Nemesis is an action/sci-fi film directed by Albert Pyun (Vicious Lips, Knights, Raven Hawk, Left for Dead) about a cyborg named Alex Rain who questions his humanity and alliance with the LAPD after an encounter with information terrorists.
The film is a good pistol opera and features some great action scenes and shootouts, all within a somewhat derivative but well told story. The series then became female lead over time but this one is populated with action women as well, some cyborgs, some fully organic. In fact, the movie was originally going to star a tough 13 year old girl (with the same Alex Rain name), Megan Ward, the teenage star of Pyun's own Arcade (1993), would have played the leading role but the concept was changed when investors wanted to add kickboxer Olivier Gruner to the film. Bad luck.
Despite that, Pyun managed to add strong female characters to the film, like Rosaria (Jennifer Gatti), the leader of a militant group called The Red Army Hammerheads, who faces off against the protagonist at the start of the film. She is the one who makes the protagonist question his humanity, calling him more machine than human.
After the opening sequence Rosaria is killed by Alex and he goes on with his life and decides to leave the police force.
There´s also the female android named Jared (Marjorie Monaghan), who uses the body of another cyborg named Julian (Deborah Shelton from Silk Degrees and Sins of the Night) as an avatar to aid Alex. This serves as an opportunity to have a badass Julian engaging in devastating shootouts, even destroying her body almost completely.
Later on, Alex finds Rosaria´s little sister, Max Impact (Merle Kennedy from 2002´s May), a tomboyish and athletic teen (kind of Tank Girl-looking) who seeks revenge but eventually manages to overcome her hatred of Alex when he switches sides. She then helps him destroy the evil machine that replaced the commissioner of police. I have the theory that Alex´s original teenage personality and design were then incorporated into Max, I can't confirm that but it seems apparent considering her personality and looks.
A highly recommended entry if you like elaborate gunslinging action and some fun scifi roller coaster action.
The Gall Force multimedia franchise started out as a 3D photo novel published in Model Graphix magazine. It featured a group of female soldiers designed by Kenichi Sonoda in spaceships battling monsters. The ship designs were also seen as an attraction due to the model kit design inclinations of the magazine. Not long after, a feature length movie made by Artmic, AIC and Youmex, directed by Katsuhito Akiyama (Sol Bianca, Bubblegum Crisis, Battle Athletes daiundôkai) and written by Sukehiro Tomita (writer for the Sailor Moon anime and movie trilogy) was released in 1986, basically rebooting the storyline and lore of Gall Force and adding several new characters.
The story presents an intergalactic conflict between the Paranoids, mechanical aliens, and the Solnoids, female humans. During an outer space battle, the Star Leaf starship is set to defend the planet Chaos from the Paranoids. Its crew of seven consists of officer Eluza, second-in-command Rabby, officers Catty, Pony, Patty, Ensign Rumy and a rogue pilot named Lufy who crashlands on the ship. The cosmic soldiers unite to obey their orders coming from the high ranking leaders, but a secret and mysterious conspiracy unfolds, which can change the course of the war and the fate of the races in conflict.
You'll be hard pressed to find a weirdest and yet more typical example of what anime is. You have a group of cute-looking animated girls in warfare against humanoid creatures in a surreal and outlandish storyline involving not only the usual space opera tropes but also dreamlike visuals and a plot involving the creation of mankind along with unexplained or ambiguous moments that make you think not only about the garden of Eden but also about life and humanity with j-pop music rocking on the soundtrack. This has always been a strange movie to me because of this odd mix of what can only be boiled down to being personal obsessions or metaphysical ideas in the vessel of an action sci-fi anime movie. However, is not that out-of-nowhere considering the peculiar elements in the original Sailor Moon trilogy by the same writer, there's that touch of vagueness and profundity inside a cute genre story that you don't really see often.
The characters are all solid and instantly recognizable. Sonoda did a great work with the designs and they translated as beautifully as the designs for Bubblegum Crisis and Gunsmith Cats would be years later. While there are distinct enough personalities among the members of the group, none of the characters get any particular psychological focus outside of some moments but part of the beauty of the film is how each one of them is part of a larger whole that must organize in order to achieve things. We do get to see them with their own personal struggles for brief moments but they ultimately get their defining traits based on what function they have inside their faction and community. By trying to relate this to the history of humanity and the genesis of the human race I can't help but to think that this collectivist attitude is present throughout. I also wanna add that the nudity seems less exploitative than in other shows and feels more like a way to show either vulnerability or the beauty of the human form.
When it comes to the animation department I have nothing but praise for the incredibly detailed spaceships and monster designs. The flashy lights and dynamically animated intergalactic movements of the ships, the explosions, lasers and the beautiful landscapes it illustrates are all expertly crafted and wonderful. The first massive space battle is a highlight. All of the voice actors are also solid, perfectly delivering their lines with enough emotion to charge their characters with a sentimentality that really moves you.
The movie never drags nor becomes repetitive because there is always some fascinating twist or new dramatic scenario that captivates you, one moment you will be in the heat of a space missile fight, then you will be inside a ship as a monster lurks around, and next thing you know you are seeing the girls survive in a paradisiac land. The solid pacing along with the splendid visuals are what drive the movie along with the sweet music by Ichizō Seo. It's a technical marvel that was released the same year as another anime staple from the time known as Project A-ko.
I definitely recommend this first Gall Force entry for any newcomer to the franchise or to a veteran anime fan who hasn't seen it in a while. It's a beautiful anime sci-fi experience.
