Assault Girls (2009) User Reviews

Eye-candy that lacks appeal and story

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 21 November 2010]

Oh my god! This was such a waste of time.

First of all, it took forever to get through the intro with lousy still photos and a really, really annoying narrator speaking broken English (I believe it is called Japanese EngRish).

Then when the movie finally did start it had potential, but it all fell crashing to the floor so hard. The scenery in the movie was fantastic, and it had a kind of Fallout (games) feeling to it, being an all barren and broken wasteland. However, the movie spent way too much time in showing pointless and endless shots of the scenery. It was great at first, but it quickly became boring and annoying to look at.

Moving on to the characters. Well, to put it mildly, they were shallow drones without any personality. Their costumes were awesome, however. And a lot of detail had been put into these costumes. And that was one of the better parts of the movie actually. But the characters in the movie were two-dimensional and had no appeal - except for their costumes. And their lovely, funny Japanese EngRish was just priceless. Why not keep the movie all in Japanese? It would have worked so much better for the movie as a whole.

The CGI effects were actually cool and believable, and that was also one of the movie's stronger sides; one of the few there were.

One of the more annoying things in the movie was the sound effects during the brawling scene between Gray and Jäger. That whole comedy approach failed on an epic scale.

In overall, this movie was a major disappointment. It was an empty shell that presented nothing but a feast for the eyes and ears. Trust me, you could send your brain on vacation when you watch this movie, because there is no thinking to be done at all! I was left with one reaction when the movie ended, and I quote "WTF! That was it? You've got to be kidding me!" - and that was my exact thoughts. Now, don't let yourself get lured in (and fooled) by the awesome movie cover - you will be sorely disappointed. There are a lot of really cool and good movies coming out of Japan, and of course, there are also movies in the opposite end - this being one of them! If you like Japanese movies, you can find many others that are a lot more enjoyable.

A feast for the eyes and ears

[stussisluss · 5/10 · 14 July 2010]

The story tells the tale of four mercenaries, killing monsters in a virtual realm called Avalon. It is set to the backdrop of a dystopian future where communist ideas have crumpled creativity to a halt, and where people spend their time on video games instead. There is very little dialogue, and most of it is in very poor engrish. (Although there is a handful of Japanese lines at the end.) Let's get one thing straight - visually, this movie is amongst the most beautiful that I have ever rested my eyes upon - not only is the 3D/effects well above average, but the clothes and gun models are stunning. If SyFy produced effects of this caliber in their movies, I'm sure their subscriber base would increase tenfold.

The soundtrack is also stunning with great soundscapes and production value, lots of epic tracks and "trailer music" to be found here.

All and all, a cool way to spend 70 minutes, but don't expect anything other than light entertainment and a beautiful scenery.

Confusiing, bad acting, and third rate CGI

[wonderflee · 3/10 · 2 January 2011]

If you really want to watch this movie after reading all the reviews, I recommend renting rather than buying because I doubt that you would want to watch this movie twice. The CGI special effects were almost video game quality and minimal. Most of the time the characters are wandering around volcanic soil with no other discernible landmarks other than a small mountain in the background. There are too many slow moments when the camera would focus a close up on a snail, voice overs that sounded totally gibberish, and confusing plot lines. The characters were wooden with no developments and added little to the plot line. Worse, when the characters spoke, they often spoke broken English with bad accents under muzzle type face masks that made it very unintelligible (even to me, an Asian, that is used to bad English). I guess to some (0.01%) of the population they would say that this movie is arty or avante garde. But if you are looking for a fun movie full of hot girls with guns (as I expect you would by the title "Assault Girls") this ain't it.

Big Disappointment

[latinwolf316 · 1/10 · 9 October 2010]

Just saw this movie at the New York Anime Festival and it was a major disappointment, making me wish I didn't waste time waiting to see it when I could have gone home sooner. The first 15-20 minutes of the movie had a narrator describing the economic conditions leading up to this video game world. This should have and could have been done in less time. The few fight scenes that there were in this movie were very short. Some people walked out within the first 30 minutes of this movie and the remaining audience started giving this movie the MST 3000 treatment. I don't think anyone watching this movei liked it going by the audience responses. It takes more than trying to look artsy to make a movie, there has to be some plot and this movie really had none. Really I've seen porn movies with more plot than this stinker.

