When it comes to the feature-length anime-action stuff, I consider myself a fan of the stuff -- but by no means any sort of passionate enthusiast or trivia-filled expert. My problem with most of these movies is a pretty common one: Despite all the stellar animation, cool characters and mega-nifty mayhem -- most of these movies have stories best described as ... indecipherable. Fortunately the latest by Japanese filmmaker Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong) is cleanly-plotted and enjoyably accessible. Relatively speaking, anyway ...

Plus it has some of the most eye-popping animation this side of Miyazaki.

Vexille takes place in a semi-distant future in which Japan has hidden itself away from the rest of the world. Expelled from the United Nations and hidden behind a powerful satellite cloaking device, the country is knee-deep in a civil war of sorts. The evil company known as "Daiwa Heavy Industries" has taken to populating Tokyo with a race of humanoid cyborgs -- but here comes a team of do-gooders intent on kicking evil's ass! Most of the heroes are interchangeable gun-toters, but they also come complete with elaborately cool suits of flying body armor. And that's always fun.

It's an appreciably simply tale, although one stuffed with lots of smaller details and geek-friendly concepts -- just to keep things interesting between the action scenes. And what action scenes they are! Set to a pounding Paul Oakenfold score, Vexille offers a half-dozen action sequences that are really quite thrilling. Not necessarily for the emotional investments or the characters -- but because everything just LOOKS so damn cool. As the title character bounces from scrape to escape, Sori unloads all sorts of slick gimmicks and creepy crawlies. (The massive metal worms who live outside the city walls seem half-borrowed from Dune, only jazzed up with some futuristic paint.)

On a technical scale, Vexille (aka Bekushiru: 2077 Nippon Sakoku) is an undeniable treat for the eyes. Combining 2-D and 3-D animation (as in his earlier Appleseed), Sori eschews belabored backstories and mystical blather in favor of a straightforward sci-fi action-fest. Plus the two main heroes are women, which I found to be a nice switch. (And again, the stuff in between the action is actually interesting!) Fans of the manga comic book of the same name may be interested to know that Vexille is a new story within the established serial, but speaking as a complete newcomer to the series I thought it was a fun, flashy way to spend two hours.