Armitage III

Plot Synopsis

Ross Syllabus is a Chicago cop who lost his partner in a battle with a cyborg. He's just been transferred to Mars as an expert on robots, but before he's even left the spaceport he spots a group of suspicious people who turn out to be a madman with cyborg bodyguards. With the help of his soon-to-be partner waiting in the terminal, Naomi Armitage, he stops the cyborgs, but their leader escapes. The plot thickens when they find that the group was carrying the body of a robot who was impersonating a popular country singer. At the MPD office, Ross and Armitage are paired up in the investigation of this unusual crime. As it turns out, someone is murdering robots--rare and illegal Third Types, nearly indistinguishable from humans--who had been living undetected as humans. Ross is already uncomfortable with the investigation, and when he finds out Armitage herself is a Third, he doesn't know what to make of the situation. Matters are further complicated when he is severely injured in a confrontation with the murder, and has to have large parts of his own body replaced with cybernetics. All the while, the threat of war with Earth looms overhead, and these crimes appear to be related somehow. Armitage becomes a wanted robot, and Ross must choose between her and his prejudices.

Review

Armitage III: Poly-Matrix is the four OAVs put together into a single feature, and it shows. A couple of times you get the feeling that there should have been a commercial break or something--there were three suspiciously evenly spaced, climatic fights through the film. Other than that, the plot was pretty good--A classically styled cop film set on Mars with a lot of robots. In all, the American voice acting (there is a subtitled version of the OAVs, but not the movie) was passable, though at times surprisingly bad considering these people are supposed to be real actors (well, Keifer Sutherland, anyway). The other problem was with the characters; I don't know if it was Keifer's fault or it was just the way the character was written (just by looking at him, I'd say the writing shoulders at least part of the blame), but Ross had all the personality of a tree. Admitedly, it is part of the plot that Armitage, the robot, acts a whole lot more human than Ross, the human, but Ross's voice was nearly emotionless throughout, so there was no contrast, and he's just not very interesting to boot; his voice varies from a cheesy monotone to a slightly angry monotone. Armitage is more fun (she also dresses a lot more like Elizabeth Berkeley's character in Showgirls than like a cop), but not notably well acted, either; not bad, just not spectacular. The other roles were solid, but not noteworthy.

Overall, Armitage III: Poly Matrix is pretty good; it has passable acting and art, a reasonably interesting plot, above average animation, and a healthy amount of action. Plus, you get to hear major American actors voicing anime characters. Weather or not that's a good thing is up to you...

Have a look at these reader comments for two contrasting perspectives...

Production Notes

Armitage III: Poly-Matrix is the movie version of the four OAVs cut together with some additional animation to tie them together, and features some pretty high profile American actors on the dubbing--Keifer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkeley (known for Showgirls) as Ross and Armitage, respectively.

DVD Notes: The DVD has English closed captioning, Japanese subtitles, and an English 5.1 soundtrack but does not include a Japanese audio track. The DVD does include an animated menu with sound effects and lots of background music; in particular, the scene index has a different tune (some a couple of minutes long) to go with each page. Quite nice. Other features include a scene index with thumbnail pictures, language selection, text from an interview with the director, and a few other production notes.

Mecha Rating

3--Had some good parts and nice animation.

Genre

Sci-Fi Action Drama (Drama)

What's in it?

Little robots
Skimpy Police Uniforms
Feet n' fists
Guns n' ammo
Keifer Sutherland

If you liked...

Quite similar to Gunnm, though Gunnum was somewhat less cerebral and had more action.

So, how bad is it?

Rated 16 and up.

Violence:
3--A fair amount of violence, though most of those killed are (very human-like) robots.

Nudity:
2--Several very brief bits of incidential nudity (including one surprisingly detailed frontal shot of an artist's model), and lots of tight outfits on Armitage.

Sex:
2--Generally mature themes, plus one mild scene with more implied.

Language:
3--A significant number of expletives.

Availability

Armitage III: Poly Matrix Translated and Relased in US by Pioneer Entertainment.
Episode	Format
Movie (90min)	Dub VHS	Dub LD	Dub DVD

AnimeNation and RightStuf probably both have this video if you want to buy it.

Cast & Crew:

Dubbed Cast of Poly-Matrix Movie:

Armitage: Elizabeth Berkley
Ross Sylabus: Kiefer Sutherland
D'Anclaude: Dan Woren
Jullian: Wanda Nowicki
Lt. Larry Randolph: Mike Reynolds
Eddie: Bryan Cranston
Chris: Steve Apostolina
Asakura: Barry Stigler
Coroner: Doug Stone
Kellly: Dorothy Fahn
Kelly's Manager: Steve Blum
Jessica Manning: Riva Spier
Rosalind: Ellyn Stern
Model: Debbie Rodgers
Additional Voices: Richard Cansino, Mike Forrest, Wendee Lee, Steve Bulen, Paul St. Peter, Jonathan Cook, Joan-Carol O'Connel, Dyanne Dirosario, Skip Stellrecht, Kirk Thornton, Michael Sorich

Crew:

Director/Creator: Hiroyuki Ochi
Writer: Chiaki Konaka
Music: Hiroyuki Namba

Animation by Pioneer LDC/AIC

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