Cyberpunk Review » Armitage: Dual Matrix

January 14, 2006

Armitage: Dual Matrix

Year: 2002

Directed by: Katsuhito Akiyama

Written by: Naoko Hasegawa, Hideki Kakinuma

IMDB Reference

Degree of Cyberpunk Visuals: High

Correlation to Cyberpunk Themes: Medium

Rating: 4 out of 10

Armitage: Dual Matrix DVD

Overview: While the budget for the animation is better than the original Armitage, the story is SIGNIFICANTLY worse. The place where Armitage III shines (identification with the characters) is exactly where the sequel is most lacking. They ramp up the cool explosions and fights while substituting mannequins for the lead characters. This was a sequel without a story - the message had already been communicated in the first one, and now there’s nothing left to do but rehash it, only with more incoherently and with more explosions. And really, I find the animation style in the first one lots better, especially for Armitage.

However, the two hot Armitage replicants in wings and skin-tight clothes are pretty cool. In fact, they were definitely the highlight of the movie for me.

Also, as an unintended plus (or minus, really), if you check out the English track, you get to hear the voice of Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) reprise his famous role as a side-kick. Only this time he’s a cyborg doctor (but still sounds the same).

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Tags: cyberpunk movie review

Comments

January 14, 2006

Tim said:

This looks pretty good to me SFAM! I guess the only additional things that you could have would be maybe categories at the top (anime, asian, hollywood, etc. - or something along those lines), and also, is just ‘overview’ sufficient for the writeup? Or would it be useful to have more specific headings (i.e. is it worth having a section about technical aspects, since you often like those, or theme, or…… something else?)

SFAM said:

Hi Tim, Yea, great comments. As I enter in all my reviews, I will have a number of ways of organizing them. I want people to be able to get to the movies based on the decade they were made, themes used (andriods, dystopic futures, etc), movie type (anime, “B” movie, etc.), or the number of stars. I’m still figuring out whether I should be doing this by categories, or pages (which would go along the top)

Regarding the headings of the review, some of these I really will want to detail, but am not sure I want the same headings for all. For instance, I may want something different for animes, versus high production value movies. But I’m not sure I can edit the templates to that degree yet. This will take time. Great thought though - maybe I should take the time up front to do that.

As for the detail of the review, the first chop is to get all the movies up from my cyberpunk thread (including bonus movies), and then add the ones I didn’t put there. Then I’ll probably spend more time detailing the review.

Infinite Penguin said:

How did I know this would be in black and green? :) I don’t really know enough about making websites to make any suggestions, but I think your basic layout lookd good.

SFAM said:

Thanks Infinite Penguin! The whole structured Blog entry for reviews is the cool thing here. I kind of like Tim’s idea of working to detail these more, so that I can have different types. The other thing I need to figure out how to add is half-stars. This also will probably take work.

Tim said:

Instead of half stars, can you switch to ratings out of 10?

SFAM said:

Switching to ratings out of 10 would be fine to me too. Unfortunately, this too involves detailed playing around with php code. While this is something I can do, I’m pretty sucky at it, so it takes time. I was able to modify this template significantly from the Semilogic one (see footer below). I also have been able to modify the style sheets of the movie review format (moved IMDB down, Director on top of writer, etc.). I still haven’t found which file the review thing is in though, or whether I have the know-how to modify it.

Robin said:

Yay! This looks good, SFAM!

FYI- I’m on a PC and my browser is Firefox. Everything sure seems to be landing where it belongs, etc. I usually don’t like black backgrounds because the white text becomes hard on the eyes. But, you solved that with the soft green! Thanks for the good clean font choice, as well.

Do you plan to include all the screen caps that add so much to your reviews?

SFAM said:

Hi Robin, I DEFINITELY plan to include graphics and stuff. I had to expand this template to make sure I had enough room for them. Still, this will be a laborious endeavor. But yeah, screencaps are essential I think.

August 8, 2006

Adam Doub said:

Horrible, HORRIBLE sequel to an amazing cyberpunk epic. They really should not have attempted this… *sigh* but like most sequels, they generally miss the point entirely. The plot of this is weaker than any of the Bubblegum Crisis plots.

SFAM said:

Hi Adam, we definitely seem pretty online in our thoughts on cyberpunk movies. I was so excited when I got Duel Matrix. What a dissapointment.

December 26, 2006

neveranything said:

This pretty much hits the nail on the head. I emphatically agree with the comments on the animation. I put off getting Dual Matrix for a long while simply because I found the art style to be a bit of a turn-off. Everything else was either a rehash, a cliche, or just put in for asthetics.

January 16, 2007

SFAM said:

Hi Neveranything, its a shame the number of projects with decent budgets that don’t consider a good story to be a priority. Armitage: Dual Matrix is all the more agregious due to how good the story on the original was.

July 2, 2007

PSY said:

Although I would rate my enjoyment of this title slightly higher, I wouldn’t say by too much. It was a disappointment. Hell, I haven’t watched Armitage III in about 4 years and I can remember the entire film, I watched Duel Matrix about a year ago and I remember very little. It made little impression. Worth a watch if you have the spare time I guess.

August 26, 2009

Kenny28 said:

Glad I read this. I planned on picking it up after seeing the original series for the first time a month ago. A real shame.


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