Beautiful Imagery, but SLOW, SLOW, SLOW

[chicagorob1 · 9 October 2010]

The imagery is beautiful, and the special effects and the weaponry/armor were outstanding. But nothing happens! There's little dialog, which is extremely muffled by masks, along with being really poor English.

The problem is the director spends 90% of the time with extremely long shots of the shooters walking around or dancing. There are five full minutes spent watching someone fry eggs and eat them. Several minutes alone are spent following a snail around.

If they cut out all of the too, too long atmospheric shots this "movie" would have been a 20 minute FX test reel.

I have to say, though, the fight between Jager and Gray is pretty funny, but for some weird reason, all too short.

It's Japan. It doesn't have to make sense.

[JoeB131 · 1/10 · 23 November 2010]

The only reason to watch this film is because it has three hot Japanese babe in it.

Sadly, they are given very little to do. The plot is I guess is that for some reason, three babes are in this Virtual reality game because the world outside has been largely wiped out, but apparently, the game merely consists of hunting CGI sand-serpents with elaborate weapons. Or something. Let me know if you figure it out...

The special effects aren't bad, but the characters are so dull, and there are such long gaps in action, such as long shots of a huge snail before the male lead eats it....

Maybe this is a treatment for insomnia in Japan.

One word: BAD

[mmushrm · 3/10 · 23 March 2011]

This is a bad movie. Honestly this movie is a big waste of time and not in a good way. Its slow, its boring and its pointless.

The starting 8minutes is someone Japanese guy narrating, in English, some pseudo psychology about humanity and war and how people escape into the virtual world for their excitement and of course killing. The guy drones on with only still images on screen.

Then the movie starts and this is where I give the movie major points, the CG is very very well done. amongst the best I have seen thus far in regards to flow, texture etc. (otherwise I would've given this movie a 1).

The Characters...lets just say there is no character development. You only see the characters (avatars) as they are in the virtual world. One of the characters, Lucifer (crow girl) seems to be there only to fill up space. No idea why she seemingly dances (badly) for no reason. Hard to believe that she is actually an Oscar nominated actress.

The plot is they are going to kill some giant worms for points. Thats it. Like I said some of the shots are very well done, CG and live landscape shots. But pointless and slow, a lot of just walking around. I mean at least half the movie is walking around aimlessly with landscape shots and shots of a snail.

For those of you old enough to remember video games (before CG really took off circa early-mid 90s) where the cut scenes were real actors (wing commander, privateer etc), this movie is like that.

Waste of time. watch it for the CG and some nice landscape shots but have your remote handy to fast forward the movie.

Complete and utter boringness, but nice FX

[felixdenomme · 3/10 · 15 February 2011]

That movie, from the same guy who made the also very boring "Avalon", is very similar to it: - Great special effects - Everything is gray all the time, giving you the chance to take a nap - No story - Looooooong scenes that never end, containing nothing.

Just as an example, there is a scene of a guy eating for 3 minutes at some points. And not a nice artistic scene or something that make the story to advance. Just 3 minutes of a guy eating like a pig.

Well, if you rented this movie, I would recommend you to go immediately to the 10 last minutes of it. That's the only interesting part. And, if the movie had been exactly those 10 minutes for the entire length of it, maybe it would have had some potential.

To read another review that seems to exactly write what I wanted to say, go read the review from "Paul Haakonsen". It's exactly that !

Mamoru Oshii's least film is a return to the world of Avalon

[dbborroughs · 2/10 · 17 January 2011]

Mamoru Oshii's latest film is a supposedly linked to his film in the portmanteau film called Kill. It is also a second go round in the world of Avalon, which is the name of one of his other live action films. The earlier film deals with a woman who is paid to play in an online game set in a world called Avalon. The earlier film is a very good looking film but one that people either lover of hate.

Assault Girls is a film that I think most people are going to hate. The film begins with a very dense very complicated narrated sequence that sets up everything and explains a new version of Avalon. Its a sequence that is so long and so rambling that I ended up checking how much time elapsed on the DVD, eight minutes and it was still going.

