Vexille

A shady Japanese robotics corporation plans to turn the human race into droning automatons in this CG animation from the team behind 2004’s ‘Appleseed’. Pilfering its concepts and visual motifs from the likes of ‘Dune’, ‘Mad Max’, ‘Tetsuo’, ‘Bladerunner’ and every film about a power-hungry madman pining for world domination, the undeniably intriguing and detailed set-up sluggishly segues into a very ordinary action yarn about a band of freedom fighters (led by the slinky femme commando, Vexille) risking life and limb to preserve humanity.

The fluid motion-capture animation impresses, particularly the two high-octane chase sequences backed by Paul Oakenfold’s thumping techno soundtrack. The problem lies with the human characters, all lumbered with such blank, inexpressive faces and spouting banal dialogue that it is difficult to care what happens to them.