After reading comments on MetaFilter, Slashdot and elsewhere over the years, I finally took the chance to watch Japanese animation classic Ghost in the Shell. Based on a bestselling manga (a distinctly Japanese, adult form of comic book) of the same name, the movie is a brief science fiction story about a squad of government agents matched up against another agency of the same, unnamed government to retrieve an artifical intelligence called both Project 2501 and the Puppet Master.
Story and graphic design remind me of such films as Blade Runner and The Matrix. The Big Guy suggested to me that perhaps I was less impressed by GitS watching it in very late 2004 than I would have been during its initial 1995 run. Perhaps. The dialog was a bit stilted and pedantic, though possibly due to the English translated voiceover rather than the Japanese original. Ah well, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes, and maybe the 2002 TV series and 2004 full-length sequel will be worth seeking out as well.
recommended
BillSaysThis 