It's rare in the movie industry for someone to get a second chance to correct a huge mistake. Director Shinji Aramaki and writer Masamune Shirow get the chance (courtesy of legendary director/producer John Woo) to correct their mistakes.
Both corroborated on "Appleseed" but the much-hyped film suffered from ordinary animation and a rather pedestrian plot line. There was also an inordinate amount of blood and the character of Hitomi came across as goofy and far too light.
This time around, Aramaki and Shirow have crafted a much better plot and have amped up the animation through CG. Though not as good as the CG/animation mix in "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence," it's better than the original. The only problem is that CG still looks too smooth, as if the skin is made of porcelain, limiting the full range of emotions.
The story, of course, centers around the elite police unit known as ES.W.A.T. and their efforts to combat terrorism in Olympus, one of the cities that popped up after a worldwide non-nuclear war wiped out half of humanity. The new cities, of which Olympus is the most advanced, are controlled by bioroids, who are genetically bred without the negative human emotions that generally cause most wars.
As you can imagine, if people are trying to wipe out the World Trade Organization, they're naturally going to hate Olympus. Two of the most experienced ES.W.A.T. members are Deunan Knute and her lover/partner Briareos, though "lover" is a stretch since he's more and more a cyborg with each hospital stay. Deunan is much more spry in this version, demonstrating some nifty acrobatics that you know John Woo had a hand in recommending.
The leaders of Olympus want to convince the world to unite all of their communications satellites in a bid to get the edge on terrorists. Ironically, this conference takes place during a mysterious terrorist attack that sends Olympus' human and cyborg population into a rage against the police.
The story interweaves a personal storyline as Briareos' latest injury forces the department to send Deunan a new partner. Because of the bioroid technology that uses the best DNA available, Deunan's partner is Tereus, a replica of Briareos before he became a cyborg. This causes natural angst, especially when it seems that the mysterious force turning people against the government might be affecting ES.W.A.T.'s cyborgs.
Though we see plenty of shots of Deunan and Briareos in action, we get to see the rest of the ES.W.A.T. and the Olympus police in action, especially in the last third of the movie when all hell breaks loose in the city, thanks to the very system of uniting the satellites that was supposed to stop terrorism and bring peace. Some of the scenes are quite jarring, but without the blood. The action scenes move smoothly and the shooting of the guns and explosions are much better than one might expect from CG.
The characters are fleshed out better, especially Deunan's and Briareos' turbulent love affair (of which we get to see some background finally). Hitomi's character doesn't get enough time on screen, but when she is seen, she is more mature than the gibbering, drunken idiot of the first film. The costumes are spectacular and Woo brought in actual costume designers for many of the styles.
The DVD is slim on features, but does have commentary from Woo, Aramaki and Shirow, as well as a "making of" featurette on the CG technology. It does offer several languages, as well as subtitles.
Ai Kobayashi repeats her role as the voice of Deunan, but Koichi Yamadera (Togusa in the "Ghost in the Shell" movies and TV series) takes over Briareos. Yuji Kishi (Yamadera's co-star in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex") is excellent as Tereus, though he needed more screen time.
Overall, this film is light years better than the original. Shirow and Aramaki make the most of their second chance and so should you.
Both corroborated on "Appleseed" but the much-hyped film suffered from ordinary animation and a rather pedestrian plot line. There was also an inordinate amount of blood and the character of Hitomi came across as goofy and far too light.
This time around, Aramaki and Shirow have crafted a much better plot and have amped up the animation through CG. Though not as good as the CG/animation mix in "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence," it's better than the original. The only problem is that CG still looks too smooth, as if the skin is made of porcelain, limiting the full range of emotions.
The story, of course, centers around the elite police unit known as ES.W.A.T. and their efforts to combat terrorism in Olympus, one of the cities that popped up after a worldwide non-nuclear war wiped out half of humanity. The new cities, of which Olympus is the most advanced, are controlled by bioroids, who are genetically bred without the negative human emotions that generally cause most wars.
As you can imagine, if people are trying to wipe out the World Trade Organization, they're naturally going to hate Olympus. Two of the most experienced ES.W.A.T. members are Deunan Knute and her lover/partner Briareos, though "lover" is a stretch since he's more and more a cyborg with each hospital stay. Deunan is much more spry in this version, demonstrating some nifty acrobatics that you know John Woo had a hand in recommending.
The leaders of Olympus want to convince the world to unite all of their communications satellites in a bid to get the edge on terrorists. Ironically, this conference takes place during a mysterious terrorist attack that sends Olympus' human and cyborg population into a rage against the police.
The story interweaves a personal storyline as Briareos' latest injury forces the department to send Deunan a new partner. Because of the bioroid technology that uses the best DNA available, Deunan's partner is Tereus, a replica of Briareos before he became a cyborg. This causes natural angst, especially when it seems that the mysterious force turning people against the government might be affecting ES.W.A.T.'s cyborgs.
Though we see plenty of shots of Deunan and Briareos in action, we get to see the rest of the ES.W.A.T. and the Olympus police in action, especially in the last third of the movie when all hell breaks loose in the city, thanks to the very system of uniting the satellites that was supposed to stop terrorism and bring peace. Some of the scenes are quite jarring, but without the blood. The action scenes move smoothly and the shooting of the guns and explosions are much better than one might expect from CG.
The characters are fleshed out better, especially Deunan's and Briareos' turbulent love affair (of which we get to see some background finally). Hitomi's character doesn't get enough time on screen, but when she is seen, she is more mature than the gibbering, drunken idiot of the first film. The costumes are spectacular and Woo brought in actual costume designers for many of the styles.
The DVD is slim on features, but does have commentary from Woo, Aramaki and Shirow, as well as a "making of" featurette on the CG technology. It does offer several languages, as well as subtitles.
Ai Kobayashi repeats her role as the voice of Deunan, but Koichi Yamadera (Togusa in the "Ghost in the Shell" movies and TV series) takes over Briareos. Yuji Kishi (Yamadera's co-star in "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex") is excellent as Tereus, though he needed more screen time.
Overall, this film is light years better than the original. Shirow and Aramaki make the most of their second chance and so should you.