Lack of good storyline.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Four hardcore gamers are forced to cast aside their differences and work together in order to defeat a giant sand worm monster in a computer simulated virtual reality world. Sounds like a really cool and fun premise, right? Well, it just ain't. Writer/director Mamoru Oshii gets the picture off to a cracking start with the gnarly CGI monsters, striking shots of a bleak desolate landscape, and rip-roaring action scenes. However, the movie runs out of gas early on and becomes bogged down in an increasingly tedious and tiresome brooding existential moodiness that strives for profoundness only to wind up coming across as extremely boring, irritating, and pretentious instead. The meandering and repetitious narrative goes around in circles just like the thinly drawn characters trudging through this ordeal. While Oshii does deliver several stunning visuals (one girl gamer sprouts wings and takes flight in a particularly breathtaking image), the annoying bickering between these unlikable individuals with one-note personalities, the draggy pacing, a frustratingly lame'n'abrupt ending, and the general mind-numbing ennui make this film a serious chore to endure. Worst of all, the fact that everything is simulated negates any genuine tension or urgency because one never gets the impression that anything substantial is at stake at any given time in the story. The basic point seems to be that combat in between fighting is dull. Pity the movie itself proves to be pretty blah and dreary as well.

Assault Girls has no real story. Also, since it is set in a computer game world, there is no real threat. Then why was I so engrossed by it all? It was simply a bizarre mix of many things that I love, served up in a very short movie. It all begins with a lumbering voice over that really doesn't fit with the film. I was worried by the pomposity of it. Next up came long takes sweeping the vast desolate landscapes. There was also a shot of a snail slowly crawling along. It was like something from a Terence Malick movie, where nature triumphs over story, only here it was in a funny Japanese OTT action movie. Soon we see a man walking and he certainly walks for a while. It was reminiscent of Omar Shariff in Lawrence of Arabia. As the film finally unfolds its basic story, we see this is all set in a computer game, where 4 characters are finding it hard to defeat the final boss. They must band together if they wish to destroy it. Quite why this story is that of a film is beyond me. Perhaps it is showing how people have become wrapped up in computer games and they are an extension of our lives and characters. But probably not. I really enjoyed its serene and quiet nature, but wish there had been more story. The effects were fantastic, and I loved each and every CGI creation. Kikuchi was once again the standout star in once again a mute role. Her screen presence is undeniably exotic and unique. Her quirky dancers, and the way she can captivate by looking at a hat. You wont get much from this movie, but it was a wonderful 70 minutes.

Oh my god! This was such a waste of time.First of all, it took forever to get through the intro with lousy still photos and a really, really annoying narrator speaking broken English (I believe it is called Japanese EngRish).Then when the movie finally did start it had potential, but it all fell crashing to the floor so hard. The scenery in the movie was fantastic, and it had a kind of Fallout (games) feeling to it, being an all barren and broken wasteland. However, the movie spent way too much time in showing pointless and endless shots of the scenery. It was great at first, but it quickly became boring and annoying to look at.Moving on to the characters. Well, to put it mildly, they were shallow drones without any personality. Their costumes were awesome, however. And a lot of detail had been put into these costumes. And that was one of the better parts of the movie actually. But the characters in the movie were two-dimensional and had no appeal - except for their costumes. And their lovely, funny Japanese EngRish was just priceless. Why not keep the movie all in Japanese? It would have worked so much better for the movie as a whole.The CGI effects were actually cool and believable, and that was also one of the movie's stronger sides; one of the few there were.One of the more annoying things in the movie was the sound effects during the brawling scene between Gray and Jäger. That whole comedy approach failed on an epic scale.In overall, this movie was a major disappointment. It was an empty shell that presented nothing but a feast for the eyes and ears. Trust me, you could send your brain on vacation when you watch this movie, because there is no thinking to be done at all! I was left with one reaction when the movie ended, and I quote "WTF! That was it? You've got to be kidding me!" - and that was my exact thoughts. Now, don't let yourself get lured in (and fooled) by the awesome movie cover - you will be sorely disappointed. There are a lot of really cool and good movies coming out of Japan, and of course, there are also movies in the opposite end - this being one of them! If you like Japanese movies, you can find many others that are a lot more enjoyable.

The imagery is beautiful, and the special effects and the weaponry/armor were outstanding. But nothing happens! There's little dialog, which is extremely muffled by masks, along with being really poor English.The problem is the director spends 90% of the time with extremely long shots of the shooters walking around or dancing. There are five full minutes spent watching someone fry eggs and eat them. Several minutes alone are spent following a snail around.If they cut out all of the too, too long atmospheric shots this "movie" would have been a 20 minute FX test reel.I have to say, though, the fight between Jager and Gray is pretty funny, but for some weird reason, all too short.