Ghost In The Shell : SAC - Solid State Society
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Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society is more then a movie with three titles. It belongs to a series that has generated such a cult following over the past 15 years that this disc is sure to sell out upon release, whether or not it’s even good. That’s where I come in. I could give two shits whether this sells one copy or a million, so here’s the straight dope…

Due to the complex title, I will be referring to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – Solid State Society as just simply GITS. In it’s heart, this movie is a kick ass murder mystery set in Japan, about 30 years from now. It is a lot more advanced then our current society, but it doesn’t seem too far fetched. All the new technology in the film is technology that I could really see developed. There are a lot of robots running around, but they are physically realistic. Not like say that big headed robot in Hitchhiker's Galaxy.

You will recognize many of the characters from GITS. Major of course steals the show with her athletic prowess, cunning mind, and rather large boobies. Togusa and Aramaki are back and appropriately aged. In this film we find our heroes trying to figure out who the mysterious “Puppeteer” is. Apparently this person calling themselves the Puppeteer is a “wizard-class” hacker. Yes, apparently in the future hackers come in different classes. So I guess Angelina Jolie’s character from the movie “Hackers” must be in the “super-hot” class.

Anyway, the Puppeteer can hack into people's minds. He or she is capable of making people do all sorts of crimes, and then commit suicide when no longer needed. Within the first five minutes of the film we see our first suicide, and believe you me it’s shown in all its gory goodness. Nothing like watching someone’s brain fly out of their head JFK style to get the ball rolling.

I feel compelled to write like a page explaining how stunning and visually perfect the animation and effects are. But I don’t have to. Every single anime feature I’ve seen come out of Japan in the past five years has been visually perfect. It’s becoming a redundant broken record. The animation and effects have been so perfect for so long, that I expect them to be so. I would be more surprised if I viewed one that was crap.

There are a couple of trends here that I’m not a big fan of. First off, the use of CGI effects in animation has got to go. I’ve seen this way too much lately. GITS is full to the brim with CGI. Now on it’s most basic level animation/cartoons are a form of artwork. When you mix computer generated nonsense it kind of takes the artistry out of it, if you know what I mean. This movie was also guilty of the same crime the Transformers movie committed. It signed an exclusive advertising deal with a specific car company to only use those cars. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a form of selling out?

Now if your already a GITS fan, then this is a no brainer. You know your going to get this regardless of what myself or any other critic states. As far as non GITS fans are concerned, it could go either way. I can see some people really enjoying the over the top effects. But on the flip side I could see people hating it for having such a convoluted and complex plot and story. To me, this was a very middle of the road flick. It wasn’t bad and did keep my attention, however it wasn’t exactly great either. I do expect anything with the GITS title and Kenji Kamiyama directing will blow me away. But this didn’t do any blowing.

Added:  Wednesday, July 11, 2007
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