Ghost in the Shell
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Movie Reviews of Ghost in the Shell
Movie Review: Thought provoking and visually stunning
Summary: 5 Stars
I am reviewing the DVD version.
The story is light, but metaphysically deep. Its about cosmology and what defines "self." The animation is top notch and blends seamlessly with CG.
The surround sound audio mix is is one of the best you'll ever hear because it is totally immersive.
Movie Review: Awesome anime.
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this for the first time a few days ago when I bought it. I'm new into the world of anime and after buying all the Studio Ghibli stuff, this was recommended to me when I stated I wabted to branch out more. I like the animation style, and the fact that there's gore where the second movie didn't have much.Movie Review: That Great Cyberpunk Anime
Summary: 5 Stars
Ghost In The Shell' (released 1996 in the U.S.) by director Mamoru Oshii was a real butt-kicker for its time and brought renewed interest to Japanese Animation from North American film critics long after the landmark emergence of Akira (1988). The highly cerebral and detailed scriptwriting brought raves from some critics, while the sometimes altered translated English-dubbed version brought baffled reviews from others.
While there are some great animated cinematic-styled action sequences, the film is still also an intellectual and philosophical mystery maze with characters struggling with the meaning of survival in a cybernetic world - themes that would years later influence and inspire the Wachowski brothers as they explored similar themes in 'the Matrix' trilogy.
Along with possibly being one of the first original and sophisticated cyber-mystery thrillers, 'Ghost in the Shell' was also one of the first anime that appeared to integrate the old ink, cell, and paint methods into computer CGI digital graphics thoroughly and successfully to a seamless level of cinematic film mastery.
(Back in the 80's, 'Akira' was still heavily using cell graphics and original BG paintings, while other anime in the 80's like 'the Lensmen" and 'Phoenix 2772' still had CGI technology in its underdeveloped early stages - the differences between CGI and Cell animation could be easily observed by the viewer.)
Kanji Kawai's striking operatic music beautifully enriches and enhances the mood of 'Ghost in the Shell'. The music classically and digitally bridges the new with the old.
Still, the qualitative uniqueness of the movie comes down to its detailed and highly complex science fiction screenplay, which is similar in sophistication and spirit to the ones that exists in films like 'Blade Runner' and '2001 A Space odyssey' (and also to some limited degree to Pixar's new 'Wall.E'). These are the type of films that force the viewers to think at times while going along for the ride. (And it appears that films like these just don't come along very often.)
But if that gets too boring for some viewers there's still always enough stylish but brutal butt-kicking by Motoko (Major) Kusanagi and Batou to keep any viewer tuned into the cyberpunk thriller right to the very end.
***
Movie Review: Good with extras
Summary: 4 Stars
The film is great, and I really liked the english transfer. This disc has 5.1 in both Dolby and DTS for both Japanese and English. You really feel the action rolling past you when listening. The set has some great extras, too. The case has a clear plastic sleeve, and the inside is a tri-fold with the two discs and special extras. The two sided poster is the image on the cover, and the opposite is the Major floating on a red background. The postcard is also nice. Recommended for the collector, otherwise the single disc will do.Movie Review: Mildly Interesting.
Summary: 2 Stars
A few memorable scenes, lots of dialog that tries to examine some deep subjects but fails. Not miserably, but fails. Had I seen this when it came out, it might have had a bigger impact on me, but the characters were wooden and the ending unsatisfying.
If a human could have an artificial heart and still be human, what if the whole human was artificial? When is someone no longer human and does it matter anyway? Mildly interesting story that can stand on its own, it just doesn't stand very tall.
Unfortunately, reviewers on Amazon give out 5 star ratings like they are candy for dying kids. Every teenager (mental or otherwise) rushes off to plug their latest fad. At least I liked it well enough to finish it...