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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 |
 "An intelligent, philosophical movie "Wow, after reading the reviews, I didn't realize that the anime community was full of such shallow whiners who are focused more on style than substance. Yeah, yeah, the translation to DVD is rather poor. Still, its easy enough to adapt to the subtitles. But, I think this largely comes from a generation that dislikes reading in general and gets easily distracted... Innocence is a smart movie where every scene, every image reflects a depth waiting for further exploration. Did any of you catch the name of that one character, Haraway? Hey, illiterate punks, look that name up and you'll find an inside joke. Sociology, philosophy, cyberpunk, and the future of ethics--its got it all...The movie is full of wonderful references that only increase the enjoyment of its viewing. For those that described this movie as shallow and full of references to literature and academic works, go back to your shallow comic books.  "Good Graphics, bad script, WARNING NOTE "Having programed on the visual systems they used for GITS2, they did a great job......being a political science major who enjoys philosophic debates.....not bad.....but unfortunately i am also a sci-fi fan and the plot gets really bogged down about half way into the movie......the biggest problem for me and a real annoying feature that i wish AMAZON would correct is tell us when something is a NON-ENGLISH soundtrack.....unless you understand Japanese you have to have subtitles......this is unfortunate that dreamworks did not create an English version as they did in Ghost in the Shell 1 or its tv version "stand alone complex"........so i have to down grade it for that because to keep up with the story you have to keep pressing the pause button to read the dialog and then go on.....shame on you dream works and shame on amazon.com for not warning us with a warning label.....  "DVD only captioned for hearing impaired"I saw this film at a theater when it came out, it was subtitled, but not captioned for the hearing impaired. It is a wonderful film, but NOT in this DVD release. I could only watch 10 minutes of it because every sound is labeled on the screen. It is very annoying and distracting. I wish I had read the customer reviews before I bought it! P.S. I mailed the disc back to the company and was sent a disc with English subtitles. Now I'm happy! This is a very artistic film, a philosophical meditation on the question, "What does it mean to be a human being?" "Extraordinary"Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence: is extraordinary. Director Mamoru Oiishi has done the seemingly impossible in surpassing the first Ghost in the Shell. Fans of the first film will be mesmerized by Oishi's vision of a desolate urban-mecha society where organic life is the minority. The music fits the movie excellently, echoing mournfully into the vast city so full of life and yet so lifeless, a cry that goes unanswered. In this postmodern sci-fi anime, interesting questions are raised such as "Why are humans so obsessed with duplicating themselves?" and "How exactly do you define a human?" Here most people have input devices on the back of their necks with which they can share information. Even the most organically human character in the film, Batou's partner, reaches over and plugs in as if he were reaching for his wallet. I tell you, it is unsettling. Innocence does not have bodacious cyborg-babe Motoko, who was the central character in the first movie. Any fanboys wanting cheesecake or fanservice had better look elsewhere. Motoko is in the film, but not until the end, and only as a voice. The hero in this film is Batou, the cyborg who has been living the last three years without his love Motoko, when she disappeared into cyberspace. Motoko and Batou have one of the most touching love stories, and I am hoping desperately for a Ghost in the Shell 3. Innocence is a buddy cop picture, as almost 100 % cyborg Batou is paired with a "family man." This futuristic world is not a place you would want to visit, but you cannot tear your eyes away from it. The animation is simply a visual feast. All scenes are so realistic, most in 3D animation. In a way, it watches like a video game. You feel as though you are in the movie, especially during shooting scenes, as Batou is taking out Yakuza or martial-arts wielding girlie robots dropping from the ceiling. Ghost in the Shell 2 is for hard core anime fans only. This is not for someone who is just being introduced to anime, or has not seen any serious series such as Neon Genesis Evangelion. The DVD has director commentary as subtitles only. There is no English dubbing available. Subtitles are available in English and French. "The best movie you will never watch."Unless you are fluent in Japaneese you will spend more time reading the dialogue than whatching the stunning visuals of the film. The film has a rich engaging storyline too bad it seems more like reading a book than watching a movie. The publishing of this movie by a major label that is so poor quality is inexcusable. Especially when dubbing is readily available... |
