Customer Reviews

Vexille - Movie

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

As a fan of Asian cinema, I've often wondered why I haven't reviewed more Japanese anime. Traditional anime has very complex storylines that can put most movies to shame. "VEXILLE" (a.k.a. Vexille 2077 Nihon Sakaku, Isolation) is from the same folks responsible for Appleseed and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C.. Director Fumihiko Sori and writer Haruka Handa's latest is a blend of traditional 2 dimensional animation and 3-D effects that gives us a vision of a futuristic world. People who saw Appleseed may notice the similarities to Masamune Shirow's futuristic designs since they both worked on the 2004 hit animated film.

The story in "Vexille" begins as Daiwa Industries leads Japan in technological advancements as an attempt for Imperial Aspirations (recalls Japan in WWII). Daiwa began experimenting in extreme cloning, bio-engineering human tissue to combine with machine parts. Enraged with these experiments, the U.N. orders Japan to cease all activities. In retaliation, Japan sanctions a rule of total isolation from the rest of the world, and the country even goes as far as generating a magnetic force field around its borders.
After 10 years, American intelligence intercepts information that Japan has developed a procedure that can turn humans into cyborgs. A black ops group called "S.W.O.R.D." is sent to infiltrate isolated Japan to find the truth of this matter and stop it if necessary. Vexille, one of the commando units sent to Japan soon finds herself the lone survivor who may be able to stop Daiwa with its sinister plans. She hooks up with Maria and her gang of renegades to infiltrate Daiwa. But is Maria more than what she seems? The shocking secret may be more than they bargained for....

I've read that "Vexille" wasn't such a huge hit when it came out in Japan. Perhaps, anime fans experienced some "cyberpunk" overload because there are quite a lot of features that show a futuristic world with "mechas" involved; or maybe because the plot in "Vexille" portrays the country as a "rogue" government in the world's eyes. I wouldn't know the true reason. But this original work by Sori and Handa seemed too similar to Shirow's past works. It incorporates familiar themes of the usual corporate entity that wants to play God, a strong-willed, gutsy but beautiful heroine, futuristic military weaponry and the premise of man vs. machine or the morality of man and machine. The film may actually be homage to Masamune Shirow.

The animation in "Vexille" is kind of a mixed bag. I loved the fact that the characters don't have the usual over-expressive "bulging" eyes, odd colored hair and perfect complexion. Vexille and Maria (as well the entire supporting cast) looked almost realistic in their features, it sidestepped the usual anime conventions that we're used to in the past. Their movements are also very fluid and smooth that outshines the motion capture in "Beowulf" but comes a lot short of the quality of the fantastic animation in "Final Fantasy: Advent Children". I also found it a bit amusing that Americans looked like they're mixed and still looked a tad Asian. (Not complaining, just stating an observation) Also, I saw this film in its original Japanese language; voice actors Yasuko Matsuyuri as sexy rebel, Maria (This character makes me want to become a cartoon) and Meisa Kuroki as Vexille do a very decent job in expressing emotions.

The film totally looks enchanting with the execution of CGI and traditional cell animation. The effects work by Oxybot is perfect for this type of movie. "Vexille" seems to borrow elements from Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner and even Dune. (You'll be impressed once you see the "Jags") The one fault that the film has, that somewhat lost its effectiveness is the lack of dramatic impact. The story is deep enough to keep experienced viewers interested but the execution seemed a bit lackluster. It opted to settle for the usual histrionics and missed a fantastic opportunity for emotional content by exploring the dramatic repercussions of the film's main premise. Graphics can only carry an animated feature so far.

Overall, I did enjoy "Vexille" more than I did "Appleseed Ex Machina". I guess I'm so used to Anime with all the dramatic elements explored that I was somewhat disappointed. The film had all the dynamic potential with its deep premise that wasn't fully realized.

Recommended! For Japanese Anime or Sci-Fi films FANS! [3 ½ Stars]

After reading a short synopsis and the Japanese version trailer of this movie (when looking for something to go see one evening), I figured I'd check it out. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of Japanese anime, though some of it is cool, and I'm not normally a big fan of animated drama/action in general, but WOW was Vexille a pleasant surprise! If I had to compare it to something, I would say it's Final Fantasy meets Titan A.E. and maybe a little bit of the Matrix.