Once Oshii gets all of the words out the way the film descends into the excesses of the earlier film which are these beautiful but almost silent sequences that seem to have been designed to look good but don't really work outside of that. Yea things like the giant worm gotcha bit that immediately follows the narration is nice but it takes too long to get to the punchline.

Give the film points for looking good and very much like anime come to life, but strip away even more for technical gaffes like having all of the battlefield dialog spoken into masks which makes understanding what is ever is said near impossible. The fact that this Japanese film was made in English with actors who don't speak the language well enough doesn't help either.(yes they speak fine when unmasked, but with the masks its a almost unintelligible.) Worse is the pacing. Outside of the early worm hunts not a whole heck of a lot happens until the end. This is not real life reflected back at us, this is four characters walking across a blank landscape. Yea there is some action at the end but I'm guessing that most people who have the film play out to the end credits only had it do so because they fell asleep on the film and were woken up by the loud music that plays with the credits.

Give the film 10 points for the look. Take away about twenty five for the boredom.

Unexpected Bargain Bin Treasure

[critmebaby-mail · 7/10 · 19 May 2012]

I picked this up on a lark because the cover was three hot Japanese babes, and the flick was directed by the same guy behind Ghost in the Shell. For a bargain bin find, it was well worth it.

I'll say straight away, if you're not into hard sci fi (especially written hard sci fi), you're probably going to find it dragging and dull, and you're going to hate the intro.

If you don't really like Japanese movies/anime/manga, you might struggle to like this film. If this is your first Japanese movie, put it down, and go pick up Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children instead, it has a more universal appeal, and fewer long scenes that don't advance the plot.

The basic plot: The world had some big problems, there was a big economic collapse, wars, stuff like that. Afterward, the world fell into a kind of dark ages where everything (technology especially) stagnated. People were no longer satisfied with their lives in the false utopia that followed all the problems. A lot of them found an outlet for their most basic human emotional needs in a video game named Avalon. This movie follows a group of players in a second imagining of Avalon, named Avalon-F, which is basically a MMO/Hunting game on steroids. The characters all start off trying to solo a big boss, which the game informs them is not really possible. However, the gamers are stubborn and want the glory/advancement for themselves, and it takes them a while to come around to working together. The movie is about them finally coming to the decision to work together, and the struggles, internal and external they go through in the process.

There are lots of long, pretty shots where you don't see anything that advances the story in a meaningful way, just gives you things to think about. I enjoyed it, I like meandering around in video games and exploring my surroundings, so for a movie about a video game to do that was fun for me. That said, if you're a passive viewer who doesn't like sitting around waiting for action to happen, this movie is not for you.

I loved the costume design. Lucifer in particular was great. She appears to have feathers for hair, which will make sense if you keep watching. I love the personal moments that show this character having fun, she's a pretty character, and looks like she really enjoys herself in this virtual world. She finds unexpected ways to have fun, considering the premise of the video game she's playing.

My biggest complaint about this movie comes from the choice of having the actors wear masks, but not recording their voices in a recording studio later. It makes their speech very hard to follow because it's muffled all the time. Movie making 101 should have told the director not to make that mistake.

Overall, it's a good movie, and it hits all the right points for me. If you can pick it up cheap and like sci fi and Japanese movies, go for it.

Wasted potential

[Woodyanders · 4/10 · 20 June 2013]

Four hardcore gamers are forced to cast aside their differences and work together in order to defeat a giant sand worm monster in a computer simulated virtual reality world. Sounds like a really cool and fun premise, right? Well, it just ain't. Writer/director Mamoru Oshii gets the picture off to a cracking start with the gnarly CGI monsters, striking shots of a bleak desolate landscape, and rip-roaring action scenes. However, the movie runs out of gas early on and becomes bogged down in an increasingly tedious and tiresome brooding existential moodiness that strives for profoundness only to wind up coming across as extremely boring, irritating, and pretentious instead. The meandering and repetitious narrative goes around in circles just like the thinly drawn characters trudging through this ordeal. While Oshii does deliver several stunning visuals (one girl gamer sprouts wings and takes flight in a particularly breathtaking image), the annoying bickering between these unlikable individuals with one-note personalities, the draggy pacing, a frustratingly lame'n'abrupt ending, and the general mind-numbing ennui make this film a serious chore to endure. Worst of all, the fact that everything is simulated negates any genuine tension or urgency because one never gets the impression that anything substantial is at stake at any given time in the story. The basic point seems to be that combat in between fighting is dull. Pity the movie itself proves to be pretty blah and dreary as well.

