Appleseed Reviews

The second anime inspired by the 1985 philosophical sci-fi series by manga superstar Masamune Shirow (GHOST IN THE SHELL) — the first, made in 1988, was released in the U.S. only on DVD — uses state-of-the-art 3-D CGI to envision a brave new world of bioroids and monsters. In the wake of devastating future global war, the utopian city-state Olympus is the hope of the future. Its population divided evenly between human beings and bioroids — genetically engineered humanoids bred for their peacekeeping temperament — Olympus is governed by a benevolent artificial intelligence called Gaia. Gaia, the elderly human elite who interpret its dictates, the cloning facility and the seat of Olympus' government are all housed in a pair of heavily fortified, futuristic towers called Tartarus and Dedalus. Since even paradise needs protectors, bioroid Prime Minister Athena recruits legendary warrior Deunan Knute (voice of Jennifer Proud) into the service of Olympus' ESWAT defense team. Deunan's guide to Olympus, cute-as-a-button Hitomi (Mia Bradly), reveals that bioroids like herself are hated by reactionaries, many associated with the human military that coexists uneasily with the bioroid-controlled ESWAT. Veteran General Uranus and his embittered second-in-command, Hades, lead an especially vicious band of human purists. As yet unaware of the seething discontent beneath Olympus' tranquil surface, Deunan enjoys a bittersweet reunion with her lover, Briareos (James Lyon), who supposedly died in battle but was resurrected in a suit of Hekatonecles series bio-armor by Olympia's aging overlords. Briareos now looks alarmingly like a Jeff Koons steel-bunny sculpture pumped up with steroids, but retains his human emotions and memories. After a devastating terrorist attack, Deunan and Briareos uncover a conspiracy to upset the human-bioroid balance of power in Olympus. In the course of their investigations, Deunan learns that the key to the future of humanity lies in her own past. The film's animation is breathtaking, even though the much-touted 3-D modeling makes it look like a high-end video game without interactivity. As is generally the case with anime, the wide-eyed human characters pale next to the intricately rendered backgrounds and meticulously imagined machines; the film's lingering exploration of their sleek surfaces verges on roboporn. 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 that inevitably roll in behind proper names like Hades, Tartarus, Athena et al. Set your brain to "off" for maximum enjoyment.