The animation style was just beautiful! The mix of cartoon with computer-generated animation was a brilliant sight to behold. The scenes in this movie had fantastic dimension, color, style, and a totally mesmerizing quality. It definitely made it very easy to find myself drawn into this futuristic world.

The story is great too! Good character development and a sci-fi element that is at least partially believable (and certainly, if nothing else, entertaining). Set in the year 2077, the technology is slick, clever, and cool - yet not so far fetched that you can't imagine the possibilities suggested. Unplug and buy into the fantasy and you'll have a great time. The movie has a bit of a Matrix quality in that (aside from its obvious political elements) there is the strong sense of an underlying (almost spiritual) theme driving the story but it's just far enough removed from the surface story that you can dig for messages if you want to or just enjoy the ride without getting into the philosophy of the film. I like movies that have multi-faceted elements like this. It made me want to see it again to try and draw more out of it.

In short, the movie is great! It's more of a drama than out and out action (so it might strike some viewers as a little slow-paced in places), but the action is fun and the story is good. The characters are such that you care about them and that draws you even further into the story. There is also some cool music in the film, well placed with the various scenes and unique enough so that it doesn't strike as typical. My favorite songs are "Target Practice" by Asian Dub Foundation, "Bird Flu" by M.I.A. and "The Virus" by Paul Oakenfold. Again, the artwork and C.G. effects are beautiful and really fun to watch.

I loved the movie and would see it again (and will) because I'm ordering it today! Parents who are curious about the content will be happy to know that there are no sexual themes in this film. There is a light sub context of a love story present, but it's not the main focus of the film. There is sci-fi action and violence but nothing bloody or grotesque. There is a little bit of language, thus earning it its PG-13 rating.

If you like anime or just good sci-fi, both elements should please. I recommend it.

I'm not a huge Anime fan, I used to be during the first real big boom here in the States, but quickly got tired of it as alot of it all kinda seems the same to me. Don't get me wrong, I still love the classics such as "Ghost In The Shell", "Ninja Scroll", "Fist Of The Northstar", "Guyver", "Neon Genesis", "Gundam", "Robotech", anything from Miyazaki/"Studio Ghibli" & (of course, my very favorite of them all) "Macross Plus", but I don't know. It just kinda seems that production started going downhill & people were just eating up anything so long as it was a cartoon with characters with big eyes & spikey hair coming out of Japan. There just wasn't anything impressive or exciting anymore for me to oogle at.

I'll be honest & start by saying the main problem I have with most Anime is that they're almost all always soooooooooooooooooo over dramatic. I wind up getting put to sleep by the 1st 20 minutes of lovey-dovey crap before they get to the 5 minutes of big cool robot eye candy action part. Otherwise they're usually way to kiddie/cutesy/cuddley for me. The other thing that winds up bothering me is that the voice acting doesn't always transfer over well when done in English. The other option there is to watch it with the original Japanese language & then just read the subtitles, but it kinda takes you out of the movie having to read everything. In some case it's worth it (for me at least), but that's not always the case. Well, "Vexille" doesn't suffer from any of this at all, in fact it's AMAZING!!!

"Vexille" is from the creators of Anime classic "Appleseed", so right away you should know you're getting into something of quality. It's done in the same style as "Karas" from 2007 & the newer "Appleseed" titles with equal parts of both CGI & traditional animation. Let me tell ya, I'm being wowed again with the abundance of eye-candy through out this film. While "Karas" suffered in story (I didn't know what was going on through out that entire movie), "Vexille" doesn't.

I'm not gonna go into the plot of the movie (I hate it when reviewers do that & then ruin the entire film for anyone reading), as I'm sure there'll be plenty of other reviews that'll do that if you're interested. Just know that you're getting, some seriously epic sci-fi, action packed, animation just as good as any big budget summer flic in the theatre (why this wasn't in theatres is beyond me). Also, the score/soundtrack is done by electronic music legend Paul Oakenfold. It's a fast paced futuristic sound that only adds to the feel of the film.

