Appleseed Alpha

I found about this franchise with the trailer of Appleseed Alfa post by IGN, “from the creator of Ghost in the Shell”, but is not recommendable to compare because after watching the four movies all i can thing of is “Transformers”, mediocre and disposable entertainment made for a wider audience. Don’t get wrong, the movies are not bad… just mediocre. Have you ever see a movie and something stupid happed; something that doesn’t make sense, you ask yourself why it happens and answer is “well, y it’s a movie”. You haven realize (or don’t want to accept it) but suspension of disbelief has diein front of your eyes, in that moment, the 30-40 minutes that the movie has left will be a tedious job ratter that an entertainment. Things like “my plan depend of this bottom, when I push it I win and you lose and … oh you fire at the bottom, now a will not be able to push it, now we will go with plan b that is the real climax of the movie”. This happens in the first movie (Appleseed 2004), without spoilers i will say that i didn’t care in what follow that scene. Every cliché of sci-fi, cyberpunk and action movies will be developed during the entire series. The original OVA of 1988 its the best movie, its mediocre, but mediocre 30 years ago, its a masterpiece, (adding that i watch this one in third place), Deunan doesn’t fight between being a badass and a damsel in distress for Briareos, they’re just a team , there is a debate of Olympus as a necessary evil ratter OUR ONLY HOPE, even the death of nameless characters matters more, because are presented as uncontrollable casualties, and not the “people dying, shit gets serious” way. I guess I should talk about Alfa. It’s Metal Gear (Revengeance to be specific) direct by Michael Bay, its one hour dubstep video with a couple of cool designed characters (designed, not develop), and you can’t complain about dubstep, the soundtrack of all four movies is nothing more that whatever people was hearing a that time (like I say entertainment for a wider audience). Appleseed isn’t bad, none of the for movie are bad, but don’t compare it with Ghost in the Shell, don’t compare the bioroids with the ones in Blade Runner (this ones are flat and un-dimensional, their emotions have being restricted so they have an excuse), don’t compare soundtrack, visuals, story, nothing with the big names of this genre, Appleseed will always lose, its not bad … Just Mediocre.

I'm an adult. I watched the english dub. I have no prior experience with Appleseed-stuff. I do, however, have a positive bias towards the sci-fi, cyberpunk and post-apocalyptic genres in general. I have no strong opinions on CGI. I knew nothing about the film before watching it, but had a vague memory of someone telling me that it looked pretty good. With that in mind, this is my short review: The aesthetics impressed me. The enviroment, sets, landscapes or whatever you want to call them, are appealing in the post-apocalyptic way. Quite a few cool action sequences, explosions, gun fights etc. Entertaining and well made! Characters look cooland the dialogue is ok - but don't expect too much when it comes to depth. I ended up caring little for the story, I was more invested in the cyborgs, the action and the landscape design while watching this. I'd say: If you like the genre, think this looks somewhat appealing and need some entertainment, chances are you'll think it's ok - kick back and relax with some cyberpunk action. It won't change your life, but you probably won't feel mad you'll never get those 90 mins back either.

Alpha doesn't have anything to do with the original story, and threw out of the window the themes about society, technology, and humankind, from Appleseed. It's basically an action flick. I do think it has a better dynamic between Deunan and Briareos, but the whole plot and characters are pretty basic - Deuman design got pretty dumb too, using a tactical gear the protects her back and shoulder, but has a huge cleavage just to show boobs. I find this kind of fan service is quite pathetic. What really impressed me is the CGI, it's quite an eye candy. This movie has fantastic looks and it kindacompensates for all the rest. I'd give it a 7.5, but since I can't, it's an 8.