Review of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) by Phil P — 04 Aug 2012

While the film is in many ways superior to the first in terms of technical achievement, animation/voice acting quality, music, story and action, (this is coming from a devoted fan of the entire franchise, films and anime included,) its fatal flaw is poor pacing for its very enlightened themes.

It has a lot to say and a brilliant way to say it, both with dialogue, quotes, and animation/aesthetics. However, it compresses the heavy thinking scenes too close together and too fast, so you really can't process all of it in one viewing while trying to keep up with the plot.

Even with the plot memorized, it takes two or three viewings to take the themes all in as intended by the filmmakers. Even so, it isn't impossible to keep up. If you go into a scene knowing they are talking about dolls, the nature of life, and human arrogance/imprinting, you can follow along.

It's a film that demands your attention and cognition; you can't just go into a scene vanilla. However, in many ways this is a detriment to the film since it does detract away from the work as a whole.

While this is a glaring problem, I'd much rather have a film which is beautiful, brilliant, and too fast than another piece of tripe. And even if you can't follow the story or elevated themes, it's still a joy to watch and listen to, and the action is top notch.

Not perfect, has some serious problems, but the scales definitely tip in its favor.