grehm
I just watched this today and I can't say I'm that impressed with this as an overall movie. I should note first I loved the animation and it's really the strongest point of the movie. Scenes are incredibly detailed, facial expressions are well done, cityscapes and vehicles are gorgeous. There are also some really great meditative shots in the movie that really do a excellent job to set the atmosphere. However the story is where this movie starts to fall apart.First of all this next section will have spoilers; so don't read if you haven't watched this movie. I have never watched the Patlabor anime so perhaps my dislike of the story is because of this but I just found everything that happened in the movie as too thin to be plausible in the storyline. There is a rogue faction in the military that wants to create chaos, and...to do something, because they don't like the peace settled after WW2, and they want to shake stuff up, or something like that. And that's the thing; there was nothing in the movie that made sense with respect to the antagonist's motivations. In fact their motivations are only discussed through philosophical musings similar to high school level views of international relations: the developed world enjoys peace at the expense of the war torn nations or something, so down with the system. It all sounded very juvenile to me.So after the antagonists initiate a terrorist attack, somehow the government makes the incredibly stupid decision to stick their heads in the sand, pretend that nothing happened, until they can't in which case they blame the military. Then the completely unlikely event of a military coup happens... why? because well they don't like being blamed. What's the military's goal for the coup? It's never said, all that's said is that they think the civilian government is weak and they know there's some nefarious guy involved in the terrorist attacks but they won't go after them for some reason even though he's hanging out in plain sight jamming everyone's communications in the middle of Tokyo harbor. So this leaves our plucky band of heroes to do the job, because they're the only ones in Tokyo that have a moral compass or something like that. In summary watch this movie for the great animation but don't bother reading into the story too much. There's also some philosophical musings along the way but they don't have much weight to them. Which leaves some good action scenes, and atmospheric shots to enjoy but not a whole lot else.
evesygal
I was like many people upon viewing this film for the first time. I could sit through it without getting bored or falling asleep. It's not your typical robot anime at all. Its more than that really. The film isn't like its mecha predessors - its not about the action. And if your watching this film purely for action than you will be disappointed. Because this film is mostly dialogue and politics all the way through. But once you have a greater understanding of the film, you will realise as I have how wonderful and amazing this film actually is. The film is a commentry on Japanese 'common-sense' pacifism to war. It asks the viewer to question this pacifism: how can Japan claim to be peaceful nation if it ignores the security of others. The film makes it's point very clear, and it is effective in bringing this message across. But of course if you only want to watch the film for its action sequences, then obviously your missing the point of what makes this thoughtful film so amazing to watch.
vkn
As with Patlabor 1, there's a facade of misleading marketing around this film. There's a picture of a big robot on the packaging, and any teaser will probably promise you a non-stop mecha blasting fest. This is, simply put, a shameless lie. Patlabor 2 is a political thriller (often likened to a Tom Clancy novel with good reasons), and a very slow, brooding, talky, philosophical one at that. Big robots just happen to exist in it's setting, but their presence in the film is so slight you'll hardly notice them.What you will notice, however, are some wonderful visuals and music, and a story that asks the viewer many daring, insightful questions about the world of today.The plot centers around a few terrorist attacks on Tokyo taking place in the winter of 2002 (note that the film was made in 1993). Most of these attacks are really fake, or harmless makebelieve-attacks, but they're enough to create panic and to cause the established sense of security to crumble to bits. Captains Gotoh and Nagumo of the Special Vehicle Units try to unmask the man, and especially the ideas behind these staged attacks. Everything points to a certain Yukihito Tsuge, who's an old familiar of Nagumo.What makes this film special is the way we're given insights into Tsuge's beliefs through the dialogues. The viewer is directly confronted with some very powerful questions. The state of being that we call "peace" in the western world - just how peaceful is it really? How fragile is it, and how much do we deserve this relative 'peace' compared to the prices mostly others pay for it? The film is rife with such questions, and they leave a considerable impact on the viewer. I daresay Patlabor 2 is worth it's price alone for being confronted with such thought-provoking issues set to some of the most beautifully haunting images and music ever put on screen.The animation is definitely finely-crafted (there's a scene where helicopters swoop over the city who's smoothness has to be seen to be believed), but it's biggest strong point is the way it's all been directed. Slow, sweeping shots of the intricate semi-futuristic cityscape are the order of the day, with many other impressively beautiful shots.
But it's the music that really stole the show for me, with a wonderful use of mostly gentle and haunting melodies. The soundtrack is a true masterpiece, whose tunes will remain with you for a long time after viewing the film. It adds a dimension to the atmosphere that really can't be described very well on paper, so I'll just say it's powerful and beautifully-crafted stuff. The image of snowflakes drifting down onto tanks stationed all over Tokyo while a soft, ghostly melody plays in the background is a good example of the sort of moment where Patlabor 2 shines.
It doesn't shine all the way, though. There are a few flaws to this film, which make it hard to recommend to everybody. The talkiness, for one thing, sometimes really goes over-the-top. Instead of showing you what happened, a pretty important development is sometimes only mentioned in a conversation. This makes it difficult to keep up all the time, especially as the viewer is sometimes assumed to be an expert on political powergames; -"Some minister has just done something or other, and then this and that happened" -"I see... that means so-and-so plans to do yakkity-something..." Dialogues like that pop up a few times in the film and manage to be pretty unpleasant. Likewise, there's no gentle introduction to Patlabor newcomers, so it's recommended that you've seen at least the first Patlabor movie before tackling this. While the few scenes of how the regular Patlabor cast have gotten on with their lives are fairly unimportant, being at least somewhat familiar with them is a welcome help in following a sometimes overwhelmingly complex film (I mean that in a good way, though ^^).Patlabor 2 will never be suited to general public tastes, as it's simply too complex, talky and basically 'different' for anyone just seeking some escapist fun. The DragonBall and Akira crowd need not look into this until they've learned to stop referring to the anime medium as 'ménga movies' while mistaking it for a slew of violent cyberpunk slop which they consider 'kewl' or 'kickass' or whatever. Same to the general Hollywood crowd who'd freak out at the idea of a film demanding efforts from the viewer - Patlabor 2 demands lots of efforts, but has something special to reward you with.Patlabor 2 serves it's doses of food for thought raw, and it takes some effort to swallow them. But I'd say that effort is well worth it. For the unique, powerful atmosphere alone, this is more than worth a look. I guess "haunting" is really the most suitable word to describe Patlabor 2's superb feel. It literally does haunt you, with questions about the state of the society we live in that you can't possibly turn a blind eye on (in fact, after the attacks on America in September 2001, Patlabor 2's messages have become ironically up-to-date in their relevance). And a film that achieves such effects so very well deserves to be seen and to be praised. And then there's -that- music. Absolutely brilliant, it makes this film a must-hear as well as a must-see.
Wikinger
The first time I heard of this japanese anime films I was very sceptic. I thought they are stupid little movies mostly contain erotic scenes. But I changed my mind after seeing this great anime, it has a more complex story than many of the Hollywood productions. Perhaps this also could be a problem, because you have to concentrate on the movie. Somethimes it is really hard to understand all the political maneuvers and the philosophic dialogues. But this movie is worth to look twice or even more times, also the animations are really great. Forgett this stupid Walt Disney style If you have seen a anime one time you will love it!It is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen so 10 points of 10