Bottom line, check this movie out whether you're an Anime junky or are just plane looking for a great action movie, I'm sure glad I did!!

P.S. Where's the Blu-Ray?!?!?!

As I have mention in my extremely few Japanese Animation movie reviews I have not been a fan. But if more films like "VEXILLE" are produced I may just have to buy them. To me this is more of a Sci-Fi Anime film with lots of action. And an original score that enhances the viewing pleasure.

In this movie we have Daiwa Industries, a Japanese technological giant, making huge leaps of advancements in robotics. They have taken the technology so far that the world is worried about what direction they will take their research. With revelations of their experimenting with bioengineering of humans, the U.N. with the assent of the rest of the world place strict limits on the use of robotic technology.

With this edict form the U.N., Japan decides to withdraw from the U.N. and is able to completely seal off Japan from all prying eyes by use of a magnetic force field around its borders. But ten years later the U.S.A. learns that Daiwa may have perfected a procedure to turn humans into cyborgs and give them an appearance of having human biometrics.

This is the critical information that is needed to make S.W.O.R.D., a black op organization that is outside the protection of all nations, take action. With plausibly deniability in place, S.W.O.R.D. is ordered to infiltrate Japan and find out how far their research has progressed and too see if they are developing forbidden robotic biotechnology!

I found this a very entertaining Sci-Fi film with tried and true formula of man fighting machine. This action pack film is the first Japanese Anime film I know I will watch multiple times.

This is a very good futuristic, woman in trouble story with some very serious bad guys, both machine and android. It's 2077, Japan has been ostracized by the world because they refuse to stop robotic research. In fact, Daiwa, an evil take over the world kind of Japanese corporate monster has come up with a way to turn humans into androids, thus making people better in their opinion. Of course, the humans might have a different point of view.

Vexile, the star of the show, is a member of an elite commando group called SWORD and they've been charged with sneaking into Japan and finding out once and for all what Daiwa is up to. However, the group is ambushed, but Vexile escapes with her life, her companions, save for one other, are all killed.

Vexile is taken in by Maria, who is the head of a group of Japanese who want to bring down Daiwa. Maria tells Vexile that Daiwa plans on turning all the people on the planet into androids. Maria has a daring plan to stop them and Vexile joins her.

So there you have the basics of what I thought was a very good movie. The animation was very life like, the shadows and reflections looked real. The sound effects were first rate and the people, though obviously animated, started to seem pretty darned real to me as the movie progressed. I can just imagine what they'll be turning out in a few years. Anyway, two thumbs up from me.

At the heart of every good movie, television series, or novel is a solid story that attracts the reader's attention in every sentence, paragraph, page, or scene. In Vexille, the crisp computer enhanced animation and moody choice of colors stood out in every scene, complementing this type story at every turn. The dialogue, vocals, and content were of a high production quality and only served to create three dimensional personalities for each of the main characters. The techno-style musical samplings were often apropos for the action scenes.

A humorous scene of note was near the beginning where Vexille, the central female character, was headed into what appears to be a drive-through coffee retailer. I half-jokingly exclaimed it was the Starbucks of 2077 right before I saw a robot server present Vexille with a coffee cup that resembled the current Starbucks cup. Although the technology has progressed by leaps and bounds in 2077, the writers felt it was apt to link it to an important aspect of the "past" which is humanity's need for comfort, nurturing, and relaxation in the form of coffee or comfort foods.

Another action sequence worth mentioning involved the guerrilla fighters setting out to invade Daiwa. The buggy engines sounded similar to 4-stroke 4V DOHC engines used in Japanese hyper sport bikes. This connection to the past (our present) shows how resourceful the guerrilla fighters can be even when facing an external foe (Daiwa) and internal enemy (the nanites that are converting human cells into the bio-metal). I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen. The background score "Jag Fight" was done by Paul Oakenfold, and at first I thought it was Oakenfold's "Ready, Steady, Go" which sounds similar. Nonetheless, I thought the score was extremely apropos for the high-paced action sequence. It carries the same sense of speed and urgency that the characters are experiencing.

