DVD Voice

Tonight I watched Appleseed. This is the 2004 version of the film, which is apparently another version (1988) of this comic book based movie.

I must say! The animation and computer graphics in here are eye-popping! At times I felt like I was watching the The Matrix it was that well done. It is about a post World War III world where a single city has developed into a Utopia of half-human population and half mechanized bioroids (biotic androids I think). There is animosity between the humans and the bioroids, but for the most part it is peaceful. Until “things” start to happen and parties begin to try to manipulate the giant computer the controls their society.

The bioroids have an artificial limit on life, they cannot reproduce naturally, they must be built and they also must get treatments every so often to extend their life – miss that and they’ll die very soon afterwards. This is spelled out quite plainly and you just know that one of the main characters will succumb or fall into peril because of this. A couple of other plot points are explicitly described to you beforehand. Enough so that you can almost take notes and wait for something along those lines to happen.

The main protagonist is quite cute and deadly both at the same time, as she does flips and turns in slow motion fighting sequences with her short shorts or skirt. And of course when given the opportunity cleavage is showcased (they don’t go out of their way to do so, however).

This was a fun little action animation adventure. I enjoyed it and it far exceeded my low expectations before the evening began.

Rated R. 105 minutes (1 hour 45 minutes) Cartoon violence.

As promised, tonight I took the time to watch the sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2: The Beginning. I really enjoyed Ong-Bak last night and was expecting more of the same. I got it. Wow… as much martial arts as you could handle.

But, somehow it didn’t feel as satisfying as the first one. The first one was really out of nowhere, I wasn’t expecting it to be as hard hitting and good. This one, probably was on par, but just didn’t quite ring that same bell!

Since it’s called “The Beginning,” that should tip you off that it happens before Ong-Bak. Tien, Tony Jaa (who also directed), is the son of a nobleman who is orphaned and taken in by the King of the Outlaws. He is trained in all sorts of fighting styles and weaponry. Later in life he seeks revenge. He seems rather intent on killing everyone, and the last 30 minutes of the film is basically a big fight.

I’m not saying the action is good, it is, it’s just that I believe I enjoy a good martial arts movie, but I don’t truly appreciate the intricacies of it enough. Or maybe it’s that I shouldn’t do martial arts two nights in a row?

Oh, the DVD has trailers for John Woo’s Red Cliff and The Warlords. Both look good and I think I’ll have to try them sometime soon. And there was some video of Ong-Bak 3, which from the little bits looked like it may be more interesting, to me, that this one.

Rated R. 115 minutes (1 hour 55 minutes). Violence. Let me repeat that, Violence.

Today is Ground Hog’s Day. Well, actually it was yesterday, but I was having a little difficulty getting my blog to cooperate, so I’m posting this one a day late. Great start, huh?

My first thought was to see Ground Hog Day, but I’m going to pass. I am very interested in another movie with Bill Murray that comes out this week, Zombieland! And hopefully (fingers crossed!) Netflix will send that one pronto!

Since Ong-Bak 2 is coming out this week, I decided to see them both. So for starters we hit the ground with Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior. Honestly, I knew nothing about this movie. I heard it was supposedly pretty good and an action-martial arts type film.

I was lucky, it was both sub-titled and voice-overed. I listened to it in English, I didn’t feel like reading.

Basically, Tony Jaa, Ting, lives in a tiny village. They are about to celebrate a sacred holiday that is only celebrated once every 24 years when a man named “Don” comes to the village and when he leaves steals the head of On-Bak, a Buddha like statue. One villager must go after and retrieve the head. Ting volunteers.

Country boy in the big city type movie follows. The gangs think they are too tough for him but learn otherwise, there are fights, street chases, car (or tiny taxis) chases, bar fights, and yet more fights. Some of the characters bring in a fair amount of humor and at times it felt like I was watching an anime!

Overall — very good! I really enjoyed this mindless martial-arts. Great stunts and I swear someone had to of gotten hurt filming this! At least it looked that way. If you enjoy a good action movie and want to see some stunts that rival Jackie Chan and Jet Li, then you should enjoy this one as well. And later this week I’ll see how the sequel stacks up!

2003 Rated R. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes). Lots of action violence and blood. Drug use.