Appleseed: Ex Machina

The second film in the series adapted from Masamune Shirow's manga. In Olympus, a city built after the war, the boundary between human and machine is a political question. Deunan and her half cyborg partner Briareos investigate the mass hijacking of a communication device people wear on their bodies. Everything is rendered in three dimensions, but the shading is tuned to imitate hand drawn animation. The result cuts both ways. In motion it is fluid and genuinely impressive, while in close up the faces go inert and carry no feeling at all. Shinji Aramaki directed and John Woo is among the producers, which shows: two handed gunplay, the poses, the choreography, even the bird imagery. The weakness is the script. Its idea about fear of technology stays on the surface, the relationship at the centre is handled in a few lines, and newcomers to the series will struggle to get in. Who it is for: fans of cyberpunk action animation. Who it is not for: viewers who want serious science fiction.