Overblown Anime

Continuing with the cinematic rampage, we took a recent trip to the local artsy-fartsy theater and watched the latest to be imported to our shores, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. If you've never seen the original, it's a must for every fan of Japanese animation. One of the first anime to be brought overseas, Ghost is based on the popular manga by one of the most influential artists on Eastern shores, Masamune Shirow. The manga, of the same name, follows a futuristic police force, heavily enhanced by electronics, and their efforts to capture a high-powered hacker. The second chapter essentially picks up a few years after the previous adventure, once again following the same force, but with a decidedly different agenda.

This movie can be summed up in one word: Dense. The scenery is dense, the dialogue is dense, and the content itself is just dense dense dense. It took enough just to read the subtitles when there's so much to read, but it took double time to actually let it sink in and comprehend it. Not only that, but there were so many different quotations to follow that it was almost absurd. If there was no context to follow these quotations, I would have been laughing. Fortunately, this never happened.

Visually, Production IG put together what has to be the first successful merging of traditional and computer-generated animation. If you've seen Kill Bill, and you remember the animated sequence in volume 1, you'll know their work. With that knowledge, however, you still may not be fully prepared to experience this film. Background details, mechanical details, and the action itself make for a stunning work. There's one sequence, that although initially convoluted, you may find yourself remembering it for the way such subtle change can effect a scene. If anything, this movie only cements the stellar reputation that IG has built for itself so far, and I look forward to seeing what more they can produce.

My final impression of the film is a little mixed. Although my eyes had definite stimulation, and my brain had stimulation, the entire experience left me a little numb. I'm not entirely sure if I've had enough time to really appreciate the film, and this may not be a fair review, but I'm left with the impression that with all the dialogue, all the symbolism, and all the good intentions, the movie may have left me a little cold. Not that I didn't enjoy the experience, I was just ultimately disappointed. Perhaps it's cultural, and although it could be seen as quite profound, I almost found it pretentious. Whatever the case may be, as with all movies, one can always see it and decide for themselves.

Overall Score: 2.5 out of 5 stars.