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Ghost in the Shell 2 - Innocence Actors: Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Tamio Ôki Director: Mamoru Oshii Number of Items: 1 Format: Animated, Color, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Running Time: 100 minutes Studio: Umvd/Dreamworks Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2004-12-28 Buy from Amazon |
 "Stop Quoting Milton and learn to tell a Story"Well I certainly don't like admitting this but I had a real tough time following this film. By the end I had pretty much thrown my hands up and was simply enjoying the animation. That said I have yet to see an anime film I actually liked. I say down with "Cowboy Bebop" and "Tokyo Godfathers" and "Metropolis." This film may have had the best animation of any anime film I have ever seen, so by the time I had given up I still had something to savor. It somehow managed to be moody and vibrant and real and not all at the same time. The problem comes when the characters began philosophizing. They would walk the streets throwing around quotes from the Bible and Milton and Confucius, yet I just couldn't tie it to the plot. This caused the movie to look like pontification central. Maybe it just all went over my head, I'm a history major after all, not a philosophy one. It did make me wonder though what would happen if Pixar had the nerve to have an edge. The Japanese are more than willing to include in their animated stories blood and violence and smoking by characters who aren't villains, while over hear we make films about fish and toys (very good films of course). Oh well, I'll add this to the long line of anime films that I vote no to and will try again soon. **1/4  "Total Crap."Why I gave this movie a chance after the original's complete and utter failure, I have no idea. It's filled with computer-animated graphics; way to start off on the wrong foot there. CG is total garbage. You can't relate with the main character, because he is devoid of personality. The plot is random at best; and everyone is chock-full of 'wise-old-man' sayings. If that isn't enough to make you vomit, the soundtrack (copied straight from the original) will. If your lucky you'll fall asleep like I did and wake up when the torment, er...movie, is over. "If I could rate this as less than 1 star I would"This was the most ridiculous piece of crap ever made. Watching this movie was a complete waste of an hour and a half. The animation was decent but the plot was utter garbage. The story had no point to it, and the philosophical language only made it easier to pass out during the movie. I would rather dip myself in honey and tie myself to a tree in the woods so that the bugs could eat me alive, than ever watch this junk again. "Pretty but shallow."Having much enjoyed director Oshii's original "Ghost in the Shell," as well as his excellent Patlabor films, I had hoped this sequel would defy the mostly sneering reviews, but alas, the chorus of negative reviews were basically right-on, because this film's story is simply not sufficiently engaging or well put together to make it a worthy follow-on to it's successor. "Ghost in The Shell (1)" had an enigmatic and satisfying ending, with the newly "evolved" Major Kusinagi departing her old life to take on a new order of existence as a being of energy. It was, in a narrative and even literal sense, a "cliff hanger" the last shot of the film mirroring the first, with Kusinagi poised to jump off a building--great symbolism. And a couple of big unanswered questions for the sequel. Then Oshii started work on this sequel and completely flipped the greyish, ultra-modern urban setting on it's head with an out-of-place "noir" style that colors many of the new film's scenes. This is a needless distraction that mainly serves to cover up the hollow, predictable plot and ponderous dialogue. Nearly every other line consists of semi-relevant quotes from various philosophers on the nature of reality or something. This might work if the characters were bourgois college kids sipping espresso in some other, more appropriate setting, but Oshii has a cast of cyborg cops and rogues spewing this crap in cars and elevators (ahh, elevator scenes--an anime staple,) and the sight of a violence-prone 400lb. armored juggernaut quoting Goethe or whoever had me slowly shaking my head in bemusement. It's all too much, Oshii. The art direction is admittedly excellent, and I truly mean that it is remarkably literate and polished. After all, who knows what Bellmer's "Doll" is? Check your modern art history book and refer back to the doll bots in the movie for the connection--very clever. The misplaced pagodas and wierd spires of the city are gorgeous, and the parade of the Chinese puppets is one of the most jarringly sublime spectacles I've ever seen on film, but Oshii could have kept the scene in the context of the original film, that is, in the midst of the more sterile, modern grey high-rises, and it would still have made sense. Make no mistake, this guy is a consummate animator, one of the best. But the story is a jumble, and a bit too short, making this second effort seem like a prelude to a final installment. Fortunately, Oshii and company have populated these films with an assortment of engaging characters, particularly the morose, lovelorn Batou, and the good-natured family man Togusa, and of course, the icy, all-business Kusinagi, for whom the smart money presumes, returns in a more permanent fashion in "Ghost in the Shell 3," assuming it ever gets made. With luck, Oshii will try to make the next movie his magnum opus and get the storyboard and art direction down pat before the cameras roll, thereby redeeming the franchise. Two bits: This one is for the heads. Save your money unless you count yourself among them. I don't.  "It's better than the sum of its flaws"This DVD deserves all of the criticism it has gotten, the film however does not. I found this to be easier to understand than the first, excellent movie. Oshii's storytelling is always understated, always philosophical, and often provoking. This film has a lot to say about the nature of being human and it states its case in veery Japanese terms. You have to watch films like this a time or two to understand the deeper meanings, but the action scenes in this are really good and will certainly satisfy. And the making of helped to understand the series better, such as a reference to the the love story of Mokoto and Batou in the first film. I can't say I got THAT from Ghost 1, but that is how subtle Oshii films can be. Remember, America is the land of the blockbuster and as film audiences we are rarely challenged by American films. Some of the most popular anime also falls into American film standards. But there are all types of anime, and this film is certainly for an older, thoughtful crowd. I even thought this one better than the first. |
