I stumbled upon this movie during bad weather stuck inside home and I enjoyed the acting and the great FX. It seems like the Japanese are able to lend a much more pronounced artistic effect with their FX styles. However, I was very disappointed with the three endings. The first ending which used a childlike 'China doll' to represent evil forces seems like a cop-out to me. The second ending with mechanical snakes was just weird. In both cases - it was like the film maker had run out of ideas OR budget with which to end the film. Maybe I missed something of meaning hidden in that imagery. And the 'third' later ending showing another follow-up war was confusing. Was it a hint at a sequel? To my way of thinking, I felt that the movie's actors and viewers deserved a better ending.

Well just another boring movie with nonsense dialogues. Let put you in the middle of something? some war? somewhere? and then bore you out with some dudes sitting there blabbering a bunch of names you have no idea what they are over and over... wait.. let add another wise dude carrying his nonsense talk out with MORE NAMES, switching between the two talking scenes and make it more complicated until you give up understanding and just beg it to go away already. Visual is beautiful with lot of memorial CGI scenes. But if you have no idea what this movies story about beforehand than it's sucks. You will be left with a lot of unanswered questions between a sea of race-names of people looks exactly the same you kinda give up to remember, the movie frees you some memory by leave it with the pointless ending. (Or did it have an ending but the philosophy-movie buried it's so deep nobody can dig it out?)

I saw this movie the first time by accident while surfing through channels and thought it was a horrible, disjointed mess. However I was intrigued by the music. Great soundtrack, like nothing I had ever heard before. Was searching for information on the music and started reading about the movie plot and the symbolism involved so I decided to re-watch the film with that perspective. The movie was very good but felt I missed a few things. On my third viewing I purchased it because I liked it so much. Kevin Durand was excellent! The chemistry between his character, Skellig, and Khara was really good as well. I would love to purchase the soundtrack but unfortunately it is unavailable at this time. Give this film a chance....it is truly unique. I wish they would make a sequel.

An extremely low budget film, oh wait, it's not even worthy of being called a film. Extremely bad CGI. Very difficult to follow along with the "story." Very impartial story development and absolutely no character development whatsoever. The moment you start watching, well, you have no idea what it is that you're watching. The movie starts as if it's already halfway through the "film." Do yourselves a favor and go watch some SpongeBob or...something else other than this. This is definitely not worth anyone's time. For anyone who does consider watching it or has already watched it, congratulations, you've wasted 1 and a half hours of your life that you won't get back. Ps, wrote this review during the film. That's how boring it is.

It hurts so much that I didn't like this film. It was disappointing from start to finish, but from distinct reasons. First of all there was the visual effect applied everywhere, something like a glow with an extra color saturation. It made everything feel cheap and fake. Then there was the script, which started getting more and more holes, with the characters doing what they needed to do to further the script, regardless of continuity. And then, after all this, the ending is revealed to be no ending at all, just an abrupt cliffhanger that hopes to lead to a continuation. Add to it the pseudo-religious parables and you get a cheap looking film that makes less sense than The Matrix. I so wanted to see Oshii making it out there in the live action area. I so wanted Durand to finally show his potential as a main character in a powerful film. Yet, besides the nice world design and the always fascinating music of Kenji Kawai, this film was a failure.

This is a fascinating movie, but it is not your typical American, popcorn-munching fare. For comic buffs, it reminds me of the short series World Without End. For anime buffs, it reminds me of the movie Skycrawlers. For those who don't know about either of those productions, the plot is pretty straightforward - as long as you pay attention, but I won't spoil it for you. Save your comments about why some things are done or why other questions are not addressed until after the movie. There's a lesson to be learned, and it's up to the viewer to draw his/her own conclusion about the meaning of the movie, the futility of war, the relationship between man and woman, and so on. So, sit back, close your mouth, and open your mind. Enjoy the movie for what it is, and spend hours talking about the possible meanings and interpretations with your friends.

Plot: 7/10 The beginning of the movie shoves you right into the action and you get a crash course in who the players are in the movie. So you're not really sure who the good or bad guy is. I think this was deliberate. The end is unsatisfying which is the perfect set up for a sequel. Cast: 8/10 The movie is well cast, Kevin Durand and Melanie St. Pierre are exactly who you want to see in these roles. Lance Henriksen anchors the group well and Holly the dog is an unexpected treat. Visuals: 9/10 Well it's beautiful to look at. The uniforms, the hair, the machines, the back drop, the ships and oh yeah the guns. The action scenes are very satisfying and it's a total fantasy land for your inner nerd. This movie reveals itself over time, so you have to watch it a few times before things start to make more sense.

In line with The Fifth Element and Forbidden Planet - another movie whose plot will bend your mind with something unusual... Difficult to comment without writing a spoiler, I can say I would love to discuss this movie with someone - it has a lot going on in it... and it does begin and end making you wish there was a lot more 'known'. This movie could have been stretched a lot longer with more added - yet, by the end, I enjoyed the story and the feelings it left me with. More could ruin the 'what's next' feelings - and besides, wanting more leaves me with a really strong desire for both prequels and sequels? This film could be the start of a very successful series... The visual and sound impact of this movie was amazing - some totally different, stunning and fantastic visuals and sounds... I enjoyed it - and hope you do too.

Masterful piece from Mamoru Oshii. Production design is tops. Everything says "Ghost in the Shell" without the title, the DNA essence of cyberpunk ultraviolence genre of Japanese anime. The plot does have a beginning, middle and end. Listen to the narrator's voice. She begins with the history of the Garm Wars, setting the backdrop for the players. The narrator ends the movie setting up the conflict of man against the alien army of mechanized giants. The sound design is exquisite. You can turn off the video and just listen to all the elements. The movie did not have a hundred million dollar budget, but production delivered some amazing eye candy CGI. The bulk of the static camera work did not call too much to itself and the editing was solid. The music orchestration is hypnotic, grounded to GIS yet having that other worldly effect. I would love to see a sequel.

I am a big fan of Mamoru's work. He has a specific style in which many aspects of the story are not explained. Here we have Final Fantasy like computer graphics with live actors and one Basset hound running around. Very unique vehicles, ships and armor design. Quite good action/battle scenes. But plot is hard to understand and should have more detail, it is hard to follow since you are dropped in the middle of entire culture clash with just scraps of information to go on. I enjoyed it since it was like watching newer Final Fantasy movies, some scenes reminded me of Avalon (also Mamoru's work). And give it 7 out of 10 especially because of amazing graphics and fights scenes. Dialog could use improvement.