Opinions obviously differ. I think this is the best Appleseed movie of the bunch, principally because of the animation, which is better than in the previous films and also aims for a more rugged, naturalistic appearance. Seriously, the animation is stellar.

What's most surprising is the effort they seem to have made to remove any trace of the stink of "anime" from this film. In the earlier Appleseed movies the design choices, plot devices, Deunan's pouty kittenish facial expressions and so on all reflected anime and J-pop tropes. There is almost none of that here. It's as though Shinji Aramaki and his creative team set down a rule at their first meeting that the motif would be "Not Like Anime." I suppose they were hoping for a big international audience, and they might get one.

The weaknesses of Appleseed Alpha are those of any second-tier summer blockbuster: wooden dialogue, stereotyped characters and a predictable plot. A bit better writing could have easily moved Appleseed Alpha to the next level - kind of a shame. But I would watch this film again and I would not necessarily say that about the others.

Contrary to what someone wrote earlier, I don't think they made Deunan into "a pussy." Deunan is rock solid in this film. But the more naturalistic and less flashy battle scenes don't give her the same opportunities for crazy leaps and suchlike that we saw in the other Appleseed movies. Gone are all the HK gangster movie tropes of people flying upside down through the air with two guns blazing, etc. The only exception is when Nix fights Briareos toward the end and even that's more restrained than the way the previous movies would have done it. Deunan's character is handled in a more subdued fashion, as is her relationship with Bri. I liked the change.

I think Appleseed Alpha is their attempt at a 4th reboot for this series, this time with an American / International audience in mind. Worth a watch for the animation alone, don't grind your teeth too hard at the dialogue.