Ghost in the Shell 2

Original Title: イノセンス
Romanized: Innocence
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

The year 2032 is a future where cybernetics, pervasive computing, and urbanization have run amok. In this dark future of Japan, a group of covert police officers handles the most devious and dangerous sorts of technological crime. Major Motoko Kusanagi, formerly one of the top agents, has disappeared, her ghost--the data that comprises the soul of her otherwise completely mechanized body--having gone into hiding in the global information network. When a string of grisly murders are perpetrated by seemingly harmless pleasure robots, the current top cybernetic agent, Batou, is partnered with the younger and less mechanized Togusa to find out the dark secret of what is behind these killings, and who is willing to go to almost any lengths to protect it.

Quick Review

Rating: 4 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-10-17

Ghost in the Shell 2 is a movie to behold, methodical, deeply philosophical, cerebral, pretentious, and visually stunning, but given such unwavering focus by writer-director Mamoru Oshii that it very much a love it or hate it piece of art. In essence an art film wrapped in a massive visual budget and cyber-noir plot, Mamoru Oshii combines an intricate political detective story with what is essentially a philosophy essay--probably a full quarter of the dialogue consists of quotes and truisms. Though often something of a stiff literature review, the movie is saved by a sense of subtle humanity that was missing from the characters in the first film and absolutely spectacular visuals from the dense, intricate action scenes to awe-inspiring dystopian vistas.

Whether you will enjoy the movie is going to depend on whether the ongoing philosophy essay that passes for dialogue is an asset or liability, and how engrossed you are by the plot and astounding visuals. I, personally, took the dialogue as self-indulgent and often unnecessary, but the rest was interesting and so beautifully visualized that I was willing to forgive.

US DVD Review

Dreamworks has produced a solid DVD. Aside from the pristine anamorphic widescreen presentation and Dolby 5.1 soundtrack (Japanese only; there's also a separate Japanese 2.0 soundtrack, and French subtitles in addition to the English), extras include a commentary track (with subtitles, of course) by director Oshii and Animation Director Toshihiko Nishikubo, a "making of" feature, and the Japanese theatrical trailer (oddly not anamorphic, despite being widescreen).

Content Guide

Though given a PG-13 rating, I would've called it 16-up because of occasionally graphic violence and some mature content.

Violence: 3 - The violence is sparse, but brutal when present, and there are some grisly crime scenes.

Nudity: 1 - A number of somewhat nondescript nude robots.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Some mature themes come up in discussion of the sexually-related crimes.

Language: 2 - Some cursing in the subtitles.

Notes and Trivia

Shown theatrically in both the US and Japan, this movie is based on a comic series by the reclusive cyberpunk manga maestro Masamune Shirow. There is also a sequel comic series, Ghost in the Shell 2, that has nothing to do with this movie; the plot of this film is loosely based on a section around the middle of the first series.

The official English site can be found at www.gofishpictures.com/GITS2/main.html, and the Japanese film site is innocence-movie.jp.

Availability

Available on subtitled (only) DVD from Dreamworks.

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