It's an exceedingly brilliant combination of future shock set-up and old school moralizing, a deconstruction of what it means to be human rendered in tech tones so slick that you often forget you're watching a cartoon.
Appleseed (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:7
Rotten:25
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: While visually arresting, Appleseed's narrative and dialogue pondering existentialism is ponderous, awkward, and clumsy.
Theatrical Release:Jan 14, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $79,818
Synopsis: The year is 2131. A non-nuclear war has left the earth barren. Deunan Knute roams the badlands, one of the many soldiers who, with lines of communication cut, continue to fight, unaware that the... The year is 2131. A non-nuclear war has left the earth barren. Deunan Knute roams the badlands, one of the many soldiers who, with lines of communication cut, continue to fight, unaware that the war has ended. Deunan is never one to take things lying down: a highly trained soldier with police and SWAT experience, she is prepared for nearly anything -- but not for the heavily armed helicopter that assaults her without warning. Before she realizes what's going on, Deunan is losing consciousness: her last thought is a hazy realization that she's been hit by a tranquilizer. Not only that, but one of the perpetrators is her old love Briareos. He has arrived with the beautiful Hitomi to intercept Deunan and take her back with them to the enigmatic utopia, Olympus. Deunan, now safe in the futuristic city, is awakened by the comforting voice of her ex-lover. But Briareos is not as she remembers him: indeed, he is now hardly human. He tells her the sobering events that occurred in her absence: after suffering a grave injury on the front lines in North Africa, his only chance for survival involved a dramatic surgical process -- or more accurately, a full overhaul that involved a replacement of all his broken parts. In other words, he became a cyborg -- in his case over 75% mechanical. And the city of Olympus -- Deunan soon finds out -- is now the head of the new world order. When the non-nuclear war ended, and no single superpower came out on top, the orderly utopian city filled the role of leadership in the ensuing political vacuum. Globally, the status of Olympus is now such that the "unsupervised countries" actually depend on its assistance to survive. The next day, Deunan files her immigration papers, becoming the most recent arrival to the oddly serene city. Hitomi insists on taking Deunan to the legislature, and shows her the sights of the city on the way. When Deunan sees the contented looks on the faces of the citizens of Olympus, she feels tranquil, even at peace. But the sensation is quickly interrupted by Hitomi's matter-of-fact revelation: that over half of the "model citizens" that inhabit Olympus are precision clones called Bioroids, of which Hitomi is one herself. The Bioroids were purportedly created for the benefit of humankind, "to encourage stability in human society," but nevertheless, the alarming news plants a seed of doubt within Deunan. When Hitomi and Deunan arrive at the legislature, they are greeted by the members of the Council: seven sage-like elders whose ongoing conversation with the supercomputer Gaia collectively forms the "will" that controls Olympus. But effectively, Bioroids are in political control, and they are quietly advancing a plan that could affect the fate of the human legacy. Add to this the fact that Briareos, despite his romantic past with Deunan, now hardly gives her the time of day, it's no wonder that Deunan feels a little nostalgic about life in the badlands, despite the utopia right around her. Why has Briareos changed? Can the Bioroids be trusted? Does Olympus represent an ideal, or a nightmare? Deunan must face her own tortured past, and overcome the disorienting present, in a battle over the future of humanity itself! -- © Geneon Entertainment [More]
Starring: Jennifer Proud, James Lyon
Starring: Jennifer Proud, James Lyon
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Producer: Fumihiko Sori
Studio: Geneon Entertainment
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Release:
Jun 30, 2009
Reviews for Appleseed
the viewer who abstracts away from the more adolescent elements of plot will find that Appleseed has plenty of ideas at its core to keep the mind stimulated.
The stock characters and leaden stretches of expository dialogue are welcome evidence that there's still no computer program capable of telling a decent story.
Shinji Aramaki’s anime action-adventure is outstanding in technical if not narrative terms.
It's busy, stiff, artificial graphics are a perfect match for its busy, stiff, artificial plot.
It’s an impressive effort, packed with ideas and good action scenes, but still trots out a clichéd plot about a super-soldier babe, a race of meek artificial people, giant robot suits, confusing conspiracies and a lot of explosions.
With all that gorgeous imagery, you'd think the filmmakers would have found a way to tell the story visually without using mountains of expositional dialogue.
Newbie viewers will be left twiddling their thumbs while waiting for Deunen's next bout of butt-kicking action sequences.
The filmmakers are too busy trying to justify their futuristic world, and not enough actually exploring it.
With so much going on in every frame, Appleseed is one of those anime projects that shouts you to sleep.
There's a little too much talking and not as many battle scenes as we would've liked, but Appleseed is still a decent pick.
Unfortunately, the story is painfully recycled, heavily indebted to Blade Runner (1982), along with healthy dollops of Beauty and the Beast, Isaac Asimov's robot stories and the mythological echoes.
Yes, it looks good, but it doesn't come close to exploring the grand themes it has in mind, or to ascending anywhere near the landmarks of anime.
The action scenes might grab you, but there's a lot of talky downtime.
Though Appleseed has its selling points, it's not an especially strong entry in the genre, despite the presence of so many pneumatic heroines.
This long-overdue big-screen adaptation makes it hard to tell what was so revolutionary about the series.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 45% 45% | Ice Age: Dawn of the D… |
| 19% 19% | Transformers: Revenge … |
| 55% 55% | Orphan |
| 43% 43% | The Proposal |
| 26% 26% | Land of the Lost |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 98% 98% | Up |
| 88% 88% | Ballast |
| 67% 67% | The Merry Gentleman |
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