For a decent chunk of the movie, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Mars Express felt a little too familiar. That it was following too closely in the footsteps of Ghost in the Shell, right down to details like its climactic showdown with an animalistic military automaton. At a certain point, though, I was able to let that go and think, holy shit, two cakes!
Plus, being a European production, there’s some things Mars Express does that no Japanese production could match – like that sweet, sweet full minute of logos before the movie starts.
Visually, it’s… fine? The designs are good, but the animation, boarding, and camerawork are all rather workmanlike. Don’t get me wrong, what they managed to accomplish with the budget they had is pretty exceptional, but it’s pretty rough when compared against its stated visual influences like Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor. In somewhat of a rarity for the medium, however, Mars Express is absolutely carried by its outstanding writing. The pacing is tight, the dialogue is great, and watching the mystery slowly come together is satisfying.
Most impressive, though, is how well-integrated all of its sci-fi ideas are into the story. There’s plenty of little show-don’t-tell moments that immediately clock as, yeah, of course that’s what would happen: I loved Carlos’ go-offline-after-grabbing-someone trick he uses to prevent someone overriding him with the prime directives, for example. All throughout, from the car crash’s anti-impact foam to students making a quick buck donating plasma paying a visit to the brain farmer, futurist concepts are married with the plot so seamlessly that the world feels effortlessly grounded and believable.
Isn’t it wild that the brothel touts itself as ethical by saying all of its prostitutes are synthetic backups, when the movie later establishes that legally, backups can only be in use when the original human has died? “Hey bro, wanna go with me to the sex club where everyone we’ll bang is basically a ghost?” jesus christ
"we saw you from across the bar and really dig your vibe"
I was sort of surprised the twist wasn’t about the biological computers running things behind the scenes, but in the end I kinda like that it was only a red herring. The organics aren’t inherently evil, just like the robots aren’t inherently evil – they’re simply another tool made by humanity for their own ends, to be marketed and sold and eventually replaced when the shareholders have approved a new product for release.
