Excellent Sci-fi anime movie from the producers of "Akira" and like it's cousin, it's has a philosophy and brilliant view of the future. Recommend to fans of "Blade Runner", anime and even "Akira".
Ghost in The Shell.
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Not a big fan of this movie, or Innocence. I felt Innocence in particular was far to fond of telling us how clever it was rather than being genuinely thought provoking. Blade Runner manages to make you think almost without you realising it, Innocence was more "You should be thinking this now, aren't we clever?"
The first movie was pretty decent though, and very nice looking. The main problem I had with it is that it was far too straight laced compared to the manga except for the fan service invisibility suit (and no I don't buy that her being effectively naked was a philosophical statement), and was devoid of all of the manga's humour. Stand Alone Complex was superior IMHO as it actually captured the feel of Shirow Masamune's original.
It did succeed in being very atmospheric though, and the minimalistic score worked brilliantly.
The first movie was pretty decent though, and very nice looking. The main problem I had with it is that it was far too straight laced compared to the manga except for the fan service invisibility suit (and no I don't buy that her being effectively naked was a philosophical statement), and was devoid of all of the manga's humour. Stand Alone Complex was superior IMHO as it actually captured the feel of Shirow Masamune's original.
It did succeed in being very atmospheric though, and the minimalistic score worked brilliantly.
Agree on the ''minimalist'' score, true genius at work there. However I think that just like akira this film is a ''tad'' overrated. Stand alone complex (the series) was FAR superior I thought. Overall I gave ''GITS'' a 8/10 (Brilliant).
The first movie's fairly good, so long as you watch it in Japanese. I think maybe there's been a second English dub done, I don't know, but the original English dub was dreadful. I couldn't understand the story of the movie because the actress dubbing Motoko was so flat in her delivery that I couldn't tell what motivated the character.
I came into Ghost in the Shell through Stand Alone Complex, and I was pretty underwhelmed when I finally saw the original film. Nothing wrong with it, but all the ground the original film trod was covered in more depth by the TV series.
Innocence, however, was a visual and audio work of beauty if nothing else.
Innocence, however, was a visual and audio work of beauty if nothing else.
Does anyone think it's as good as "Akira"?
I prefer it over Akira. I cant really tell you why though.
While I think the movie is good, I enjoy the series Stand Alone Complex and its companion movie Solid State Society so much more. Its such a complex universe that it really deserves to have several episodes to tell its tale.
That said, I really really disliked Innocence. Sure it looked pretty and sounded great, but it was ultra wordy, even by Ghost in the Shell standards and it was lacking a certain character who makes the franchise what it is in my opinion
One thing id like to mention is that if you enjoyed Ghost in the Shell, you should check out Ghost in the Shell 2.0, the HD release of Ghost in the Shell. I'm not sure if it has been released on Blu-Ray in the US yet but the movie and sound are amazing and it has a couple of re-done scenes in it.
It's excellent, and I'm a huge fan of the franchise, however, I found the series, Stand Alone Complex, to be even more so. It creates a more rich universe and makes it so much more interesting. You also get to know the section 9 characters a lot more.
I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell slightly more than Akira personally.
I enjoyed Ghost in the Shell slightly more than Akira personally.
Something else to check out if you like GITS are Real Drive and Appleseed also penned by Masamune Shirow.
I guess I'll join the bandwagon of saying that SAC was tons better than the original GitS film (and I'll go further and say it was better than the manga, which suffers from being cartoonier than the cartoon). The central plot of the movie was probably the most intrinsically interesting of the stories, but in execution it wasn't nearly as fun to watch as either of the SAC series, or as fun as its sequential source material. Like others have said, it lacks the humor of both and my recollection is that it takes the other two GitS iterations' propensity for "who the hell talks like this?" soliloquies to unbelievably long-winded levels.
That said, I remember Innocence being better than the movie it was sequel to, although it's been ages since I've seen it, maybe because in the films (at least!) Batou is much more interesting than Kusanagi.
Finally, I'd also like to say that SAC's first series was better than 2d Gig. I'm still relatively sure Fuze made no sense, and if someone could explain his heel face turn to me, I'd give them a fake Internet dollar.
That said, I remember Innocence being better than the movie it was sequel to, although it's been ages since I've seen it, maybe because in the films (at least!) Batou is much more interesting than Kusanagi.
Finally, I'd also like to say that SAC's first series was better than 2d Gig. I'm still relatively sure Fuze made no sense, and if someone could explain his heel face turn to me, I'd give them a fake Internet dollar.
I assume Matoko is bisexual right? i mean she's hot in the comics but ugly in the movies.
Something like that. Apparently regular sexual intercourse is painful for cyborgs since they have enhanced feeling or something, so most of em do the lesbian thing. You see traces of it in the SAC series with Makoto dating a nurse and being involved in an implied threesome at some point. In the manga there is a scene (or a whole chapter, I forget the details) where she has a boyfriend.
What that comes down to is manga version: Bisexual, movie version: un-known, SAC: lesbian
EDIT:
I'd argue that shes at her hottest in SAC. Another area where it beats out the others
What that comes down to is manga version: Bisexual, movie version: un-known, SAC: lesbian
EDIT:
I'd argue that shes at her hottest in SAC. Another area where it beats out the others
I didn't care for Innocence. I agree with what was said above: impressive visuals, boring and talky story. And one aspect of the visual design that didn't work for me at all was the sexbots. It was silly to claim these androids were built for sex yet give them doll-like, anatomically incorrect designs. Clearly they were trying to avoid an R rating or the Japanese equivalent, but it's still silly, badly undermining the film's credibility, and incongruous given that they had no problem inserting nudity into the first film.
While I agree that SAC covered the ideas in more depth, it's not really a fair comparision... between the two seasons and it's own movie, that's something like 15 hours? So it's got a bit of an advantage there
Other then that I agree with the general sentiment, though I still really enjoy the original movie.
Neither the films or the series did much for me. Loved that manga though.
On an interesting side note, however, I did once come across a net article that compared the original film to the first Matrix movie. The gist of it was how much, in terms of imagery, the Wachowskis "borrowed" from GitS movie.
There were about a dozen-and-a-half examples laid out with screencaps from both.
It was kind of pathetic really.
On an interesting side note, however, I did once come across a net article that compared the original film to the first Matrix movie. The gist of it was how much, in terms of imagery, the Wachowskis "borrowed" from GitS movie.
There were about a dozen-and-a-half examples laid out with screencaps from both.
It was kind of pathetic really.
Personally, I don't see the two films as remotely comparable at all. Something in the anime world that's a better comparison would be the Interlude OVA. I believe I read somewhere the W brothers are self-admitted fans of GITS though, a few homages like that wouldn't surprise me.
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