Overall, Vexille has a solid plot, excellent CG-enhanced animation, great dialogue, copious robots/mecha, powered suits, and technology up the wazoo. Vexille would fit right into any Sci-Fi fan's DVD collection. My only complaint is that it was rather short. I would be interested in watching a sequel if one were available!

It doesn't come as a huge surprise that "Vexille" is from the people who brought the world "Appleseed" and its even better sequel "Appleseed Ex Machina."

And in "Vexille," the cyberpunk flavor, the big mecha, and the futuristic world full of political and technological conflict are all firmly in place, along with some pretty slam-bang action sequences and a darker, grittier feeling. While it lacks some character development and feels rather bleak at times, it's still a pretty entertaining story -- now if only it had fleshed out the main cast a little more.

About seventy years in the future, the world is worried about the advancement of robotics technology. So the UN orders them restricted, and Japan decides to cut itself off from the rest of the world.

But ten years later, a biomechanical leg shows the UN just what has been going on in Japan. So the American tech police known as SWORD are sent into Japan to find out if the isolated country has been doing illegal robotics research, which no other country allows. They aren't, and the movie ends there. Seriously, the Daiwa Corporation has decided to guide mankind's evolution through machinery, and the the SWORD agents are met with a very warm, nasty welcome.

After being rescued by the rebel Maria, Vexille finds that the biorobotics Daiwa Corporation has reduced the once-proud Japan to a vast, barren slum devoid of truly human life. Even worse, a nanotech "vaccine" transforms the Japanese into mindless machines. Vexille's only hope of saving herself -- and her lover Leon -- is to join forces with a small band of rebels before Japan is completely destroyed by Daiwa.

"Vexille" is a very different animal from the "Appleseed" movies. While it has the nimble shiny mecha and exploding buildings, the focus is on political machinations and evil corporations whose morality makes your hair stand on end. There's no utopia here for our tough heroine -- it's more like one of the outer circles of Dante's Hell.

The scenes in Vexille's home are colourful and streamlined, set in a futuristic city. But things get darker soon, taking us to the sickly yellow light and shabby shanty town of Japan, and things don't lighten up. And that devastated Japan is a pretty brilliant creation, both in its decayed misery and in the bleak future that its few remaining "fragments of humanity" have. The big flaw: the characters spend loooooong stretches of the movie just grimly talking to each other, with too little action.

Fortunately when there IS action, the fight scenes are top-notch in quality -- it has exploding buildings, missiles, battling mecha and chases through a marketplace. The fight scenes grow in intensity as Vexille and Maria reach the climactic confrontation with the Big Bad Guy. And the semi-apocalyptic finale is both shocking and inevitable -- as well as a helluva way to end a movie.

And then there's the jags, which are also quite cool -- giant wormlike masses of technology and metal that devour anything they come across. Not only are they wonderfully freaky, but they come across as a sort of cyber-sandworm from "Dune." Lovely.

And the animation is pretty astounding, though it has an oddly rotoscoped look in some action scenes. It's detailed and gloriously vivid, despite its grimy, shadowy look. And that includes exquisite details like snowflakes being individually swept from a windshield, or a reflection in a transparent helmet -- or even a smooth-skinned, nimble mecha exploding into a building with almost stunning speed. This glorious look almost makes up for the stretches of relatively action-free plot.

Perhaps its biggest weakness is in the characterization. It feels like they put a lot of effort into creating lifelike-looking characters. But despite the spunky Vexille and some touching moments from the Japanese cyborgs, the characters never quite come alive. Call it the "Final Fantasy: Spirits Within" effect. The best-rounded character is probably Maria, the tragic rebel leader who also provides a little romantic tension for our elf-faced heroine.

"Vexille" is a flawed little semiprecious gem -- brilliant animation, a tough heroine and mildly horrific Japan. Flawed, but has plenty of chills and explosions.

