Neighbors 2014 Dual Audio Robocop Costume

'Appleseed: Ex Machina' is not the future of Japanese Anime' (Japanese animation) but it's still a very entertaining animated feature done in the spirit of its predecessor 'Appleseed' (2004), and other classic Anime' such as 'Akira' (1988) and 'Ghost in the Shell' (1995). It's also wise to not overlook the contributions of American sci-fi like 'Blade Runner' (1982), 'The Terminator' (1984) and 'RoboCop' (1987), with a little helping of 'The Matrix' (1999) for extra measure.

RoboCop: Blu-ray I wondered. It probably didn’t matter that critics were split down the middle on the 2014 release, which cost more than $100 million to make.

'Appleseed: Ex Machina' comes to us from Hong Kong action veteran John Woo and director Shinji Aramaki. It's a continuation of the Manga (Japanese comic book) by Shirow Masamune, who also wrote ye old 'Ghost in the Shell.' 'Ex Machina' is a visually dazzling animated feature from Japan that's almost completely CGI with a little bit of hand-drawn animation and motion-capture work. The story is rich in thematic ideas and intelligence, namely Greek mythology and the unconditional love between humans and machines, but it could have used a little bit more polishing in the character department, allowing 'Appleseed: Ex Machina' to rise above above-average storytelling. The characters also seem a little one-dimensional, too. The film follows the adventures of a paramilitary task force called E.S.W.A.T.

And its operations in 2199 Olympus, a futuristic utopia where humans, cyborgs, and bio-engineered human beings called 'bioroids' are attempting to live in perfect harmony. However, a series of random terrorist attacks perpetrated by cyborgs and humans alike threaten to throw Olympus into total chaos. As it turns out, these humans and machines have come under the influence of an unknown electronic signal that hacks into their nervous systems and they then become the unwilling servants of a malevolent computerized entity. Thrown into the action is the plucky female E.S.W.A.T. Warrior Deunan Knute and her cyborg lover/partner Briareos as they investigate these bizarre occurrences with the other members of their unit. Things become complicated when a bioroid named Tereus, who resembles Briareous in his human form, joins their unit and threatens to come between their relationship.

But these three must put aside their differences to face an even greater threat that promises world destruction in its wake. From the opening moments of this stunning animated feature, I was pretty drawn in. I can tell that this was a very expensive piece of Anime' from Japan. John Woo's influence is everywhere in 'Appleseed: Ex Machina,' not limited to dual-wielding weapons and flocks of birds appearing before the action breaks out. Like I said earlier, problems arise with some fairly deficient characters, but with enough action and special effects splashed across the eyes of this viewer, it's only a minor complaint.

Japanese Anime' continues to be a rapidly evolving genre of film-making that shows no signs of going away any time soon. It is clear that more groundbreaking Anime' does need to come out if the genre plans to make a big splash in the West. I saw this movie on Blu-ray, and it was fantastic!

On the surface, the Appleseed Ex Machina may appear to be a glitzy, shoot'em-up anime mecha action show. And on that, it is fabulously rendered.

But there is more, much more in the offerings for those who are willing to appreciate them. For those with open mind and are willing to peer into the multi-thread story lines, they are in for visual delights that are woven with thought-provoking ideas about: the pursuit of utopia leading to dystopia, introspection and what makes us human and authentic, coping with the past and really facing yourself to find a path forward, the self-actuation process of a clone, and (corny as it may sound)­ unwavering love that transcends the human-machine line. Call me trite simple but I LOVE it! Those who are highly critical of this 3D anime movie might have missed great offerings from a fairly new medium.

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There is no need for such innate fears of CGI – it will never replace human actors (those that tried, for instance, the Final Fantasy: A Spirit Within, flopped utterly in such attempts), but it will expand the anime genre and broaden it with fantastic visual appeal. Regarding the Blu-ray video quality, some 'Blu-ray experts' did not think it was crisp enough for Blu-ray. Well, my take on it is that the softness is deliberate, in part to help focus the viewer's eyes on the important parts of a scene, and in part to heighten the human aspects of the story.

It says this movie is not all about the CGI glitz but that it has gone beyond that so the viewer can enjoy the highly stylized actions and romantic moments. The video bit rate is fairly good, generally range from high teens to around high 20s Mbps. It's not the best encoding, however, because you can see some color banding (when the color gradient is supposed to be smooth) and, occasionally, jagged line definitions. There are only a few compression artifacts that I could see. By the way, I thought the CGI rendering STYLE, was excellent – it sort of infuses the feel of cell animation into the smoothness of 3D CGI animation.