Ghost in the Shell

Ghost In The Shell had been in the making since around forever. In fact, I test viewed a few scenes ages ago, when there was little done but the initial action scene. Surprisingly (because it's a Spencer Crabb project) it got released, and not surprisingly (because both Spencer and Redwampa are great directors), the movie is excellent. It's one of those movies where you'd think there isn't much of a review to write, because you'll eventually get bored of saying "I loved this scene", "I loved this shot", etc. Unfortunately, though, GITS is far from perfect, and although it's flaws are less noticeable upon a second viewing, they are still somewhat disappointing. Not to worry, though. It's still the best movie of 2003.

Since it's been released for a long time, and since I'm not one for writing extended summaries as reviews, let's just say that the plot deals with androids, corporate ploys, and lots and lots of action scenes. We watch as our hero Mokoto fights off soldiers, thugs, and androids (or robots, or shells, whatever) as she gets help from her mentor while they both fight off a plan far beyond their measly reach. Unlike most 3dmm movies, GITS has a plot. A developed plot, with revelations, explanations, and (gasp) characters that we care about. Scratch that, one character that we kinda care about. It's still far better than any other action movie plot I've ever seen, and the action scenes actually make sense within the context of everything that's going on. And here is where my first big reservation with the movie comes. While it is understandable that the directors have to show the story through some purely expository scenes, they occasionally become overbearing. There is a scene in particular in which the villain explains his plan. It is ridiculously long, boring, and completely ruins the pace of the movie. How about "slowly revealing"? How about "suggesting"? No, the whole master plan is revealed in a boring narration that takes away any sort of punch that it could possibly have. This is the main storyline flaw in the movie. There isn't an adequate balance between "storytelling" and just plain "telling". As I mentioned before, this is a flaw that becomes less grating on a second view, but the first time I saw it, I considered dropping the movie's rating by a full point because of how painfully boring and transparent that exposition was.

But who cares about plot, right? This is an action movie, right? So how's the action? It's great. The animation is fluid, the scenes carry considerable tension, and there's a grace to it all, like you're watching people dancing a choreographed.... dance (redundant) instead of, say, the visceral quality of a Pozin film. The movie is very cinematic, even though it's not in widescreen (boooo). Of course, I'm going to find something to bitch about, since I'm Andres De La Hoz. And here's my nitpicking: remember when I said that I test viewed some scenes ages ago? The scenes were exactly the same. And this is noticeable throughout the first part of the movie. The animation is old, outdated, and occasionally looks unpolished. Why a few scenes weren't redone is just baffling. Still, the scenes work better than most of the crap I see, so I'm not complaining that much.

What I'm going to complain about, though, is the lame ending. I seriously don't get what the hell happened here. The movie builds up to this huge fight with one of the villains (who had been introduced in probably the film's best action scene), and the actual fight is total suckass. It was *maybe* the 3rd best fight, at the most. Not to mention it didn't have any big climax, or big anything. It felt like a final gasp, like some sort of lame setup for a sequel. Especially those final shots. Ahhh, why? Considering they're not going to release a sequel, I just have to call them for this.

At the end of the day, GITS is a pretty solid action movie that has a few little flaws and one lame climax. Still, even if it deflates at the end, what precedes it was so damn good I actually saw the movie twice because I realized seeing it once wouldn't be fair. Spence, Red: I want to have your babies.

4.5/5