The original Ghost in the Shell is one of the films that helped anime reach a wider audience, showing that it could produce intelligent science fiction as good as, and often better than, live action movies. Almost ten years after the original came Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and while it’s not as groundbreaking as its forbear it’s still an intelligent, action packed, visual feast.
The film is a murder mystery, with robots killing people and then commenting suicide. Cyborg detective Batou returns from the original film and, along with new partner Togusa, is tasked with getting to the bottom of the mystery. Along the way he’ll encounter robots with souls, Yakuza killers and his own “guardian angel.”
The film is chock full of big ideas but what makes it so effective is Batou. It would be so easy for him to be just your standard action hero, blowing away bad guys left and right (and he does plenty of that) but thanks to great writing, exceptional animation and the vocal talents of Akio Ôtsuka he becomes so much more. There are some great action scenes in the film, the Yakuza sequence being an obvious stand out but for me the films finest moment is a much quieter affair. Batou returns home after work, feeds his dog, cracks open a bear and stretches out in his chair, it’s the sort of thing anyone would do and it helps to humanise this gruff, tough and violent man. If the viewer wasn’t routing for Batou before, they will be after that scene. Either that or they don’t have a soul.
Batou’s dog, a Basset hound, is a character in his own right, with an expressive face brilliantly rendered by the animators. Director Mamoru Oshii has a Basset and obviously has an affinity for the breed as it features in his other films as well.
Never becoming overwhelmed by the action the film lets its story unfold steadily, with the “déjà vu” section messing with both the protagonist’s and the viewer’s sense of reality. Even the resolution satisfies, with the answer to the mystery both surprising and fitting.
Ghost in the Shell 2 may not be as original as the first film, and won’t convert as many new fans, but it’s one of the finest examples of Japanese animation, both from a technical and storytelling perspective, we’ve seen so far this century.
Horror and Western film buff, Marvel comic geek, music lover and occasional gamer. 