After a beer, caffine, suger, and all other sorts of legal drugs that students can purchase powered trip through both Deus Ex games I suddenly had the urge to write something that wasn't a pile of crap or a line of DirectX code. As a result I seem to have gained a large creative spurt that confuses me as most of the time it gets to the point where nothing really happens and ends with me vegitating in front of the internet. However the internet will not win this time.
Also I have no idea if I'll start writing the Reprise again. I wouldn't hold your breath.:)
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Well Ghost In The Shell is something I believe that pretty much every cinema fan and his grandmother has seen at least some point in their life. Whether they understood it at all is a whole other picture. Why I am reviewing this? Well, blame Deus Ex. It started it.
And so we start the review. As most people know, Ghost In The Shell follows the members of "Section 9", a group setup to control and combat Cyber-Terrorism as well as Public Security and just generally getting rid of important people with an exceptionally helpful "No questions asked" style policy. Section 9 are called to investigate the "Puppet Master", a cyber-hacker who has the ability to hack into peoples very minds and alter them. An effect well demonstrated early on by the garbage man.
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However, here comes the first criticism of the film in general. While the story behind it is good, the method of delivery is often clumsy and very important parts are given little time to be explained. That is, if they are explained at all. No attention is paid to the members of Section 9 or any history. The only thing that gets a mention at all is Togusa being the only non-cyborg in the whole Section. There is no mention of either Batou or the Major as far as history goes and there is a very little amount of character development throughout the whole film apart from perhaps one or two scenes.
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That said however, where Ghost In The Shell really shines is the action and creating a world. As far as action goes it is very difficult to beat Ghost In The Shell. There are moments that will make you sit up and pay attention. Such as the bit set in the Floating Museum, and who can forget the amazing intro. The problem is the film finds it very hard to live up to the action and many of the scenes that are meant to make you think lack reasoning and don't create an argument.
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Take for example, the final scene with the Puppetmaster. He doesn't include any reasoning in his arguments put forward to the Major. In fact, once you get over the fact that he's using big words and analyse what he's really saying you find a lack of substance. Its more like he is ordering the Major to merge with him rather than giving her the choice.
And that's the problem. The film attempts to fit too much into a too small timeframe when really the film could do with an extra thirty minutes to set the scene much more effectively, give us information on both the characters and Section 9 and donate more time to the scenes that need it. (Although you can tell the final scene was a massive influence to Deus Ex, even though Deus Ex managed to do the whole philosophical argument much better.)
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However despite the fairly rushed feeling of the story the film is worth a watch. The sound and music work well together to create atmosphere and the animation is top notch stuff. Just make sure to watch it with both a copy of the manga and a few of the (vastly superior) Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex episodes under you belt. And then, you may just begin to have a small chance in understanding what the hell is going on.
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Overall: 7/10
Venmoch - "My Vision is Augmented"
| Additional info |
| Movie length | : | 83 minutes |
| Studio(s) | : | Production I.G. & Bandai Visual |
Director | : | Mamoru Oshi |
| Animation | : | Toshihiko Nishikubo |
| Screenplay | : | Kazunori Ito |
| Original Manga | : | Masamune Shirow |
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