A great sci-fi meditation with a gut-busting laugh out loud ending!

[keal · 9/10 · 26 December 2011]

I'm a fan of Oshii's Avalon. The haunting music, the subdued colors, the quiet, restricted lifestyle of the main characters, Oshii's quirky little games of putting things like dogs and statues through the film, making you wonder why they're there. Not to mention the scene where Stunner chows down on eggs and sausage, and we watch the whole meal.

It's all there in Assault Girls! This seems to be a direct sequel to Avalon. Same haunting music, subdued colors, quiet characters... yep, there's a dog, a statue, and now, a snail (poor snail goes through a lot!) Of course, there's a scene where someone's chowing down on eggs and sausage.

Yes, the pace is slow. But beautifully colored skies, people meandering around the landscape, solemn music, really gets you into a contemplative state. If that's all there was to the movie, I'd agree, it's a boring way to spend 70 minutes. But there's a point to this.

**SPOILER ALERT** The bulk of the movie has the 4 main characters pondering having to work as a group to get to the next level of the game they're playing. They can't do it individually. So, near the end of the movie, they get together.

They kill the monster.

Here's the best, and I swear, most unexpected ending. It all happens in the last couple minutes of the flick All the players are racing to get out of the game, first one out gets all the spoils of war. But the main player with the big gun, doesn't have a way out of the game. Everyone's laughing at him. You think to yourself, what a way to step on someone that helped you out. He agreed to split the reward, but looks like he's getting nothing for his efforts.

Then he blows a fuse, and shoots down all the other players, yelling that he's going to become a player-killer! So in the end, everyone gets screwed, and it's an all out war between the players.

A quiet, slow-paced film with a hell of a twist in the end that made me laugh so hard my sides hurt! The guy's 'I've had it with this game!' face as he unleashed his ammo on everyone was just so funny, I kept rewinding and laughing.

EDIT: If you haven't watched Avalon (you don't have to) you might have a harder time tolerating the utterly strange elements in the film. Why use Japanese actors and force them to speak English? What's with the semi-cheesy cgi? Here's a little trivia. Director Oshii has a long-standing peeve about Japan's insistence that movies from their country should be in Japanese language. Why he's over the top about this, I don't know. But he purposely made the film Avalon with Polish actors speaking Polish, and now this follow-up with Japenese actors speaking English. I think it's great.

My one complaint about this film, along with Avalon, is that they're both poorly marketed and advertised. Very misleading. Both films should be packaged together, along with a short documentary or interview with the director, explaining the mysteries of the films.

Avalon and Assault Girls, my 2 favorite movies of all time. Can't wait for Oshii's next meditative sci-fi adventure!

Three girls, one noob and a snail fighting dragons in virtual reality world

[BOOGIEMAN-pN · 6/10 · 26 November 2010]

I can't say for sure that I understood what's this movie about, but I think I kinda got it. So there are above mentioned characters in some VR world, they are playing some futuristic MMORPG, and they kinda need to work together to complete a difficult quest (which is killing some sort of dragon). Two girls are obviously pro gamers, one is total nutcase but still has gosu skills. They contact one guy for help, even though he is total noob, because he has like some advanced tier weapon. Snail is a NPC and has nothing to do with the story but still director wastes on him about ten minutes out of 70 (which is full running time of this film).

This movie could be interesting to MMO game addicts, which I am not ... I was lured into it with it's catchy title. I kinda got what I expected, three sexy heroines, armed with heavy artillery and in futuristic combat suites. Their hair is waving throughout the movie carried by a chilly breeze in the desert like looking scenery. There is some music in background. Some long shots aiming at girl's faces, searching for emotions I guess. A bit of a special effects and also a little action ... when I think of it as a whole, there is little of everything. I wish that director had made up his mind and put more either of these elements ! Looking forward for Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" to fix this next year !

