Appleseed
October 11th 2007 03:05
Category: Movies
Creator: Masamune Shirow (Ghost in the Shell & Dominion Tank Police).
Director: Shinji Aramaki. Producer: Sori. Writers: Haruka Handa & Tsutomu Kamishiro.
Produced: 2004 Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc in association with ZRO Limits Productions.
Released by: Madman Entertainment Pty Ltd.
Running Time: 105 minutes. Rating: M.
It is the year 2125 AD and the world is devastated as a result of a global war, cities lie in ruins, combatants continue fighting in a conflict whose rationale they no longer understand or have long since forgotten. Yet despite this there still exists a beacon of hope, a shining utopia called Olympus. With such a setting you’d be forgiven for thinking that Appleseed is just your usual kind of post apocalyptic drama where a group of people are focused on trying to rebuild a better world from the ashes of the old. It is that but also other things as well, a love story, a retelling of aspects of Greco-Roman mythology and a mystery to boot.
The movie’s main protagonist is Deunan Knute, the daughter of the legendary Colonel Carl Knute and one of many soldiers fighting in the global conflict. We first see Deunan in action in the opening six minutes of the movie taking on a group of Cyborg mercenaries who for some reason are actually looking for her. This has to be the most action packed six minutes I’ve ever seen in a movie and its moves are reminiscent of some of the scenes out of the Matrix with its slow motion combat.
Eventually Deunan finds herself cornered by the mercenaries after a truly fantastic chase scene through a ruined city involving tanks, chain guns and some truly amazing visual effects. This is when the action reves up another notch as members of the Olympus ESWAT (Extra Special Weapons and Tactics) arrive on the scene to pull the heroine’s fat out of the fire. Of course Deunan has no idea these guys are her allies, just that they have something against the mercenaries who have been currently chasing her. After ESWAT has taken care of the mercenaries she then attempts to escape them only to end up being shot with a tranquilizer round. Life's harsh.
From this point on the action plateaus out a bit but the computer animation ratchets up even further. Moments later you’re watching a huge Hercules like aircraft soar through clouds that quite frankly look as real as anything I’ve seen going for a walk or looking out my window, the track “Good Luck” by Basement Jaxx kicks in and then suddenly you see the utopia of Olympus for the first time. It’s a neat introduction and it works so well, the tone of the music is decidedly apt as well as the imagery for a transition from the gloomy war torn 'outside' world to the bright shiny beacon of Olympus.
Here the elements of the tale really begin to unfold, Deunan is reunited with her former lover Briareos who like her was once a soldier in the global conflict and ended up being terribly wounded on the North African front. The Seven Elders of Olympus managed to save him and transform him into a cyborg. Naturally Deunan is a bit put out by this (who wouldn’t be when something like that was sprung on them). The other characters also begin to make their first appearances giving the story its mystery and mythology aspects, we meet Athena the Prime Minister of Olympus and her assistant Nike, Hitomi the vivacious recruiter for Olympus ESWAT, General Uranus the leader of the Olympus Regular Army, Colonel Hades his aide de camp and the Seven Elders who alongside the supercomputer Gaia are the brains behind the city of Olympus.
Two races of humanity live in Olympus; baseline humans and bioroids who are clones created by the founders of the city to assist the baseline humans rebuild society from the ashes of global conflict. Bioroids are unable to reproduce (No sex as the character Hitomis succintly puts it) and this is a major aspect of the story as it unfolds. Unfortunately there are those amongst the baseline humans who believe the bioroids mean to supplant them as the dominant species, a retelling of the ancient myth where the Titans were overthrown by the Olympians lead by Zeus. Thus it is no mistake that the main antagonist within the story, General Uranus, is named after the leader of the Titans from Greco-Roman myth. He feels that humanity will be supplanted by the bioroids in turn mirroring what happened to the Titans when the Olympians rose from the loins of their progenitors. It’s an old theme but it doesn’t quite play out as the General or even the other characters imagine it to in the end. There literally is a god in the machine that comes into play much to the surprise of everyone involved.
