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Reality in the world of Baldr Force EXE is split into two worlds – the real world, which needs no explanation, and the net, a world of computer creation, of fantasy, of a battle between hackers and a military force called FLAK.

Originally a four part OVA (based on the video game of the same name), Baldr Force EXE is about Toru, a member of a hacker group called Steppenwolf (apparently hackers are big fans of Herman Hesse). He regularly jacks into the net, literally plugging himself into a computer jack very much in the style of The Matrix, playing games with the authoritarian military organization, FLAK. FLAK’s goal? Policing the net, keeping the general populace (who use the net for recreational purposes) safe. Hackers and FLAK agents cruise the net in gigantic mechs called Simulacrums. At the start of the movie Steppenwolf realizes their day has come and gone, and before disbanding, they go on one last hack. Something goes very wrong, and when FLAK’s agents chase Steppenwolf down, one of the hackers is killed.

Toru is then launched into the world of FLAK. As part of a plea agreement he signs up with the military, only he has a secret agenda – to find his friend’s killer and get revenge. All is not well with the world of FLAK. There is a mysterious entity in the net, one that kills with abandon, leaving the real world bodies of it’s victims either flat lining or with a blown up head (there is one rather magnificent shot in the beginning of the film where nothing is left of a person’s head but chunks of meat and a wiggling brain stem).

The movie is filled with archetypical characters: a very moe girl named Ren, the overly-endowed authority figure whose breasts stick out like weapons, an angry lesbian and a net-mad goon bent on chaos. One by one the characters line up and fail to impress, and it’s just a part of how Baldr Force EXE fights to be unique by pushing limits, yet fails. There is a somewhat disturbing rape scene, breasts in the opening song and in a shower of shame scene, and an end that just won’t end. The film’s combination of cg and cell anime forgoes groundbreaking and just looks strange and jarring. Incidentally, FLAK isn’t the only bizarre acronym – another organization goes by the name SCAT, which confounded me. Were the writers lazy, or did they really want to bring to mind fecal matter?

Even the mechs are less than impressive; they glide around the net as if ice skating, and though their movements are vaguely interesting, it cancels out any feelings of bad ass-ness that mechs should create.

The DVD includes the original trailer (which is nothing like the trailer pimped out on other recent anime releases), but other than that, the extra features are the same old, same old: textless songs and a lovely lineup of trailers. The only insert the DVD comes with is advertisements. The only true special effect on this DVD is how the volume spikes wildly, so keep your remote close at hand.

Baldr Force EXE has a lot of the ingredients of good anime – a hint of Scanners, a dash of Total Recall and a smidge of .Hack//Sign but it falls flat on its face.

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