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A few decades from now, countries have been replaced by omnipotent corporations
and the occasional city-state, all tied together by a computer network that resembles
the internet as we know it on serious steroids with a side of growth hormone.
In the Japan of this cyberpunk world Section 9 deals with cybercrime and is currently
at odds with Section 6, the government's diplomatic division.. The story follows Major
Motoko Kusanagi of Section 9 and her partner Bateau in their investigation of a hacker
known as the Puppet Master, who specializes in “Ghost Hacking”, implanting
unsuspecting people with false memories and manipulating them to his own ends . As a
cyborg herself, Kusanagi has plenty of interest in this case beyond her professional one
and she pulls out all the stops to get to the truth.
As it turns out, the mysterious character that has been operating behind the scenes is
apparently an AI program, code named Project 2501, that has become sentient and is
now seeking asylum with Section 9. But the government agency that created the AI
isn't about to let it get away, and it still remains a mystery why the Puppet Master
sought out Major Kusanagi in the first place-or what it intends to do with her.
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There is some really impressive animation on display here. I don't care what the purists
say, done right CG Animation can be absolutely stunning and in this film it frequently is.
Unfortunately it doesn't always blend in seamlessly with the original animation and at
times it looks like you're watching two separate films.
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The audio is presented in a English and Japanese audio in 2.0 and 5.1 Dolby Digital
surround sound. A nicely mixed and with a good soundtrack. You can hear everything
fine, but if you're watching on a home theatre system you may want to turn down the
sub woofer, mine was rattling the windows several times during the movie.
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Barebones.
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Once again somebody has decided to go in and do some CGI work on a classic.
Thankfully unlike George Lucas the makers of Ghost in the Shell 2.0 didn't scramble the
original's narrative and change important plot points. They stuck to updating the look
of the film or at least parts of it.
And that's the problem, the shots updated with CG animation are stunning and the
scenes that have had their rough edged cleaned up look all the better for it to be sure.
But it doesn't always blend well and at times it almost looks like two different movies
overlaid on each other. It does work most of the time, but when it doesn't it can be
very disconcerting.
As I've said the plot has been left alone so fans of the original won't be offended the
way “Star Wars” fans were. Whether they'll want to see this version or not is another
matter. As a fan of the original I liked how the scenes looked in CG, to be honest I
wish they had just redone it all that way and avoided the clashing styles, I think it
would have looked great.
So for those who haven't seen the original, I'd recommend grabbing this. For those
who have seen the original it's a matter of preference. As a fan of the original I liked
the 2.0 version quite a lot, but others I'm sure will want to leave their memories
unsullied. The choice is yours.
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