The first thing to note about this film is that the graphics are (for the most part) pretty incredible and lifelike -- so much so that occasionally I forgot I was watching an animated film. That does credit to the animators, but can detract a bit from the experience because judged as a live action film Vexille is pretty hokey and melodramatic. In my experience I can be a lot more forgiving about odd or stilted characters in an animated film because they feel more like a dream that should be considered on its own merits and not compared to other things. When this film started to feel closer to but not quite like a live action film I couldn't help but compare it to the artificiality and stilted acting that comes up in a lot of ambitious but unsuccessful CGI films. To their credit, the filmmakers chose to render the characters in a way that wasn't totally lifelike (and avoided the strangeness of a film like Final Fantasy, or, worse, The Polar Express), and that took a little of the edge off, reminding me that the film should be assessed as an anime.

As far as the story goes, there are some intriguing new elements mixed in with ideas from Ghost in the Machine and Appleseed. According to the story Japan closed its borders due to increasing pressure from other countries to stop developing its android program. Ten years later they've reached a point where their androids are indistinguishable from humans and are beginning to replace world leaders with their own creations. A covert US group called SWORD works their way into Japan's borders in order to discover what they are up to -- and it turns out that things have proceeded much further than anyone expected. One of my favorite elements of the film were the metallic wormlike giants that inhabited the wastelands -- their structure was obviously an homage to the worms in Dune but they were distinctive enough and impressive enough on screen that they felt original. It is not entirely clear why the filmmakers chose to make this story ultimately one about Vexille, the main character. I guess you have to have a main character, and it may as well be a tough woman with a soft spot for the lover she fears she is going to lose, but the fact that the film is named after her suggests it is about some profound life discovery that is personal to her. It really isn't. The film is mostly about a couple of US military types and some rebellious Japanese trying to stop an insane robotics expert from taking over the world. The subplot, about Vexille's confused emotions and concern about her lover, who seems to harbor dark secrets or regrets from the past, doesn't really come across very clearly and tends to detract from the primary story when it surfaces. This film won't be an enduring classic like Akira or Ghost in the Shell or Paprika, but overall I found this to be an enjoyable flick, and one to watch if you are interested in computer animation or like robot or cyberpunk style stories and fun science fiction.

The time is seventy years in the future and the Japanese have taken robotic technology to a whole nother level, combining robotics with biology. When the Japanese first started going down this road, the UN passed a resolution which forbade this kind of android technology, so caused Japan to withdrew from the world community, hiding their country under an electronic shield which kept everyone and everything, including satellite images out.

The book opens with a meeting held by Daiwa Industiries, everybody at the meeting dies just before SWORD, a high tech, super trained commando unit raids the meeting. It seems the Japanese have gone ahead and created the most dangerous kind of android. SWORD must infiltrate into Japan and get to the bottom of it all.

Vexile is a tough and determined female soldier who was on that raid and she is a member of the unit that sneaks into Japan. The unit is ambushed, everybody is killed save Vexile who gets away and her pal Leon who gets captured. Now Vexile must save Leon, but that's not her only problem. It seems like Tokyo just isn't there anymore, the Japanese people, those who are left, are something less than human and the whole world is in danger and Vexile must save it along with Leon.

This is a good story with great animation and super sound. There is plenty of tension, great bad guys and super monsters who seem very much like sandworms right out of the pages of DUNE. I really enjoyed this movie.

It is 2077 and Japan has checked out of the world because of a moratorium issued by the U.N. on advancing robotic research. They (the rest of the world) didn't like the biological direction the Japanese were taking with their robots, so the Japanese developed an electrical magnetic field which shields their country from both satellites and outsiders.

Now, because of a raid in the States gone wrong, the U.S. has discovered the Japanese are violating treaties and decides to infiltrate the county by sending in their top agents, a group called SWORD. Their job, find out what Diawa Robotics are up to.

Vexile and her main squeeze Leon are among the team that goes in. However, they're ambushed on arrival, Vexile gets away, Leon is captured and the rest of the team is killed. Vexile wakes up in a very different kind of Tokyo that was there ten years ago and now the job to find out what is going on is left to her. Plus, her problem has gotten a little bigger, now the fate of the world is in the balance. If she fails, everybody dies.

I liked this movie a whole lot more than I thought I was going to. The animation was first rate, the soundtrack outstanding and those guys working the Foley box (the sound effects people) really did shine. The movie has a very fast pace and I thought it was stunning.