Meet "Major" Motoko Kusanagi, cyberspace operative for Section 9, a government agency charged with identifying and eliminating criminal activity. Kusanagi is almost completely cybernetic, as are many others, and she is an excellent officer--strong, skilled, superhuman. But this is just her shell.
Inside, in her spare time, she contemplates her "ghost," her consciousness, her soul, her self. This contemplation runs headlong into her latest assignment--apprehending a criminal called the Puppetmaster, a--pawn?--who is hacking into human brains, hacking into their very ghosts.
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Ghost in the Shell is still one of the most exquisitely rendered and executed films I have ever seen, whether anime or live action. Sure, technology has come a long way since 1995 (when GitS was released), but merely being able to create nifty graphics and special effects isn't the same as really working to integrate these elements into a film. A lot of work went into the making of this film, and it shows. The animation is incredibly detailed, the sound incredibly deep, and the "effects" (lighting, explosions, "computer" graphics) amazing. Together with the story, these elements combine to make Ghost in the Shell completely deserving of the awards and acclaim it has gathered.
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Both Kenji Kawai's melodic score and Oshii's composition of the film lend a surreal quality to the reality presented in the film, as hard-edged as that reality is; there is a scene in which Motoko is merely walking through the rain, contemplating her existence, seeing others whose cybernetic bodies are eerily similar to her own, that is so well composed I'd love to have a bit of art evoking the same feelings ... unfortunately, the moment a still from that scene is taken, it loses that very feeling, like a flake of paint from a Van Gogh cannot possibly capture the art it was a part of.
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GitS explores the very core of our existence while showing us a very possible future. It is an excellent combination of a philosophical film and a science fiction-action film, with the philosophical and contemplative predominating. In fact, compared to the manga version, Oshii's GitS is almost more focused on philosophy than Shirow--or at least the film is more focused on specific questions and a single storyline, while the manga is a bit broader. What is it to be human, the film asks, and what is it to be alive? And what is evolution? (These and other philosophical questions are discussed in the Philosophy section and on the Discussion Boards on this site.)
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Overall, this film is a fitting successor to Akira and Blade Runner, and I am quite pleased that it has generated so much attention over the years and has helped (along with Shirow's manga, of course) generate a sequel and a tv series.
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