The film starts off with a battle and we don't know anything about what is going on. 6 minutes into the film we get an explanation for what appears to be an RPG fantasy game. There was once 8 tribes living on Annon (sp?) created by the god Denown (sp?). When the God left, the tribes who all spoke a different language went to war. (They all speak English now, truly it is a universal language.) There are 3 tribes left. The Briga are the most powerful. They are assisted by the Kumbak who control the information technology. Together they fight the Columba who control the air.

Wydd (Lance Henriksen becasue David Carradine is dead) is a Kumbak who is traveling with the last Druid, a tree talker, who can tie into the ancient knowledge of the gods or something. The tribes fight as clones. When they die, their memory gets downloaded and they are cloned. Our female Columba was a Kiakra 22/23 Khara (Mélanie St-Pierre). Oh yes there is a Basset Hound known as a Gula. If a Gula likes you, you are blessed and it is a sin to kill someone who is blessed by a Gula.

The film uses a 3D CGI background. I imagine all the stiff acting took place in front of a blue screen. The film ends where an equally confusing sequel would commence.

The film asks basic questions about God, life and death. It utilizes philosophy and language from Genesis, but not exclusively. The people collectively who live on the planet are called Garm, hence the title.

This is for the younger generation.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. War violence. Minor blood.

It hurts so much that I didn't like this film. It was disappointing from start to finish, but from distinct reasons.

First of all there was the visual effect applied everywhere, something like a glow with an extra color saturation. It made everything feel cheap and fake. Then there was the script, which started getting more and more holes, with the characters doing what they needed to do to further the script, regardless of continuity. And then, after all this, the ending is revealed to be no ending at all, just an abrupt cliffhanger that hopes to lead to a continuation. Add to it the pseudo-religious parables and you get a cheap looking film that makes less sense than The Matrix.

I so wanted to see Oshii making it out there in the live action area. I so wanted Durand to finally show his potential as a main character in a powerful film. Yet, besides the nice world design and the always fascinating music of Kenji Kawai, this film was a failure.

I watched the Garm Wars, a movie nobody knows of, even when it's written and directed by Mamoru Oshii. Despite having English actors, it feels as if it's an anime movie that follows all the trademarks of Oshii. That dog he loves so much is there, and the characters simply exist to talk about existentialism.

It's pretty heavy on CGI and it feels like it's cut scenes from a PS3 video game. If you expect to see only super duper polished CGI, then you are not going to like it. If you manage to see past that, as far as setting and atmosphere goes, it is superb.

It's also a patchwork of a dozen cool sci-fi anime of the past. At times it's like Ghost in the Shell, at others it's like Sky Crawlers, or Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. The nostalgic side of me was jumping from joy. The problem is the usual way Oshii writes plots and characters. Everything is dull and mechanical. You don't feel the characters are alive and thus whatever they say about the meaning of life feels dead.

The movie is also so concept based that the actual plot becomes an afterthought. Characters do stuff for the sake of progressing the story and not because it makes sense or feels natural. In fact half of it is exposition and couch philosophy, while the ending is open for a sequel. So, it's Cool concepts, thought provoking material, great atmosphere, but not entertaining or that appealing. Recommended only if you like something like Texnolyze.