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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 |
 "A great film with the real negative being the DVD presentation"Having not seen the first Ghost In The Shell, I can't compare this sequel to the original. With that said, this film as absolutely stunning visually. The combination of 2-D animation with 3-D CGI is absolutely amazing and it sucked me in right from the start. The story is of Bato, a cyborg detective for the anti-terrorist unit Public Security Section 9 and his partner's (Togusa) investigation of a female robot (created only for sexual pleasure) that slaughtered her owner. The animation is incredible, but the story left a bit to be desired for me. The characters basically wax philosophical for most of the movie giving it a feel of falling in love with its own intelligence. The dialogue was like a game of quote poker - "I'll match your psalm and raise you one Milton and two Freuds." This is not a knock on the film. I understood what it was going for with its search for a deeper meaning and symbolism. I'm just saying it could have been more balanced. Though staunch supporters of the film will say "any movie that engages your brain need not make any apologies." This may be true, but I find that gratuitous intelligence can be just as bad or not entertaining as gratuitous sex or violence. This is far from a stupid movie, but those who will blindly support it just because it is a "smart" film shouldn't knock those who were expecting an action-packed film with deeper meaning as opposed to a philosophical film with some action. Now onto the DVD experience itself. Not having it dubbed in English is a big faux pas, but an even bigger mistake is having only one subtitle option. It was a hearing-impaired subtitle track where things like background noise, idle chatter, and rain popped up when you could obviously hear it. Was that enough for me to totally blast the film? No, but it did take the level of enjoyment down several notches, which makes the experience less fun. I understand the fan's passion and can relate to having nuances make a big difference, but the visuals are so lush and beautiful I simply can't totally pan the film for this blunder. Overall, this is a great film with the real negative being the DVD presentation.  "DreamWorks and they listened to your request"You voiced concerns about Ghost in the Shell 2 DVD to DreamWorks and they listened to your request. The studio is now offering replacements. As you know, we have discovered that the Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence DVD was presented with English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing) closed captions instead of English subtitles on the film. As this has now been corrected, DreamWorks Home Entertainment is offering consumers who are not satisfied with the original subtitle options the opportunity to replace the DVD with a version that includes English language subtitles. For details on this offer, please visit http://www.gofishpictures.com/GITS2/main.html Double click on "The DVD," then double click on "Questions About Your DVD?" We appreciate your understanding of this matter. DreamWorks is probably the only studio out there who has respect for fans and viewers and simple proof of that is their response on this matter. Thank you DreamWorks. We know you will continue to satisfy your viewers and customers by making and distributing high quality films. I hope this will you to get a good copy of Ghost in the Shell 2. "The DVD is fixable"The movie is worth it, and you can get your DVD fixed. Dreamworks will replace it for free with one with good subtitling, if you go to gofishpictures.com/GITS2 there is a form to fill out to replace the less desirable disc. "A Sequel That Works On Its Own"Sometimes when you walk into a sequel, you have to live with the fact that unless you've already seen the orinigal, you have a lot of catching up to do. This isn't the case with Ghost In The Shell 2. Fans of the original "will" notice the subtle nods the characters give in the plot to the first movie, but basically you don't miss a beat if this is your first Ghost In the Shell movie. The sequel raises the bar on animation as well as philosophy. Really the main thing that you come away from this movie is the philosophy. There's just as much time spent shooting guns and knocking out robots as there is spent contemplating the human and robot intellectual condition. If you aren't a fan of anime, take heart, neither am I, and I still found this movie to be superior to some live action films I've seen. Don't listen to the negative reviews from people who are jaded about anime, they are just being old school know it alls with a lot of bile for a genre they've exhausted. Ghost in the Shell is incredible, and thankfully not too long (one of my usual complaints about anime). ""Because all dolls are modeled on humans... they are, in fact, nothing but human.""Unfortunately, I rented one of those "captioned" subtitled DVDs, so the presentation - while not ruined - was subducted. But I guess Dreamworks is working on fixing the problem. This one should've been rated "R" for violence, but was lacking any real foul language. I'm amazed this got by with "PG-13", to be honest. Any of you seen "X" The Feature Film? Same chronic illness plaguing that film also plagues this film: lush, mind-blowing visuals and high entertainment value... centered around the exact same plot you've found recycled in numerous "anime", including "X". Batou and Togusa are detectives in the far "Blade Runner" future tracking gruesome murders, a couple of those involve seemingly suicidal cyborgs, could have a connection to an important ghost residing in The Net, they go after it... That's it for plot, folks. As for droning philosophy about man's curious want - ney, NEED - to recreate himself... this film has that in spades. Maybe a little too much. "GITS2" could've easily been trimmed 15 minutes, and lost none of the impact. It never aspires beyond that. Good thing it doesn't matter, since Mamoru Oshii wrote this film to basically feast the visuals. And, oh, what visuals there are. CGI&2D layering, 3D computer models, all the trick sh-t. Dimensions are continuously flexed amidst a broad earth-tone-based color scheme. There's a parade as a set-piece in here that renders you... for lack of a better term - hypnotized. Action sequences are definitely manga-savvy, skewing camera angles right against the ceiling, zooming lightning fast into a cyborg's facial protuberance. These folks are getting REALLY GOOD with digital and 3D matte lighting. A couple shots to an untrained eye could pass as real. One last thing: the sound is designed by "The Incredibles" Oscar-winner Randy Thom. His crew at Skywalker Sound, in conjunction with the boys from Nippon, fabricate every single auditory impulse with machine-like precision. Listen, the film has BEAUTIFUL sound in it, but you most likely won't realize it readily, because it blends into "GITS2" so seamlessly. Lotsa gunshots. All garnish, unfortunately no porterhouse. Since the garnish is of such quality, I don't grade down. It's fun... just grab your Thai Stick. p.s. Watch out for the funny angle when Batou pulls on his basset hound's upper lip, stretching it to the camera. |
