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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 |
 "Bizarre Subtitles with Many Mistakes / Film Deserves Better"Let me just say right off that Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence is a phenomenal movie, it deserves a solid 5 stars and should be held aloft as one of the greatest animes in history. The problem here is the packaging and the subtitles. There are two gigantic problems with the subtitles: (1) Why on Earth did they subtitle EVERYTHING? Every time a plane flies overhead or a car door slams, it appears as a subtitle. This is extremely frustrating and incredibly invasive. There are times where you just want to scream at the localization company as you will completely lose track of the storyline (brutal as there is not a single disposable scene in this entire picture). (2) Like the first Ghost In the Shell, many of the characters in the film can communicate to one another via transmissions from within their heads (think of it as a kind of "electronically-assisted ESP"). There are dozens of scenes where the subtitles will actually title the speaker for you. For example, "[Batou] Understood, thank you." This would be terrific were it not for the fact that there are at least five or six times where the localization crew gets this completely wrong and credits another character. Again, subtitles completely yank you right out of the mood of the picture. Infuriating! This film deserves the love and treatment granted to the original Ghost In the Shell DVD re-release. Better packaging and a total overhaul of the subtitles is an absolute must. I personally don't mind not having dubbing- I find it odd that anime fans would really complain about that. But for the love of Gods everywhere, at least get the subtitles right and don't treat your audience like they are deaf. It truly is for shame that a picture this revolutionary and this important would be given such a shoddy run. North America also needs a soundtrack release!  "get the correct DVD"http://recp.rm05.net/servlet/SignUpForm?f=2318 go here to send in your disk and get the newly released one. Dreamworks fixed the subtitle problem. If your DVD spine has a "v4" printed on it, you already have it. Overall great film 5 stars "For God's sake I can hear!!!!"I have not read all the reviews but I can assume I am saying nothing new. But, I will feel better if i do. I really shouldn't be rating this film because I saw a total of about 12 minutes. I could not get past the Closed Captions!!! What were they thinking. At least give us the choice!  "outstanding movie, less than stellar subtitling issues"The movie is another masterpiece--Batou and Togusa investigate a series of gruelsome murders being commited by gynoids--cyborgs which have been designed for the sex trade. Condifering the current state of modern Japanese society, this film really hits home--with all of the mindblowing technology, the people of Innocence (and to a lesser degree, real life Japan) have become so wrapped up in high tech gadgets, they have started to forget what it means to be "human" There's more to life than stressing out over school exmas, stressful days at work, lack of some time to relax In the movie, the extent of cyber and nano technology has rendered the value of human feelings almost to a moot point.Batou's only sense of humanity is when he feeds his dog, Togusa when he goes home to his family (as he only has some cyber brain implants) You'll se this when Batou is more than happy to take out an entire yakuza gang with a HUGE gun, while poor Togusa comes this close to getting killed by a pair of hand grenades (Batou saves him of course) I love the movie, but whoever did the subtitles should be fired! "A Detective Story with Philosophy, Action."The central core of the story, like the sequel remains a philosophical debate over the nature of the human soul or "ghost". Specifically, whether the human soul can be copied to a robot or vice-versa. It also deals with the ethical issues of creating such hybrids. In the first film, Motoko Kusanagi merged souls with an AI construct and disappeared into the internet, saving the AI's existing and enhancing her own. She appears in this film only in cameo at the end, so anyone looking for more of Motoko should check out the Stand Alone Complex series instead. This film is solely about the goggle eyed Batou. He continues the philosophical debate from the first film, using Motoko as sort of a Deity whom he places faith in. If you haven't seen the first film, hate philosophy or subtitled Japanese, you should probably look elsewhere. Some will want to view the film simply to see some of the most impressive animation ever to hit DVD. Hand drawn people and computer generated backgrounds fit perfectly. Much of the visual style is much more faithful to Masamune Shirow's comics than the first film, using a much more varied palette and much more elaborate and beautiful settings. Gone is the starkness and bleakness that plagued the visual style of the first film. Thematically GITS2 remains a sort of film-noir detective story revolving around several murders, homicidal cyborgs, and missing children. There are only several scenes that involve any action or violence, so I wouldn't call this an action film. Though as briefly as it shows up, there are some of the best sequences I've seen all year. Batou's brutal showdown with a houseful of Yakuza is my personal favorite. Definitely an essential for fans of anime, sci-fi or anyone who likes a good college-level detective story. |
