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Patlabor Movie 2
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Animation - 8.7 |
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Sound - 8.5 |
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Story - 8.5 |
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Character - 7.5 |
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Value - 8.4 |
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Enjoyment - 8.5 |
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Average - 8.2 |
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petran79 |
(2007-06-24 09:28:17) 2007-06-24 09:27:52 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
0 |
| Sound |
0 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
0 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Since I cant develop the political and philosophical topics of this movie, suffice it to say that this is the most political anime movie to come from Japan. It reminded me a lot of the current events, though it was made 15 years ago.
Sometimes I thought I was watching GITS movie. I dont know whether the original manga had that deep story or whether M.Oshii added his own traits,as he did with Urusei Yatsure second movie, but still this remains a solid movie that is perhaps the best political anime you can find.
Animation, as in the third movie, is excellent and music as well.
Unlike the first movie, it isnt necessary to have watched the series or the OVAs. Same goes for the mediocre third movie.
The characters here do not remind at all the lively and wacky characters that managed to be likeable till the first movie. Here the realistic animation gives them another more serious tone that probably will seem odd to Patlabor fans.
But instead the viewer gets a very serious story that will make him/her ponder a little(even if just one brain cell is activated)
The pacing is very slow and if you dont like serious titles (and the ones from Oshii for that matter) then better avoid this and watch Last Exile.
But if GITS SAC was your favorite series give this movie a look.
Though for politics and philosophy there are books and much better live-action movies, no country rivals Japan in bringing that forth into an animated feature.
If you like such movies you probably are aware of this title. But it seems such movies dont get the attention they deserve since those who watch them know how to spend their money instead of being easily influenced and wasting it brainlessly here and there
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| First, I watched the rest of Patlabor prior to watching any of the movies, so I already knew the characters and how the Patlabor world worked, so if you're not familiar with the world and character's, it may loose a few points in your book.
Now then, the review:
Wow, now this is really a departure from what I've seen from Patlabor, yet it strikes right at home and feels totally like part of the Patlabor universe.
An evolution from the first movie, Patlabor 2 dwelves even more into philosofical, sociological an political themes than any part of the series prior to it, and sheds even more the action in favor of plot exposition than the first movie, and it has as well an underlying theme of "moving on" in many aspects, this being the last part in the whole timeline of the franchise,and taking place years after the 1st movie, in a time where most of the cast has, or is, moving on.
At the beggining were a presented with a guerilla taking place somewhere in Asia in the year 1999, where a whole squad of Japanese UN forces are wiped out because they didn't get permission to fire the enemy forces.
Fast-forward 3 years and we have a reformed SV2, where Shinobu Nagumo is now chief of the section, as well as commander of div.1, and everyone except Gotho, the commander of div.2, Hiromi and Shige, now chief of maintenance, has moved on thier careers, we see a more mature Noa, not crazy for Alphonse (her Labor machine) anymore, Asuma now working with Noa at Shinohara Heavy Ind, and the rest of the cast also in more advanced careers positions.
Out of the blue, Tokyo bridge is destroyed by what seems is a JSDF missile and chaos ensues.
Japan which has forgotten what it is to live in war, and is used to seeing it through a TV is thrown into a state of chaos, where political forces clash against each other, blaming each other for all the chaos, and the people are living under unrest unseen since WWII.
Tangled into all of this apparently is Shinobu's former lover and mentor, driving the normally cool-headed commander into confusion, dividing her interests as a woman and her duty as a public servant like never before.
Now, it's up to her, commander Gotoh and what's left of SV2 to find the truth and prevent Japan from plunging into a civil war.
The movie is really content heavy, with a lot of triple crossing, ilussions and deceits, as well as deep musing about what is war, peace and the frivilous attitude governments have taken to it.
Saying aything more will spoil for it, but it's really a great plot.
The one thing that suffers a bit from the "Oshii treatment" are the characters, which if you don't know previously will seem a bit more distant than they were in last movie,but since the movie is moslty carried by Gotoh and Shinobu(which are my favorite characters BTW), this doesn't matter as much, since those two are well developed, specially Shinobu which shows a part unseen of her before.
As a fan, the characters development is priceless since we see everyone maturing and moving on in a way, and this will have a deep impact and sense of closure to what we know as Patlabor; as casual viewer the characters will be more like vehicles for the plot, which isn't a bad thing, though you won't appreciate the changes most characters are going through, with the exceptions as i've said of Gotoh and Shinobu, which throughout the movie us show how they are, how their relationship is like, as well as showing us their competitive and bad-ass professional profiles.
The animation is amazing in everyway, though IMHO the remastering from the first movie was better done, still,the colors, movement, and expression are spot-on.
The music is even better than the first movie, having a haunting, otherwordly tone to it, the only thing I miss is the cool closing theme from the first movie, though the closing of this one is amazing, and obviously more ad-hoc than the one from the first one.
