Review of Ghost in the Shell (a.k.a. Kokaku Kidotai)

Introduction

When this movie was first released on DVD, a major fault resulted in a new production run. The first disc failed to encode the signal that would auto switch TV`s to the correct mode. People who had to raise a finger and do it with their remote controls complained vociferously and Palm Pictures took this criticism to heart and repaired the fault. If any one out there has a first run disc and wants to swap it for the second run disc, call me because the second run is a nightmare, and I would by far prefer switching the picture mode manually than putting up with the mess that I have now. THE SOUND IS OUT OF SYNC!

Adapted from the manga by Shirow Masamune, director Mamoru Oshii`s stunning vision has never looked better. Set in the near future as many of these cyberpunk stories usually are, 2029`s society has seen the melding of man and machine. Cyborgs are commonplace, whether it is simple memory enhancements, to completely robotic bodies with organic brains, the line between man and machine has never been more indistinct. A cybernetic crime fighting team take on the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master has been manipulating society, hacking into people`s `ghosts` and altering their memories so they would commit crimes in his name. Investigating the Puppet Master, Section 9, comes up against a deep-seated conspiracy rooted in the very government. When an AI takes cybernetic form and requests asylum, the boundary between man and machine is blown away, and the one true question remains… What defines a soul?

Video

This film set new standards when it was released in terms of animation, and that still hold up today. I have never seen such lush environments and skilfully executed animation. The film is still miles ahead of its nearest competitor in terms of visuals alone. Hollywood has seen a boom in CG animation rendering traditional cel animation obsolete. But here you see a heart and soul of character that Hollywood could never hope of matching. Ghost in the Shell takes traditional animation and CG animation and seamlessly blends it to make a visual spectacle that is unsurpassed. Here on DVD in a 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer, it is shown of to brilliant effect and you can sit through this movie with your mouth open. That is of course if it weren`t for a glaring technical fault.

Audio

Sound is well accomplished. The music by Kenji Kawai is atmospheric and really mirrors the style of the film. People who don`t like to read get a DD 5.1 remixed soundtrack that is spectacular to say the least. But after hearing a few minutes worth, I switched to my preferred option, the original DD2.0 stereo Japanese soundtrack with subtitles. I have never been fond of dubbing, you usually get faux American accents that never suit the character. Jackie Chan movies always have the hero sounding like an accountant (no offence to accountants) and Anime tends to give everyone bad American accents. The original character voices give a far better read of their emotions, despite the fact that I can`t understand the language, and the subtitles are perfectly fine. That is why I have taped many of my favourite movies from the TV as they are transmitted in the original language, something that video releases lack.My initial grumble was that the Japanese soundtrack hadn`t been given the DD5.1 treatment, until I was stunned by a glaring technical fault.

Features

There is a good deal of extras on this disc, especially if you own a computer with DVD ROM. You get 4 trailers, as well as Ghost in the Shell, you get ones for Dancehall Queen, Talking Heads and Baaba Maal. There is also a 30-minute making of documentary, which is very well done. It really does go into technical detail regarding the production of the movies and is done with a multipane approach. You get a small pane with interviewee, one with subtitles and one with data regarding the movie and one with visuals. It is an innovative approach, which is a little cluttered and confusing, but, is original. The idea could be refined and applied to other documentaries. The DVD ROM features include a production report into the movie, all text and visuals and samples from 4 music acts, including Sly and Robbie and Baaba Maal. This takes the forms of text, music snippets, video snippets and the like and can be construed as well thought out adverts for these acts. Strangely enough there is no evidence of the glaring technical fault.

Conclusion

In my opinion, Ghost in the Shell was little over hyped. While there can be no arguing that the visuals are spectacular and intricately accomplishes, the story is a little mundane. This film was made in the mid nineties and by then the cyberpunk ideas espoused in this tale were well established in this genre and beyond. When the point of view switches to that of the heroine, I was immediately reminded of Robocop. This film pays homage to many established ideas, especially the work of William Gibson. Fortunately this film is very well made. Unlike Hollywood, there is no simple good guy bad guy argument, and the story tries to tackle the underlying philosophical moments head on. It never degenerated into a simple gore fest and must be commended for that. It also shies away from a traditional happy ending and leaves the viewer thinking. To my mind there are three types of anime, the TV friendly tripe that we usually get, with Pokemon tacked on, the gratuitous tentacle fests of the demon kind and the thoughtful and thought provoking stories of the likes of Akira. While Ghost in the Shell easily surpasses that film in terms of technical brilliance and sheer eye candy, it doesn`t quite reach that film in terms of narrative. It can however, be put into that same bracket of excellent stories.

GLARING TECHNICAL FAULT. Here we come to the crux of the matter, what makes this film unwatchable is the sound problem. The sound is out of sync with the action by around a third of a second. A gun will start firing bullets, but you`ll only hear it when the scene changes. This problem haunts both the English and the Japanese soundtracks and makes this film difficult to watch, if not impossible. It is a little easier to watch the Japanese version, if simply because you are distracted slightly by the subtitles, but there is no excuse for such a glaring error to have been missed by quality control. Wait for a re-release.