Sleel

First of all, I am NOT an Anime fanboy. I have watched a fair bit of Anime, but I am as critical of those movies as I am of regular films. However, in my opinion, the animated films made in Japan are often superior to even the best live-action films. There are very few quality live-action movies in Japan, and even fewer can match good animated films in plot or substance. Of course, there is an awful lot of crap being made too. For every "Princess Mononoke," you've got at least ten "Pokemon" films. "Innocence" sets the bar so high that even good films, live or animated, will often look like crap in comparison.

This movie is not precisely a sequel to "The Ghost in the Shell" (Kokaku Kidotai). It deals with some of the same themes and features a few of the same characters, but unlike a franchise movie, the characters and situations have changed dramatically. Bateau, who was a secondary character in "Kokaku Kidotai" is the main character. This movie is a bit less action-oriented and more introspective and philosophical than "The Ghost in the Shell."

A good portion of the movie is spent in character building. Character building in an animated film? Absolutely. There are major portions that contribute to Bateau's character, though this is not done at the expense of plot. This does make the film a bit slow at points, but it is never dull. However, if you are looking for action over story, this movie is probably not for you.

Visually, "Innocence" is incredibly beautiful. The animators used multiple techniques for drawing characters and backgrounds and blended them seamlessly. Some scenes are hyper-realistic with almost an over-saturation of details. Other shots subtly highlight action, focus, or mood by blurring objects in the distance, using reflections, or even by slightly changing the color palette. Care has been lavished on every part of this movie. Even commonplace actions by characters, like driving a car or feeding the dog, are given the same treatment that makes the whole movie a pleasure to watch. Compare "Innocence" to "Titan A.E." for example and the animation of "Titan" will make you want to retch. The director, Mamoru Oshii, has obviously studied the techniques of regular film-making. He has gone one step further and combined those traditional techniques with those you can only do in the medium of animation.

The plot will take some time to understand. This movie will reward--may even require--repeated viewing to fully comprehend. Obviously, you should not take stupid friends with you to see it. I went to see it with my girlfriend (who is Japanese) and she said that even she didn't understand everything! She explained some of the references to ancient Chinese literature and Japanese poetry, but said I was on my own regarding the philosophy references. Most of the dialog I didn't understand (though my Japanese is pretty decent) was graduate-level discourse, according to my girlfriend. The translators have their work cut out for them. This movie will be an absolute nightmare to do well. I hope they get translators who are up to the task.

Unlike many Anime films, there is no silliness at all. No save the earth glurge and mysticism like in "Final Fantasy," no inexplicable jumps in time or place, no murky or even missing cause and effect, and very little unnecessary explanation. Even in "The Ghost in the Shell," which was one of the best-plotted Anime I have ever seen, there were a few infodumps to keep people up to speed. "Innocence" leaves far more for the viewer to interpret. What many people may not catch at first is the understated loneliness Bateau feels. This undercurrent runs through the whole film and makes the ending even more poignant.

This movie deserves to be in first-run theaters around the world. "Spirited Away" (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) won an Oscar for best animated film in 2003. "Innocence" is a very different kind of film, more adult and more difficult, and I fully expect it to win the recognition it deserves when it is distributed abroad. If you like good literature, well-done science fiction, or existential philosophy, see this film. If you just like really pretty animation and cool action in an SF setting, see this film. As long as you have an attention span that can handle sitting still for more than 5 minutes, see this film. It is absolutely worth the ticket price.

While I did not think this was a particularly good movie, I am very surprised to see how low of a rating it got. The same people that gave "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" close to six stars gave this only 3.6? Ballistic was disjointed, over-edited, shallow, and cliched, but it was at least entertaining, unlike the barely-watchable "Charlie's."

Lucy Liu was the only bright point in "Charlie's," and as such is, in my opinion, completely under-utilized in this film. While she is given a chance to look great, she has few lines and little character building. She does the best she can with what she's been given. Banderas also does a good job with his stereotype character and manages to make him a bit less of a cardboard cutout than he what he started out as. Liu is very believable as a badass. She doesn't even blink when she fires a weapon and does a decent job of fighting in the non-stuntman scenes.

The blame for this movie's weak points rests mostly on the director. It seems like anything of any substance was cut in one of the "artful" cuts of current and past exposition that seem spliced and blended together almost at random. A good editor could probably fix some of this damage, dropping at least 5 minutes of run time, but another 10 to 15 minutes of footage would have to be added to give the story a hint of coherence. On the plus side, some of the photography was beautiful.

Bottom line: good action, crappy plot, looks cool, the two main character(s) are babes (depending on your gender/orientation). This is an average action movie that I probably will watch again sometime when I want something that doesn't engage my brain but has pretty things to look at. With explosions. Lots of them.