Avalon (f)

[nogodnomasters · 1/10 · 9 October 2017]

This is without a doubt one of the worst Asian Sci-fi I have ever seen and I am including the original "Final Fantasy VII" film. The first 8 minutes of this 70 minutes film is a monologue explaining the state of the world and people seek enjoyment in virtual video games. Then we see a snail, appropriately enough, then another 6 minutes of a guy walking in a barren wasteland. Four fighters team up to fight the end boss, because they can't fight him alone. I am sure there was some cultural aspect I was missing. What was Lucifer and the derby and dance thing? Might be good for people who like to watch gamers.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

A very long & Talky Intro-- but kinda poetic

[Rabh17 · 10 September 2011]

I give this a 7 because of the Introduction: It was Long. Looooong. Talky-talky Loooooong. Boringly LONG! I began to wonder if I had mistakenly streamed a documentary.

But really, you don't need the beginning Blah-Blah-blah to enjoy this flick. So Fast-Forward past the first 8 minutes. Don't need it.

Now to enjoy this movie-- you get extra oomph if you are a Gamer, because this flick is speaking on a basic level about Gaming and what it does to people, and thru implication, to greater society. Now the other reviews have the plot firmly on the head. A couple of female players team up to take on a mega-dragon/sandworm.

But that's not really the plot-- it's a context. And the Movie itself, is a Commentary.

Warning-- especially to Gamers. Even though it's about a Game-- it's Not non-stop blood guts and explosions. Instead it's scenically poetic. And when the action happens it's very nicely FX-ed, but it's pointedly emplaced.

Instead, pay attention to the Characters and the direction the Dialogue is going. When the End comes, because I have placed an online game, I actually busted out laughing because IT MADE SENSE! And it was that moment that made the entire flick pleasantly enjoyable (Minus the 8 minutes of blah-blah-blah, that is) I wouldn't make this a Main event movie for a Saturday night though. I'd stage this as a Friday night runner-up with some friends. Even Better if ALL of you do online games. You'll get a kick out of this one.

Extra Warning-- Even though the lead actors are women, this is NOT a Girlfriend Friendly Flick. . .unless she's totally cool and she also plays online games with you.

Assault Girls (2009)

[SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain · 6/10 · 13 December 2011]

Assault Girls has no real story. Also, since it is set in a computer game world, there is no real threat. Then why was I so engrossed by it all? It was simply a bizarre mix of many things that I love, served up in a very short movie. It all begins with a lumbering voice over that really doesn't fit with the film. I was worried by the pomposity of it. Next up came long takes sweeping the vast desolate landscapes. There was also a shot of a snail slowly crawling along. It was like something from a Terence Malick movie, where nature triumphs over story, only here it was in a funny Japanese OTT action movie. Soon we see a man walking and he certainly walks for a while. It was reminiscent of Omar Shariff in Lawrence of Arabia. As the film finally unfolds its basic story, we see this is all set in a computer game, where 4 characters are finding it hard to defeat the final boss. They must band together if they wish to destroy it. Quite why this story is that of a film is beyond me. Perhaps it is showing how people have become wrapped up in computer games and they are an extension of our lives and characters. But probably not. I really enjoyed its serene and quiet nature, but wish there had been more story. The effects were fantastic, and I loved each and every CGI creation. Kikuchi was once again the standout star in once again a mute role. Her screen presence is undeniably exotic and unique. Her quirky dancers, and the way she can captivate by looking at a hat. You wont get much from this movie, but it was a wonderful 70 minutes.

Gorgeous women with gigantic weapons take on gargantuan opponents

[totalovrdose · 10/10 · 8 January 2015]

For those who enjoy the work of Mamoru Oshii, you needn't read this review, for much like his previous ventures, including Ghost in the Shell, its sequel Innocence, and the Sky Crawlers, this particular feature is one that is sure to captivate and enthuse.

Separated into chapters, Assault Girls takes place in Avalon (F), a virtual gaming world where the avatars of real people must do battle with massive carnivorous monsters in order to score points. Those familiar with Role Playing Games will especially understand the importance of scoring points in order to successfully level up to gain better defensive and offensive capabilities.

