xeraph
Many reviewers make mistake by judging this movie with their limited human brains but this movie thinks forward about depicting future where Cyborgs can have access to all the worlds information in the blink of an eye. Therefore some reflections between characters can be sometimes quite hard to grasp if you don't have the basic philosophical, theological or historical knowledge. And even if you will not understand everything, the beatiful noir-ish hypnotic atmosphere with its georgeous art will swallow you anyway and you''ll come back to it finding something new each time watching it. I think, this movie is a timeless classic and the best movie Mamoru Oshii ever did, even surpassing the original.
inioi
Even better than the first one, which is very difficult to overcome.I 'll begin to highlight two little flaws (if we can call it that way): 1- Some of the philosophical quotes in the movie could be a bit misplaced. The characters seems to be compelled to quote in an almost steady manner. Anyway, we have to keep in mind this is a very philosophical film in many ways, with a remarkable psychological burden. 2- Being a masterpiece, the movie is too short. Just 100mn. is not enough to recreate oneself with that beautiful imagery and thorough substance.Having said that, this movie goes beyond perfection. And i'm not talking about the amazing music or the astonishing visuals. I'm talking about the serious, accurate, transcendent, intelligent plot/script.In some way is like a mind-blowing trip with many different layers of reality. At a certain point, the viewer does not know in which of them he is. The question has therefore arisen, as to whether we really know where are we heading to, about computer applications in the internet world.10/10
Jose Cruz
Its a very complex film, both in terms of its philosophical dialogue and the plot is also a little harder to follow than in the first film. Overall, I found it to be an attempt to be "bigger and better" than the first film that failed, somewhat. Still, a very good smart science fiction film about artificial intelligence and the meaning of what is being human.Note that my scores are pretty rigorous: I only give 7/10 for a great film. 99% of the films score lower than this one. It was probably among the best films of the year (2004). I use this scoring system to differentiate the very good films from the best.
Tweekums
Having watched the original Ghost in the Shell for the first time ago a couple of nights ago and really enjoying it I had high hopes for the sequel; unfortunately I don't think it lived up to the original, that is not to say it wasn't good, just not as good. Surprisingly one thing that put me off was the improved animation; quite often I found my self thinking about how well animated certain objects were rather than just sitting back and enjoying the story.The story itself is pretty good; set three years after the original film the major is no longer around but her old partner, Batau, is back, this time he is partnered with Togusa, a less experienced officer who feels he will forever be in the major's shadow. Their case involves a series of murders where people have been killed by their cybernetic dolls. As they pursue those responsible they must confront violent Yakuza and a hacker who can seemingly effect their view of reality.As mentioned before the animation is stunning to the point of distraction, like the first film there is a fair bit of philosophising which seemed a bit heavy handed but wasn't too bad. I also missed Major Motoko who was my favourite character in the first film, Batau made a good lead though. If you enjoyed the first film I'd certainly recommend that you watch this one too.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.
AD
