Story; 7. Admittedly, this is not really the strong point of either of these movies; moreso this one. While I enjoyed it a great deal more than Ex Machina, the story itself was much less developed. It's difficult to explain really, because the premise here is more engaging, however it isn't elaborated on thoroughly enough and the climactic battle scene paled in comparison to numerous scenes earlier, which made the build up kind of worthless. They had good ideas, they just executed them poorly. And the pacing felt rushed; I wanted more at the end, and sadly there was none.
Art; 10. This is probably the high point of the whole Appleseed deal; the art. Unlike CGI films like Advent Children and Resident Evil, Appleseed looks clearly like an anime in many aspects. The characters have the now-traditional doe eyes, impossibly colored hair, and fairly small mouths. However, this traditional anime look was fed through a CG filter, and the end result I think is most closely akin to cel-shaded video games, but much more detailed. And the art served the action well, and all of the characters looked quite cool. Some of the coolest art around, it's a shame no one else really has done anything with it.
Sound; 9. The Basement Jaxx are a musical act I have followed for years, so the opening title was a treat. Paul Oakenfold, among others, lent this soundtrack a very befitting cyberpunk feel, and was never used in a distracting manner. Nice work.
Character; 7. This should be higher, because I liked nearly all the characters. Hitomi, Deunan, Briareos; they all had awesome character models, and the idea of the continuing romance between a full fledged machine and a human was honestly a sweet idea. But they didn't make this long enough! Therefore, the characters lack a lot of depth, as cool as they all are.
Enjoyment/Overall; 8. Appleseed and Appleseed Ex Machina are solid futuristic, scifi thrills. The art is really creative and fun, the music is atmospheric and well placed, and the cast (though undeveloped) is colorful and enjoyable. I'd really like to see a full series come out of these movies, because they have a lot of really wonderful material. But until then, these movies are more than enough for anyone who falls into this niche. I just wish we had more!
