VEXILLE
Available on DVD from September 1st 2008 priced at £11.98Vexille uses the by now familiar technique of motion capture to create computer generated human characters with realistic movements. But rather than trying to raise the bar in terms of photorealism like Robert Zemeckis Beowulf Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong) tries to create a new style thats half way between anime and live action by using a technique called cel-shading. Cel-shading is where 3D objects are rendered using the kind of non-photorealistic lighting effects found in traditional 2D animation. Imagine your favourite manga character wrapped around one of those wooden artists models and youll get the idea. Fumihiko calls this style 3D live animation. Linguistically-minded readers will spot the contradiction in terms and might be able to predict that it doesnt really work. The live action of the motion capture suits only serves to emphasise by way of contrast the CGI nature of everything else. Surfaces such as skin have little or no texture and the contrast between highlights, midtones and shadows is so high that its actually quite hard to look at. The result is zero chance of suspension of disbelief on the part of the audience. The plot, on the other CGI hand, works well. In the year 2067, Japan goes into hi-tec isolation by creating a physical and electronic firewall around itself to prevent both information and people from entering or leaving. The reason the Japanese are pissed off with the rest of the world is that they want to manufacture Blade Runner-style androids, but this has been banned by the U.N. Ten years later and no one has heard anything from Japan. That is, until a dying escaped android makes it as far as Los Angeles carrying with him a warning that Japans foreign policy is about to turn very aggressive indeed. Led by a young female commander named Vexille (Meisa Kuroki), U.S. Special Forces Unit S.W.O.R.D. is dispatched to infiltrate Japan and find out exactly whats going on. For the reasons mentioned above though, the plot is let down and the well scripted action scenes feel more like watching cut scenes from a video game where the technique of cel-shading is common than watching a movie. Vexille features a Whos Who of anime vocal talent including Akio tsuka (Ghost in the Shell) and Romi Pak (Fullmetal Alchemist), and is worth watching for their performances alone. Or maybe listening to with your eyes shut.
rating: 3
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EXTRAS The SteelBook case justifies the Special Edition tag, the second disc does not. Apart from the theatrical trailer, theres only two repetitive Making Of featurettes that really should have been edited down to a single directors commentary from Fumihiko, which is conspicuously absent from the first disc. There is an audio commentary from Jonathan Clements, co-author of The Anime Encyclopaedia, but his tone makes him sound like a high school student covering for a friend whos decided to skip class that day. rating: 2
OVERALL Vexille does represent technological advances and is a step in the right / wrong direction, depending on whether youre a fan of CGI or not. The good news for those in the latter group is that at the time of writing this review, Fumihiko has just completed production on his next live action movie, Ichi.