, a Warrior, a Cyborg and a Bioriod might be all that stands in the way of an apocalyptic uprising.

Well, looks we have a case of “Now why didn’t we lead with this one?”.  While it definitely doesn’t reinvent the genre like its predecessor wanted to, Appleseed: Ex Machina still comes out as a much better attempt to breathe life into the franchise that wants stand alongside it’s fellow Shirow Masamune sibling, Ghost in the Shell.  Some of the first films problems are still present but it looks like Ex Machina knows exactly what it wants to be from the get go and delivers more of what should have been seen in the first place.
 
While Shinji Aramaki is back in the Director’s chair, the influence of a certain high profile Producer can be felt in several sequences of Appleseed 2, specifically the action scenes.  Yes folks, this sequel got a hefty does of “The Woo”, John Woo to be more exact.  Whereas the first film felt like one giant Wiki guide to the world of Olympus, Appleseed 2 shows that it knows we all want some hard hitting and exciting action from a CG Anime action blockbuster.  And no one knows how to better put those kinds of movies together than the legendary Hong Kong Director and Producer who’s worked on both sides of the world on high octane projects like Hard Boiled and Mission: Impossible 2.  The end result are some cool and stunning action sequences that make great use of Appleseed CG animation to the fullest.  Deunan, Briareos and Tereus all look great in the thick of it all, dodging bullets, firing multiple weapons in expert Gun Fu…you know, typical John Woo stuff.  You wanted more action from Appleseed?  You’ve been heard folks.
 
Appleseed 2 doesn’t just double down on the action, but also the animation and the characters.  The movie looks far more polished than the first and it shows in the character models.  Deunan is even hotter than ever (and Ex Machina never misses a chance for a slow pull up shot of her body to highlight that factoid) and there’s a more pristine shine to Briareos.  They make look pretty stiff standing still but once they move, they move.  Best of all, the duo and newcomer Tereus feel like the heart of the story rather than just being around while the world building and explaining happens around them.  Briareos definitely gets the best improvement with a storyline I wish theyd kind of given him in the first film.  Not only does he have to contend with his feelings about his existence but also handle a new teammate who bears his old face and is clearly attracted to his love.  While he and Deunan have some better scenes together…Deunan is more or less the same as she was in the first film, not much has changed there.  Tereus is interesting and I’m glad we also got to expand the ESWAT cast with Commander Lances and Briareos’ temporary partner Aeacus, the latter is a chill dude and a welcome source of heart and comic relief.
 
While the movie is much sharper and benefits from years of hindsight from the first film, Ex Machina still has that Video Game Cutscene feel from many scenes.  There’s a pivotal funeral scene that, while sad, looks like it also belonged in a Metal Gear Solid game.  At least thanks to Woo’s influence and Aramaki’s continuing increasing skill that plenty of Appleseed 2 still feels cinematic enough.  That said, the story does start strong but slowly becomes a rehash of elements from the first movie along with a crisis we’ve seen more than enough times in Anime and Science Fiction.  As much as it really wants to, Appleseed: Ex Machina’s overall tale is nothing we haven’t seen already: machine viruses turning a population rampant, a mysterious operation from the past that went sour, traitors in the organizations, etc.  Just goes to show that while the animation, action and central character plots have been improved, Appleseed still has a ways to go before it can stand out from stronger Scifi Anime fare…like Ghost in the Shell (sorry, I know I keep comparing the two Masamune franchises but its too easy).
 
While it struggles to create a story worth celebrating, Appleseed: Ex Machina proves this is where the film franchise should have begun.  A greater emphasis on action and character drama help push it away from the boring world building essay of the previous film and show that, with a bit more tweaking, Appleseed could be something worth writing home about.  Also, having a freaking legend like John Woo to punch up the action definitely helps a lot.  Maybe keep him on for future installments if he’s up for it and isn’t busy?
 
7.5/10
 
Next Monday, we end the Appleseed Trilogy…with a prequel?  Uh oh, how can we have a prequel when Briareos wasn’t a cyborg until after he got to Olympus?  I hope we’re not taking a massive step backwards…but I have a bad feeling about this.  Appleseed Alpha will be up on Monday over at the Gundam Anime Corner.