Appleseed Alpha
Appleseed AlphaSet in a different series of events, this story does not follow the previous Appleseed movie canon (despite being directed by the same director of the previous movies); it is an alternate story to their beginnings. Briareos is already a cyborg and did not become separated from Deunan to be later reunited in Olympus to join ESWAT. Appleseed Alpha depicts the early days of Deunan Knute and Briareos in the 22nd century, as they embark on a journey throughout dystopic ruins of New York in search of the city of Olympus. They are hired by Two Horns, the warlord of the ruined city, to eliminate bipedal combat machines. During the fight, they encounter Iris (voiced by Brina Palencia) and Olson, both on a mission. Deunan and Briareos befriend them and decide to join their mission. Iris is tasked with preventing the malevolent cyborg Talos from capturing a secret weapon humans were building. Talos uses Iris to activate the gigantic war machine. (Source: Wikipedia)
Reviews
hermann.colton - 2014-07-27 05:14:05
I've never seen any Appleseed before this, so this is a fairly unbiased review.
The first thing I want to comment on is the CGI. This is the closest to photo-realistic I have ever seen CGI get. Really I found myself astonished multiple times. The character close-ups were amazingly detailed and the backdrops truly looked photo-realistic most of the time. The animation itself is very well done. The characters move fluidly and realistically. My only beef with the animation would be that the humvee moved like a block of wood (no suspension?).
Like I said before, I had heard of Appleseed before this but I had never actually watched any of it or understood what it was about. I read somewhere that this is a "re-imagining" and somewhere else I read that this is kind of a prequel, of Deunan and Briareos' early days together. All that said, I really enjoyed it.
I found the story to be interesting. Compelling. The characters were well developed and very likable. Even the bad guy was compellingly deranged.
The voice acting was done amazingly as well. I think that has a lot to do with the characters being so well developed and likable. The sound effects were very well done as well.
All in all, I was extremely impressed with the production value on this film. It really did seem like a high-budget AAA film. I am now definitely interested in seeing more of the Appleseed incarnations because of this film. I read some of the first impressions from fans when the trailer was released; many of them sounded upset or skeptical. As a newcomer to the series, I can say I truly enjoyed this one and definitely recommend it.