Naturally the level of animation in Appleseed is truly phenomenal, predominantly computer generated its quite possibly is the benchmark for computer generated animation movies. As well as the clouds in the opening credits there are a fair few scenes where you would swear they were as real as anything seen in day to day life, an abandoned research facility, a puddle in a city side street, waves lapping against the sea shore and the evening sunset on Olympus. Coupled with the realisms of the backdrops are the seemingly natural movements of the characters as well as the expressiveness of their faces. This is down to the fact that the producers actually used live actors from which they captured the movements, expressions etc for the characters via motion capture. So Appleseed is probably one of the few animated movies in recent memory that has employed this fusion of elements to create what can only be described as breathtaking animation.
But when all is said and done, Appleseed stands up well because of its story, its characters and its action which are the meat and drink of a good movie.
Director: Shinji Aramaki. Producer: Sori. Writers: Haruka Handa & Tsutomu Kamishiro.
Produced: 2004 Geneon Entertainment (USA) Inc in association with ZRO Limits Productions.
Released by: Madman Entertainment Pty Ltd.
Running Time: 105 minutes. Rating: M.
It is the year 2125 AD and the world is devastated as a result of a global war, cities lie in ruins, combatants continue fighting in a conflict whose rationale they no longer understand or have long since forgotten. Yet despite this there still exists a beacon of hope, a shining utopia called Olympus. With such a setting you’d be forgiven for thinking that Appleseed is just your usual kind of post apocalyptic drama where a group of people are focused on trying to rebuild a better world from the ashes of the old. It is that but also other things as well, a love story, a retelling of aspects of Greco-Roman mythology and a mystery to boot.
Eventually Deunan finds herself cornered by the mercenaries after a truly fantastic chase scene through a ruined city involving tanks, chain guns and some truly amazing visual effects. This is when the action reves up another notch as members of the Olympus ESWAT (Extra Special Weapons and Tactics) arrive on the scene to pull the heroine’s fat out of the fire. Of course Deunan has no idea these guys are her allies, just that they have something against the mercenaries who have been currently chasing her. After ESWAT has taken care of the mercenaries she then attempts to escape them only to end up being shot with a tranquilizer round. Life's harsh.
Here the elements of the tale really begin to unfold, Deunan is reunited with her former lover Briareos who like her was once a soldier in the global conflict and ended up being terribly wounded on the North African front. The Seven Elders of Olympus managed to save him and transform him into a cyborg. Naturally Deunan is a bit put out by this (who wouldn’t be when something like that was sprung on them). The other characters also begin to make their first appearances giving the story its mystery and mythology aspects, we meet Athena the Prime Minister of Olympus and her assistant Nike, Hitomi the vivacious recruiter for Olympus ESWAT, General Uranus the leader of the Olympus Regular Army, Colonel Hades his aide de camp and the Seven Elders who alongside the supercomputer Gaia are the brains behind the city of Olympus.
Two races of humanity live in Olympus; baseline humans and bioroids who are clones created by the founders of the city to assist the baseline humans rebuild society from the ashes of global conflict. Bioroids are unable to reproduce (No sex as the character Hitomis succintly puts it) and this is a major aspect of the story as it unfolds. Unfortunately there are those amongst the baseline humans who believe the bioroids mean to supplant them as the dominant species, a retelling of the ancient myth where the Titans were overthrown by the Olympians lead by Zeus. Thus it is no mistake that the main antagonist within the story, General Uranus, is named after the leader of the Titans from Greco-Roman myth. He feels that humanity will be supplanted by the bioroids in turn mirroring what happened to the Titans when the Olympians rose from the loins of their progenitors. It’s an old theme but it doesn’t quite play out as the General or even the other characters imagine it to in the end. There literally is a god in the machine that comes into play much to the surprise of everyone involved.
Naturally the level of animation in Appleseed is truly phenomenal, predominantly computer generated its quite possibly is the benchmark for computer generated animation movies. As well as the clouds in the opening credits there are a fair few scenes where you would swear they were as real as anything seen in day to day life, an abandoned research facility, a puddle in a city side street, waves lapping against the sea shore and the evening sunset on Olympus. Coupled with the realisms of the backdrops are the seemingly natural movements of the characters as well as the expressiveness of their faces. This is down to the fact that the producers actually used live actors from which they captured the movements, expressions etc for the characters via motion capture. So Appleseed is probably one of the few animated movies in recent memory that has employed this fusion of elements to create what can only be described as breathtaking animation.
But when all is said and done, Appleseed stands up well because of its story, its characters and its action which are the meat and drink of a good movie.
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