In the end this is a mervelous movie that trascends the franchise in the sense that the plot in the most part can be appreciated by a casual fan and still be immensely satisfied, and as fans this is the pinnacle in sophistication to the series in both animation and story, as well as the closing chapter were are beloved cast moves on and walk toward their personal aspirations, but not without giving that final nod of "thanks" to their past.
Great, great stuff, as well as the rest of the franchise, super top-tier, and diverse in all it's offerings.
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| The second Patlabor movie continues the style from the first movie by focusing on the story ouside the mechas instead of relying on fancy action scenes for entertainment.
This time though it's a political thriller instead of a detective story.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Last Exile |
(2004-10-18 05:38:13) 2004-09-09 03:18:36 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| One of Oshii's better pieces, but it suffers, as always, from his main flaw as a director - how to construct a great story. It's the only thing that stops him from being truly memorable as a director. The story is quite interesting in actuality and has a lot of bearing on terrorism and governments in the modern world. But the way ti's told is the problem. At times it's deliciously engaging then at times it seems he's stalling to get the movie up to an acceptable length. The characters are a good mix and suit their roles well. But what is ultimately annoying about them is how some of them preach Oshii's message. The best way to convey a message is through action. Self-proclaiming dialogue almost seems pretentious as times. The fact that it's informative makes it partially forgivable. Miyazaki's and Kon's influences on this are evident too.
I like it, but I wanted to like it more. For all the time here's around, Oshii seems to make the same mistake over and over with every piece he does (Ghost in the Shell 1 and 2 for example).
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| As with most Oshii Mamoru productions, P2 is a class example of style bleaching clean the substance. There is a depth to his films that is bleakly realistic and complex, however so much time is taken on quiet scenes of ambience that these things are made almost unimportant. Then, suddenly, we have action.
The division between the two is characteristic of a lot of Japanese films: long silences punctuated by sudden violence. But it isn't all that common with anime, and so it comes across as a bit distracting. Anime is, by its very nature, visual, and Oshii films are visually brilliant, but with that comes the duty to at least keep your viewers awake, and all too often, especially during this film, one could be lulled off to sleep....
This film continues the process of divorcing the viewers from the regular cast of Patlabor.... Only Goto and Nagumo really play an important role in the film, and it leaves you feeling a bit ripped off.... The brass of the producers to describe this as a Patlabor movie. It is a process that goes so far with the third film that you wonder why they even bothered adding that to the Patlabor canon.
Really for Patlabor completists only.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Unlike the tv series which is jovial and fun, the Patlabor movies are usually very serious and very slow. Movie 2 is no exception.
A military thriller, PM2 takes its time like a Tom Clancy novel. Theres a good deal of talking to be done during the movie and it can easily put someone looking for action to sleep. What ultimately comes as a climax proves dissapointing both in action and in story.
As usual, the production values are high for the movie. Animation is crisp and the music is solid. Its really the last real Patlabor movie as 3 was just a big monster flick with the Labors in it for about 5 minutes.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| This is a fine example of what Japanese animation can produce at its best. The style of this movie strongly reminds me of a Tom Clancy novel, which is unusual for anime. At the beginning I was a little put off by the slow pace of the movie, but as the story unfolded, I was sucked in by its complexity and realism. Indeed, the conflict and the political games between the government, the army and the police are so well constructed that I thought "this could *really* happen!"
If you liked this movie you should try to see "Jin-roh". There's the same kind of political and military intrigue but the story is more personal and close to the action than the high-circle strategy atmosphere which permeates Patlabor 2.
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I didn't like this movie much back in 1995 but watching it again now in 2003 I have found new respect for it and understand it better. When I first watched it, I was expecting more action and more scenes with the crew of the SVD2 and their labors.
Watching it again today, I find its philosophy and politics to be very interesting. I love the talk about a just war and an unjust peace. The things that didn't made much sense and seemed boring at the time became very interesting because of the world we live in today because of terriorist attacks and the questionable just war with Iraq. The sily color code alerts and stationing guards at the Golden Gate bridge and other landmarks reminded me of the events in movie. Life seems to be taking after this movie.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| A brilliant film about the scenario of a masterminded terrorist strike to a major Japanese city, Patlabor has much more depth and fewer cliches than any of Tom Clancy's novels turned movies. The format of the first movie is definitely with this second incarnation, but there is more political wrangling and less focus on technology, which I feel shifts attention more squarely on the finest aspect of the first film. It is significant that the motivation of the antagonist is profound and somewhat purposeful, enough to make the main characters sit and think again about how they themselves fit into the world. This is a worthy sequel and I cannot wait until the third movie.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Kinda disappointing... a political intrigue semi-thriller, very much in the Gasaraki vein, but one that never really gets anywhere.
NOTE: I had never seen any Patlabor before I saw this movie, but I don't think it would have made much of a difference, there wasn't really anything in it that I didn't understand.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Here's something you don't see everything. A political drama masquerading as a mecha anime. I highly recommend this movie if you're looking for something different to watch but don't go in expecting nonstop action and humor.
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