Assault Girls focuses on three competitive women, vying for ascendancy in the virtual arena. Meissa Kuroki steals the show as the skilled tactician Gray, not least of all because she's more gorgeous than Aphrodite. Colonel, portrayed by Hinako Saeki, who viciously attacks with proficiency, is far nicer than her title might suggest, while Rinko Kikuchi as the skilled magician Lucifer, is easily the cutest character of all. Deserving a larger role, she dances across the battlefield, having, what could be assumed, the time of her life.

Despite the film's title suggesting the cast is comprised of women, joining the ladies in this adventure is Yoshikazu Fujiki as Jager, a glorified nomad with a violent temperament.

Although the visuals are not Hollywood standard, they are certainly engaging, while the additional sound, and Kenji Kawai's score (not to mention the Kotoko single Screw) project the viewer into an environment, that although desolate, is as engrossing as it is alive.

Despite each character's ability to use the English vernacular is well achieved, and listening to them occasionally poke fun at each other is enjoyable, it is plainly obvious that none of them are natural speakers. On the occasions when characters speak with masks covering their faces, the dialogue becomes less audible, and thus, subtitles are perhaps a good investment throughout the entirety of the film.

With the exception of the narrator, dialogue is seldom used in many instances. This aside, the director and actors alike are able to efficaciously express the character's motives and desires through their actions. Despite the ideas transcribed upon the screen at the start of each chapter being as thought provoking as they are entertaining, the way the character's use the game's environment is one of the most uniquely satisfying focuses of the picture. Where some characters respond to the environment by beneficially assisting it, others play with it, while others see it as a source of food, or destroy it completely.

Relying on neither intense violence or coarse language to tell its story, this entertaining, gripping, and occasionally laugh out loud funny feature proves that Mr. Oshii is a director whose work is as satisfying, as it is worthy of watching. With unfathomably beautiful women, captivating action scenarios, and intellectually stimulating ideas, Assault Girls may not appease everyone, but for fans of the director's previous work, this is certainly not to be missed.

More existential slice of life than movie

[ChristerDoo · 6/10 · 2 December 2010]

By spoilers, I mean more by way of telling what this movie is not as opposed to what happens in it. I would really not call this a movie per se but more of an experiment in existential nihilism. The entire proceedings are not really explained - you are just thrust into this VR world and see a few player avatars killing giant sand worms a la Dune (or Vexille's Jags). As said, if you watched this expecting a movie which has a start/ middle/ and end and a plot which makes sense, you will be disappointed. If you are someone who likes experimental cinema and is willing to go for the ride, however bizarre and truncated it may be, you will be less disappointed. If you are the former and appreciate anime and video games, and Japanese cinema and culture in general then you will probably find it an interesting watch, even if it is ultimately without true context or meaning in a traditional sense. Slight shades of Final Fantasy and ICO can be seen, as well as perhaps a very roundabout homage to TRON and a more obvious reference to Mortal Kombat or its ilk. So while not really a movie in the traditional sense, it is nonetheless interesting enough to watch.

More then just girls with guns

[demondude777 · 9/10 · 6 December 2010]

I've read a lot of reviews about how bad this movie was, so I decided to give it a watch to see if I feel the same. (I discovered the movie by watching the video for the closing song) After watching it I feel like I got a different take then most people. I guess being use to watching a lot of Asian cinema and playing mmorpg games gives me a different perspective then those that expect this to follow the standard movie formula.

First off if your interests are watching a movie about girls with guns kicking butt, then you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a traditional story line, then again you will be disappointed. If you are looking for fast paced action, yet again you will be disappointed. Going into this is less like going into a movie and more like watching a mmorpg play out. The long walks...the strategy...the stats discussions, I've done them before. All mmorpg.

And for the characters, as far as a movie goes they appear very shallow, however from a mmorpg perspective each one plays into one specific aspect that gamers carry: admiration, enjoyment, escape, and determination.

