Beale Reviews Ghost in the Shell

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Blade Runner has always been my very favorite sci-fi movie. It has everything: it's noir, it's got a great plot, great acting, great set design and effects. Best of all, though, is that Blade Runner makes you think. It probes the question, "What are we?" and because of this, the movie stays with us LONG after the credits have stopped rolling. This weekend, I had the privilege of seeing another movie like this. Now, make no mistake, this wasn't nearly as great or beautiful as Blade Runner. This movie did, however, share the same thought provoking theme. This movie is the anime Ghost in the Shell.

Production I. G. (the guys behind the anime sequence in Kill Bill) score big in this wonderfully animated and written movie. I just started to fall back in love with animation (beginning with Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust ), and I'm very glad I did, having seen this movie.

Those of you that love animation, you must see this movie. Here you'll find some of the best animation I've ever seen. It's almost amazing that people were able to pull something like this off (the same goes for any animated movie that works on this scale, as I'm sure there's some out there). The characters are given distinct looks, and the lovely animation design of the cyborgs...wow. The fight scenes are so great to look at.

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WARNING: "The Animated Fights" spoilers below

There is a grand chase sequence between the protagonist and a "puppet" -or a man who has been hacked into by the character "The Puppet Master", who I, for fear of ruining the movie, won't talk any more about- who is wearing an invisibility device and running through a market. Aside from that, my favorite sequence is the final battle between two different types of robots...(another thing I'm not going to completely spoil. Anyway, just know that they're amazing).

Ghost in the Shell also tackles the universal question of one's importance and individuality, as well as what makes us what we are. The way this is done, (through a cyborg named Motoko Kusanagi discovering the nature of her "ghost", and the hunt for the elusive Puppet Master who just may know the answers to her questions), is nothing short of stunning.

I really know not what else I can say without spoiling the movie, other than it is a great animated movie propelled by thought provoking twists and turns. Here is a movie which has as much brains as it has brawn.

**** out of *****