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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 |
 "Beautiful Film"I've been a long time fan of the original "Ghost in the Shell" movie, but I truly believe Innocence surpasses it. It's definately the most visually stunning film I've ever seen and that alone is enough to give it 5 stars. The soundtrack and score are just icing on the cake. The only flaw with this movie rest in the dialogue, in particular the constant quoting of various classical works and figures. I must warn however, this is a movie for thinkers. If you are not partial to pondering questions of the soul, then just turn off the subtiltles and watch the pretty pictures and listen to the pretty sounds.  "Don't bother..."I was a big fan of the original movie, so I thought I'd check this one out. It was a big disappointment in several departments. 1.) No english language track. Although I don't mind reading subtitles at all, the only english subtitles are the "hearing impaired" subtitles. So, yeah, everytime you see a helicopter, the subtitles inform you "[helicopter noise]". This gets old very fast. 2.) The plot is convoluted, even by the standards of the first movie. Without giving anything away, these sexdoll robots are going crazy and blowing themselves up, taking their owners with them. Becuase some of the victims are corporate and political bigwigs, Batou and the boys from Section 9 get involved in the investigation. Not a TERRIBLE plot, but there is so much scene jumping and philosophy quoting going on that it's too hard to follow, and I pretty much gave up caring. 3.) There is WAY too much reliance on CG in this movie! Computer animation may have its place, but in my opinion, it is a somewhat souless medium and is not very good for portraying emotion or characters. This movie used it way too much, and I kept thinking, "that would have been so much better had they just drawn that!" For a good example of how to unobtrusively integrate CG into anime, check out "Blood: The Last Vampire." In whole, I would not recomend this movie. Check out Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex instead.  "Nice visuals, no movement"I yawned and gave out frustrated groans throughout this entire movie. I was really geared up for it, too. I watched the first movie right before it as a refresher and then rolled right into this...mess. The animation is neat, with the style of the original mixed in with the CGI. The problem is that mingling the two forms of anime like that makes it so distracting that it's difficult to really get into the movie. Also, it moves sooo slowly, dwelling on the imagery for long periods. Are they building suspense? Hardly. I think the creators are just so impressed with themselves with the visuals that they're lingering as if to say, Hey look at how real the bell looks that's hanging on this door? Or, check out the way these flourescent lights buzz and flicker. Isn't that cool how we did that? I'm bored already. Stick with the story. And where's the action? Sure, the first had it's moment of chatter, and good dialog is essential for plot development and such, but this sequel is nothing but talk. Even that wouldn't be so bad if it was at least interesting. Here's where the subtitles issue comes in at its worst. When three people are talking really fast all at once, I spent so much time trying to keep up that it all began to blur together and it kept me from being able to actually WATCH the movie! Since the dialog was so dry and full of incoherent garbage anyway, I felt like I was doing all that work for nothing. They were philosophising so much that they kept losing track of the movie. If I want a sermon, I'll go to church. Otherwise, although I love a good deep movie that makes you think, let's keep it relevent to what's going on and know when to shut up. On that note, I'll shut up and sign out.  "Ironically better to me than the first movie"I'm such a geek for anime. From some really good ones like "Spirited Away" to tremendously sucky ones like "Ninja Resurrection" *shudder*, I just love animated action. Maybe it's the colors, or the details the animators put into one of these movies (the good ones, mind you), that just...yeah, I like 'em a lot. I'll be honest though, and say that at first, I didn't think I would like "Innocence" that much, because I wasn't too crazy about "Ghost in the Shell" the first time I saw it. I can't really think of the reason why, other than it just didn't stick with me. Funny how I liked the sequel much better, though. (I think the Stand Alone Complex tv series has something to do with this, though.) ~SPOILER ALERT -- You have been warned...~ Set 3 years after Major Motoko Kusanagi's "ghost" (personality) merged with the cyber net, "Innocence" focuses on Batou, the Major's former partner, as he investigates a series of murders committed by a particular model of gynoids, the Hadaly robotic sex dolls. The dolls had turned on their owners before deliberately mal-functioning in a suicidal effort. Teamed up with a new partner, Togusa, Batou delves deeper into the case, finding the links between a yakusa gang, missing girls (and I do mean girls) and Locus Solus, the manufacturer of the Hadaly. Turns out the yakusa were supplying the girls to Locus Solus, who would then dub the girls' personalities -- ghosts -- onto the dolls to make them more desirable, because they seemed more human. However, two questions arise: Did the girls want to be dolls? More importantly, did the dolls want to be human? The second question is always a good one for discussion, because it makes one wonder at humanity's vanity to create things in its own image. By infusing the Hadaly dolls with someone else's stolen personality, was perhaps Locus Solus robbing the dolls of their own? Can robots/cyborgs/etc ever develop the capability to feel? (This could go on for hours, I'm sure) Now, what I liked most about this movie was the visuals; vibrant and detailed, the visuals play a great part in telling the story. The Japanese singing in the background was good, too, as was the guest appearance of the Major in a different form. What I didn't like most about "Innocence" was the over-abundant use of Confucius and other philosophical quotes. These take up too much of the dialogue between Batou and Togusa. Some more originality would have suited me just fine. Still, "Ghost in the Shell 2" was good to watch. I might watch the first movie again; I might like it better the second time around. :-) "horrible"The movie looked awesome, too bad I couldn't understand any of it because it wasn't in ENGLISH!! The DVD case makes it look like a bootleg anyways, there's hardly anything to it. The subtitles are horrible, you can't even understand what's going on half the time, it's like they were written by a third grader or something. Beautiful movie though, wish I could understand Japanese because it looked really impressive. |