To go into more detail by explaining the snail scene as well as give evidence to back up, read below: (and this is where *MAJOR SPOILERS* come in. Skip this if you haven't seen the movie.) Colonel is the symbol of admiration; the type of gamer that says, "Oh wow, look at those graphics". In the snail scene she places the snail on the status and just sits there and watches it move then leaves it. Also in other scenes she is shown walking around looking to the sky or the ground as if she is viewing her surroundings.

Next Lucifer is the symbol of enjoyment. She plays for fun. Hence why at the snail she took off her hat and played a game similar to peek-a-boo. Outside of that scene she is always dancing and goofing off (one scene she is told to stop dancing during battle). Also the way she is introduced is through what I would assume to be a unnatural entrance: crashing from the sky.

Then Jager is the symbol of escape, aka the role-player. He picks the snail ups and eats it. To him the game is a 2nd life. He is also the only character seen eating and sleeping. Also his camp mode is very different then the other camp mode. Towards the end Gray says that it is "not the time to play the role of the adventurer" to him. (At the end he mentions he is changing his character type to PVP - yet another type of gamer)

Finally Gray symbolized determination, the character that plans their growth to level up fastest and become the strongest,hence the crushing of the snail shell. She is the only one (apart from a comment from Colonel about hitting xp ceiling) that talks about or is talked to about her level and stats. Also when she walks around she is always looking through a scouter as if she is looking for something to kill.

*END SPOILERS* If you want to watch this movie, know what you are getting into first. This is less of a movie and more of a game. To the average viewer I recommend skipping it. But if you love mmorpgs then this might be a good movie to try.

Again all others stay away or you will discover boredom quickly.

Long Form Loop

[tedg · 7 April 2015]

I study long form film to see how it works.

Some times what I end up seeing doesn't work. That is the case here; only the costumes matter, and one episode has resonance. Does that one episode qualify this as long form?

Maybe. Long form has less to do with length than whether things evolve and the film has some chance of helping the viewer evolve.

The outer wrapper of this is a dreary ten minute initial narration that gives us completely irrelevant history. An inner wrapper that constitutes most of the hour has three young women (hardly girls) and a scruffy guy "playing" a virtual reality game. This is as much a waste. We never exit the game but we sometimes 'pause play.'

But smack in the middle is an odd sequence. Twice earlier we have a well photographed closeup of a snail. One of our 'girls' puts it on the head of a small weathered statue of a wizened it young traveler.

It is a very Katachi action. She and us study, admire and move on. In turn, each of the other three encounter it and we are supposed to get key aspects of their person from this. We don't, so that is a waste too. But that initial encounter evokes a deep inner narrative I have about some facet of Japanese spirituality and form, sex and striving in general and within my private shell what urgent peace is all about.

All the hard work was done by me, based on what boils down to one moving image. Would I call this long form? It had the effect of long form, but there was essentially no dialog between me and the artists.

In the midst of all the provocative narratives I had spinning within me (whether to fight, whether to seek grace), was one about other filmmakers and who I wish was my companion here.

Fruit Chan. His Public Toilet goes on and on, using lives I could not care about, folded casually. But at the end, oh what resurrection of everything that went before. That one scene connected with all else, in the film and without. Mastery. Now that's long form.

Stylish Art House Sci Fi

[johnjohnson68510 · 10/10 · 17 July 2020]

Art house science fiction is a difficult thing to find an audience for. The art crowd will dislike it because it's Sci-Fi, and the Sci-Fi crowd won't like it because it's artsy. I love this movie. It was beautiful. It was full of gestures and stylish movements. It was actually in five Acts, too, with a complication and typical plot points. But not at all done in the usual way. Anytime I see review that says the the science fiction movie is nothing but eye candy, oh, I know I'm going to love it. I loved Aeon Flux. I loved Tycho Moon. For me, arthouse sci-fi loses out when they try to scramble for the Hollywood formula. People hate this movie because the director didn't even try.

Just a gorgeous movie to look at !

[shutikovaludmila · 10/10 · 9 June 2020]

Not much of a plot, if you're interested in that.

But as a visionary, it's looks really great.

3 girls are fighting monsters in an abandoned planet, part of a game and one drifter gets involved with the game.

Same director from Avalon the polish movie from 2001.

I love the artistic vision.