Review of Vexille (2007) by Ken E — 18 Oct 2009

Vexille was produced by the same people who came up with the 'Appleseed' saga, so it's no wonder that this film bears a close resemblance to its cousin. However, where Appleseed fails, Vexille succeeds.

Here's the plot. "2077 comes around and the world becomes extremely modern. Robotic technology has advanced at an incredible rate and the U.N. realizes that these advances could pose a threat to mankind as a whole. The mere thought that cyborgs could be running around the world has the U.N. scared. So a unanimous decision to decided to ban all robotic and bio-organic technologies around the world, in the case that these created beings might become self aware and turn on the humans (Terminator anyone?) Japan however, does not like this decision and they pull out of the U.N. and throw themselves into isolation. They set up a network of satellites to prevent any communication to enter the country, as well as a radar shield to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the island. It's been 10 years since Japan placed themselves under isolation, and with that shield generator up, there's no way to spy on them unless you physically enter. So under the suspicion of several rumors that Japan is conducting experiments for cyborg technologies, The United States Government sends in a special forces branch of the United States Navy known as SWORD, in order to determine what Japan is really doing under the cover of those shields." What you'll find out will surprise you, this movie will have you immersed in it.

Appleseed had a similar plot, so seeing robots plague this movie was no surprise.The whole 'cyborg-robot thing' had definitely been done before, but no where has so much political thought gone into a Anime CG movie as this one. It was very interesting how they came up with a real setting and actual government agencies (except for SWORD), and to incorporate them in a unique manner. This plot has plenty of secrets, twists, and interesting facts. Although some of the plot surprises lack some of the punch you'd expect, they still have that 'wow factor' I'm always looking for in movies. Almost as if you were thinking, "I didnt expect that." You'll be shocked to see exactly what Japan has been doing for an entire decade behind a wall of satellites. The extent they'll go to fool, trick and even decieve those who are trying to figure out what Japan is doing. Its almost scary to think that some of these tings are actually possible.

The writers explained everything to a great detail, not so much to where you feel offended, but to the point where you know why this or that happened. You never have to wonder whats going on, or why this or that person acted a certain way during a scene in the movie. The great part about this approach is that when a certain part of plot is revealed the movie will momentarily show the viewer what's its referring to so no one will get lost. I Loved that about this movie. Some people wont like that, but I thought it could help any viewer understand what's going on.

The tone in this movie is definitely serious, although there wasn't too much depth in any individual character, the realism of the story makes up for that. I mean, there wasn't too much character analysis but there was enough to know why a certain character acted in a certain way. The main characters, which are both women, are examined to a certain degree but not to the point where you know what size dress she wears. You know....it was enough for the movie thats basically what I wanna say.

The animation in the movie was top notch. The character models actually looked like a mix between anime and photorealism. You wont see any crazy looking things here, anime is famous for that for making humans have unproportional eyes, heads, etc. Here everything looks pretty much normal. Some sunset scenes in the movie look extremely real, as well as some of the parts where they show the ocean. The water looks with such realistic motion, its almost creppy.

The action is very good. The opening scene reminded me of Gi Joe: Rise of Cobra. That scene for me, set the bar high and also set the pace of the film. Its just pure cyber suit bashing in the opening scene and I was very impressed. The front cover says "Balls to the wall action." I'm not sure what that means. I dont know if I have to wear a cup when I see this, or should I be aware of anyone who might want to staple me to the wall by my nads....I dont know. I do know however that the action in this movie is really well done. There's a scene like GI Joe, a throwback to the Star Wars death star chase scene in Episode 4 and just pure gun and kick boxing action. It was pretty pulse pounding, the director really knows how to add depth to simple action. He makes it look so much more. Its like Michael Bay with Transformers, yeah remember how he made a simple Autobot transforming freakin' awesome, yeah well expect that when you see a desert humvee crashing through a huge metal monster in this movie.

Since this movie was made in Japan, dubbing is evident and you'll see certain scene takes that usually arent done in American movies. The voice acting however, was very very gooood. I really liked that. Its really hard to find a noticable flaw to this movie. If I wanted to say something really picky, it would be that this movie mainly tailors to anime fans and robotic peoples. I really liked the movie, I saw it twice already and the fact that I only paid $3 for it, brand new in a sealed case, was just a plus.

My only real complaint, is that sometimes, the sound was a bit lacking. Sometimes when someone fires a gun, it sounds kinda cheap. This inly occurs once or twice but it was noticable. I really loved this movie and I felt as if I stole the movie from the store by only having to pay $3. I give it 4 stars.