Nonureva Really Surprised!

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

grandmastersik *Note: this comment is based on the Japanese language version with English subtitles.*The first 10 minutes of this film, had it been "live action", would have cost well over $100m (or pretty much been CGI animated anyway), so I see no reason why anybody should hold the medium of this story against it.I'm not particularly an "anime" fan, but do like good stories, so when I heard about this, I thought I'd check it out.The basics of the plot are that android development, beyond a certain degree, was banned by the U.N., so Japan withdrew from global trading and threw up some kind of barrier to stop the world prying. 10 years later and a team of exo-skeleton-wearing Special Ops are - quite illegally - sent to infiltrate the nation, on suspicion of... well, who's sure? Japan withdrew from the U.N. to obviously continue android testing and development, but that's an over-sight you'll not let trouble you whilst watching.Firstly, I have to point out how impressed I was by the directing. Normally, I'll read comments here and it's clear that most reviewers don't have a clue what a director does - or should - indeed do; this film boasts excellent shots and camera movement for an overall, stunning cinematic experience. So yes, impressive directing.Another problem I usually have with Japanese cartoons is the annoying dub tracks: the men are all so mysterious or overly masculine, and the women whiny; I won't say that the Japanese do a better job, but this film had solid, natural actors give life to each and every CGI character, so that after a while, I wasn't even consciously aware that I was watching an animation.The storyline was definitely interesting and had some subtle things to link all the characters, but come the end, I simply didn't much care about them. I think a lot of this was due to the "big reveal" being much too early on, but it could also have been that, ultimately, the characters simply weren't very engaging.I'd recommend anyone into sci-fi to watch this, but I'd also warn them not to expect to get too much out of it.

tharrington-3 Shades of the Matrix, District 9, and Blade Runner combine in this brilliant film about humanity and mechanization. While it certainly draws inspiration from a lot of sources, it is very original and worth a watch. I found the exploration of the Japanese culture fascinating as well from an anthropological standpoint.On a technical level, this animation is truly astounding. It looks like a Michael Mann scifi film - if somebody gave Mann 200 million dollars. Hopefully, this technology will improve even more so interesting, intelligent stories can be made without costing an incredible amount.Watch this film. Definitely worth the 90 minutes.

Kakarot_XR **SPOILERS** I bought this movie on DVD expecting to get me through a boring night or at least give me cheap laugh at it's pitiful attempt to 'be'/'beat' Appleseed.20 Minutes into the movie. I was hooked, shocked and more importantly - GLAD I bought the film! What's so good about Vexille that it (in my opinion) tops Appleseed? It's everything as a whole! First off, the storyline.Its set in Japan in the near future.Although many say it's too weak, not interesting enough and rather linear. They fail to realise the brilliance of the story! Instead of the typical and overused human's creating robot like humans Vexille does something which is the exact opposite! It focuses on a crazy Company called 'Daiwa' which develop a virus that slowly mutates/transforms the human DNA into metal! Then they get the government to unleash an illness that requires the whole Japanese population to be vaccined. (Really, the vacination is the mutation virus). Slowly the body turns into metal then finally, the virus attacks the brain causing the brain to be taken over by the virus and then controlled, so that Daiwa can control the humanoid's! That's the jist of what has happened in Japan. I've spoiled some parts of the story, but left out what actually takes place IN the film.Now the story does have some weak points like not explaining WHY the Daiwa company are wanting to turn human's into humanoids (of course they want to take over the world, but WHY exactly?!?). And HOW exactly the government got involved in this... But that should all be explained in the next movie which will probably be a Prequel.The CGI/2D Shaded graphics design is nothing new, it's used in Appleseed. The design of the characters are much like Appleseed too, but what really makes it unique are the robots and the 'jags'! I've watched a lot of anime's and Japanese movies and let me tell you. The Jags are probably the most unique robot/enemy I have ever seen! They are the main reason why this movie differs enough from Appleseed.Again, the only problem is, we are told WHAT the Jag's are doing in Japan, but we aren't told HOW exactly they are built and etc. Another problem I hope the second movie deals wth.The movie is filled with a mix of action, drama and tension to keep you interested and not bored.Overall, Vexille is a good compact eye catching movie that will hook any anime/robot lover from start to finish.Give it a solid 8.5/10.

brimstone_fox Okay, so if you've read all of the other reviews then you know that the animation of this film is AWESOME! It's an excellent step forward for hybrid animation. Also, though not all of the reviewers agree, my opinion of the action in this film was that it was sweet and sick (in the most radical fashion.) For the animation and action alone, this film is totally worth the price of a rental. Which brings us to the plot of the film; while some reviewers thought the plot was empty or lacked merit, I am of the opinion that those reviewers probably didn't pay attention to all of the dialog. The plot was well developed, more believable than several of the big-budget live-action Hollywood films (such as The Happening, which totally sucked,) and played along the social issue of fear of technological invasiveness quite nicely, though it was a rather formulaic script. The dialog was a little weak, and there wasn't much for serious character development, but the nonverbal scripting played quite well. After all, this was an animated action flick, and quite frankly it was one of the better offerings from the anime genre in recent years. To recap, this is worth the cost of the rental if only for the visual imagery. However, if you have a well developed sensibility for the suspension of disbelief, then you will also likely enjoy the story as a whole. I know that I certainly did.