Review: Innocence (2004/I)
Mark R. Leeper
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Complex and a little hard to follow but
imaginative and spectacular anime film. Rating:
+2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE is a new adventure set in the
world of the original GHOST IN THE SHELL. This is a future world
where everybody is part machine. The main characters are two
police officers, one almost all human, one almost all machine.
The new story, set just twenty-eight years in the future, involves
a revolt of female pleasure robots called gynids who one day start
acting in non-robotic ways by killing people and by committing
suicide. Both actions go against their moral ethic--essentially
what are Asimov's laws of robotics.
I saw the film in a subtitled version in one pass with subtitles
that frequently are hard to finish before they are whisked away.
The plot is as complex as most science fiction novels. It was
rather difficult for me to keep on top of just what was happening
in the film. Nevertheless I was impressed with the apparent
profundity of the story. Visually the film is frequently near
live action and a live-action film with this much spectacle would
these days cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars. It may no
longer be necessary to prove the power of animation, but at least
GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE demonstrates it.
The animation is never flat, but demonstrates varying degrees of
dimensionality, frequently within the same frame. The film is
told against a backdrop of future Japan, but punctuated with some
traditional settings like a traditional Japanese festival. It is
interesting that for years American films have shown the world
American culture. These days the international film community is
seeing many different cultures. And that is true of mass marketed
films as well as art films. While there is the usual gratuitous
violence of anime films, there are still some really breathtaking
images that make this a film worth the effort to watch.
Mark R. Leeper
mle...@optonline.net
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
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X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1321887
X-RT-TitleID: 1136817
X-RT-AuthorID: 1309
X-RT-RatingText: 7/10