In the year 2067, the United Nations declares a global resolution to ban the use and manufacture of android technology. Japan, in an act of defiance, refuses to sign the treaty and withdraws into high-tech national seclusion for the next 10 years. For a decade, no one has crossed the magnetic force field that surrounds the nation’s borders. No one, that is, until Commander Vexille and her team of U.S. special agents: SWORD. Dispatched to Japan to uncover the truth behind the nation’s closed walls, Vexille soon finds herself immersed in an apocalyptical Tokyo with the fate of the entire world ticking away. In the explosive 14 minutes before the main titles, director Sori Appleseed sets the stage for an eye-popping race to stop a bio-technological scheme that could end all humankind. Using groundbreaking animation techniques that incorporate 2D and 3D elements seamlessly, Vexille bursts onto the screen in one glorious explosion after another. Cel shading over 3D character design is set against a multimedia backdrop to create the illusion that you've been blasted into a pulsating comic book universe. Paul Oakenfold provides the original soundtrack that also features such artists as Basement Jaxx, Boom Boom Satellites, DJ Shadow and M.I.A. Be among the first in Philadelphia to get blown away by this futuristic vision of an android world that is destined to become a classic of the science fiction and animation genres. -- Michael Enright