Title: Armitage III (1994)
What exactly does it mean to be human? Does someone of artificial origin have the same rights as any other person? Are they to be treated and considered equally? It is these questions that the film Armitage III (read "Armitage the third"), a Japanese anime film availible here on video, attepmts to answer, and does so in a reasonably convincing fashion.
The story takes place in the future, the year 2179, on a long-colonized planet Mars. This is a society where technology has evolved so that many of the menial jobs of humans were replaced by androids, which causes a great deal of unrest with the human community. Hidden among these androids are females called thirds, secretly created by the government to look and act just like humans. What happens is that one man, Ross D'anclaude, declares war on these thirds to kill them all. To stop him, the Martian police puts on the case detective Naomi Armitage (voiced by Elizabeth Berkely), herself a third, and her partner detective Ross Sylibus (Keifer Sutherland), who hates robots because his last partner was killed by one. The film is about the growth of the relationship between these two, and the road to discovering Armitage's reason for being as they get deeper and deeper into this case.
And this plot is layed out before the viewer relatively effectively by director Takuya Sato and writer Chiaki Konaka in a careful manner that manages to keep the viewer on his toes. In the first half, that is. The first 50 minute sor so is very exciting to watch, with its share of fast-paced action and interesting plot developments, and picks up with the climactic final scene, with the standoff Ross and Naomi have against a small army. Some of the elements of the plot really manage to surprise you and keep things interesting, but that's all I have to say on that matter. Suffice to say, the above plot synopsis isn't _entirely_ accurate, to be so would spoil the film.
However, at the same time, the second half of the film, while presenting many interesting insights and revelations, can also be confusing. It nicely explains the reason for the existence and the murder of the thirds, but everything else that led to that point from about halfway through is a little confusing. There are scenes where i don't know who's being blamed for what and why they are blamed, and the way the story goes from one point to another isn't always clearly explained. There's a character who inexplicably regains all the memory that had been erased from him. Then there's another character introduced, nicknamed "Pluto", whose very existence (as opposed to hsi role in the film) brings up a lot of questions that aren't answered. Certainly the answers in this film that are found this way make sense, but how they got there doesn't.
In addition to the murders, there is the plot of the relationship between the two main characters Naomi Armitage and Ross Sylibus, who, as one might predict, overcome the personal bias of Ross's against robots and fall in love. Howver cliched that idea is, the way it is executed is refreshing and new. Normally issues of hate in American animation are dealt with spoon feeding to the viewers the message of how he hates all robots at the beginning, and how he has been enlightened at the end in a epiffamy and sees the errors of his ways. "Armitage III" skirts this and goes in a more realistic and subtle manner, having Ross slowly open his eyes to Naomi over the film. His hatred of robots withers as his relationship with her grows from friend and partner to romantic lover.
Visually, "Armitage III" is superb. it doesn't rely on heavy duty computer generated effects like many animated flms do today, but it doesn't need to. . The exquisite detail in the look more than make up for its abesnce. Every nook and cranny of the Martian cityscape has been crisply rendered here, with some truly slick realistically futuristic designs. The character designs are very good and are truly unique, using a great deal of realism and detail while not forgetting the advantages of animation.
The audio is fine, but with its problems though. THe music by Hiroyuki Namba is very good, registering a pulse -pounding, computerlike techno- style beat that suits the futuristic yet highly industrial and dark feel of the film. However, the voice acting is more of a mixed bag. Elizabeth Berkeley, best known for her starring roles in "Showgirls" and the TV show "Saved by the Bell", is tough, sexy, assertive, yet tender as Armitage. Kiefer Sutherland, however, doesn't fare quite so well as Ross Sylibus, as he is way too monotone here. In a role that calls for subtlety, he becomes way _too_ subtle.
To the uninitiated, this film is a work of anime, or Japanese animation, which, to the uninitiated, is about merely graphic sex and violence, but in reality is a medium with a great deal of flexibility and range in subject matter. It is also a medium that has slowly been growing in popularity over this decade. One of the more famous works of anime in recent years is "Ghost in the Shell", which deals with some of the same themes that "Armitage III" does. however,"Ghost" is much more philosophical and moody in addressing this question, while "Armitage" is more action oriented.
That, however, doesn't detract from the film's overall performance. "Armitage III" is an exciting film to watch with some spectacular animation, but is also meandering and not terribly clear in parts. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10: 6.
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