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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 |
 "Fantastic movie, most disappointing DVD in recent memory!"As a longtime fan of the GITS canon, I was eagerly awaiting the US release of Innocence... I wasn't disappointed in the film, it's one of the best anime I've ever seen and a worthy addition to the Ghost in the Shell universe. However, I have to say that the DVD is a huge let-down. First off is the cover art... Absolute crap. I found a link to the artists' original cover art, before he sent it off to Dreamworks, and it looks ten times better. Next up is the DVD insert. Wait, there's no insert. Strike two. Finally, how on Earth does Dreamworks think they can get away with publishing such a fantastically popular film in the States without a dubbed track, and with the only English subtitle track constantly spewing crap like, "{rain falling}" ... "{gun shot}" ?? Ridiculous. If you're going ton include a hearing-impaired subtitle track, fine, just don't make it the -only- English subtitle track! I can only hope that a "Special Edition" is in the works, to fix what should have been in the first pressing. Film: ***** DVD: *  "DO NOT BUY"If you are expecting the same quality as the first GITS then stay away from this DVD. The move itself is incredible, but unfortunately this DVD is horrible. No english audio track and to top it all off no english subtitles, instead they give you close captioning. The whole movie is (*rain falling*.. and *gun shot*.., etc.). Please do yourself a favor and stay away from this one, try to find a Japanese version..  "Another evidence for strange and sepcial genius"This is another evidence for the strange and sepcial genius some japanese people like Mamoru Oshii possess. Something that can be done only by japanese people with their sick level of perfectionism. I'm not sure it's as much of break-thru as other animes like Akira, Evangerion or the 1st Ghost In the Shell. I watched it only once by now. I had to watch the 1st one couple of times before its real depth soacked into me. So it's too early to tell how good it is but I think this 2nd sequal is something special. It used lots of Computer graphics this time. But they decided to use conventioanl animation to express cold puppet-like movement of "gynoids", which kinda suggests what sort of limitations computer graphics has to express emotions. Human emotions, even though it's about cold humanoids, it still seems hard to express them with computer graphics, IMHO. It does not have English dubbed track. But I personally English dubbing spoils the tone of some Japanese anime. Altaic langauges like Japanese, Korean and Mongolian, do lots of abstractions via omissions and implicitness. Therefore, their English translation tends to produce a lot more words and sentences that need to be narrated. So the whole movie tends to become strange tone with fast talking and very talkative dialogues. That spoils the mood of the movie. Plus the original tone of voices are very carefully ochestrated and Enlish dubbing does not fully duplicate them. "Very unsatisfied"I was anxiously awaiting a sequel to Ghost in the Shell. And when I heard the the long awaited sequel was on its way I could not wait to get my mits on it. But I find that this Movie really falls short of what its predecessor was. And at times is reaching/streaching to be something that it is not. Ghost in the Shell though short was an amazing movie that left a serious imprint on all of its viewers and not only caused as humans to tunr the lookin glass on ourselves and the direction that our technology has taken us. Though Ghost in the Shell 2, has the leangth of a feature film the writing and at times pointless philisophical conversations have the relevance of stoners ramblings. Viewrs could have been spared the metaphorical, and at times painfull mental gymnastics. and though there are many breathtaking scenes that meld both digital animation and traditional animaton into one. There just aren't enough of those Jaw dropping action sequences that had us all watching GITS1 over and over again. the two action scenes in this movie are great but they are so far between and there is so much pointless BS you have to read through between them that chances are you will loose interest and shut this dvd off. This could and should have been a classic instead its only a sequel, and a bad one at that. Though there are several shinging moments the picture is one that is dull and lacks luster overall "The really messed up..."This is a fantastic film, everything you could possibly want in a sequel to the first GITS. However, movie aside, the DVD production is just plain awful. No english dub (for those who at least want that as an option), subtitles that are actually for the hearing impaired, telling the viewer EVERYTHING that is happening on the screen: If a gun fires, you see a subtitles saying "Gun shots". This is really too bad considering it really takes away from just being able to sit back and enjoy the film. It's distracting. Don't buy this DVD!!! |
