Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2007)

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, is probably the weakest in the Ghost in the Shell series of films and TV shows and is the third entry into the Stand Alone Complex series.The anime is a good as any of the Stand Alone Complex series though doesn't quite match up to the two feature films. The drawing and shading has improved greatly over the series and is at its best here, there are moments when I noticed flickering but this is rare and again better than the two series of Stand Alone Society.Where the story falls, compared to the rest of the Stand Alone Society is story, which I didn't find nearly as engaging as with previous efforts. Solid State Society is very slow to get going and really never builds the tension that it really should. Too much time seems to be spent on explaining what has happened over between the previous series and this film, which could have worked with a complete series but bogs the film down, with its much shorter running time.Whilst I didn't hate the film, I must say that I was very disappointed, It is trying to be clever but for me was a let down in what is a very good series.

Section 9 is again following leads to solve a case involving brain hacking, a mysterious Puppeteer who seems to be able to push people to kill themselves or do things they do not want, terrorism and so on and so on. Major Kusanagi is not part of the team, though, as she left Section 9 to find her identity.As with the other Ghost in the Shell films and series, Solid State Society is about the dissolution of the human soul, as well as the multitude of states in which it can coalesce. It is thought provoking, to say the least. The animation is great, too. The story has a few holes in it, which chipped a little at the perfection of everything else, but still good.Bottom line: if you are a sci-fi fan, an anime fan, a Ghost in the Shell fan or a fan of intellectually challenging movies that are also accessible and not obtuse, and especially if you are all of the above, you need to see this movie.

I assume most people will have seen both series of GitS: Stand Alone Complex so will be familiar with the characters. If you haven't seen them yet I'd strongly recommend watching them before watching this follow-on film.Set two years after the second series Section Nine is on the trail of a hacker known as The Puppeteer. Don't worry, this isn't a rehash of the Puppet Master story from the original GitS film though. The team, led by Togusa since the Major left them, learns of the Puppeteer while investigating a sting of Suicides. While investigating a brake in at a lab Batou sees a familiar face; Major Motoko Kusanagi. She warns him to keep away from the Solid State Society. At first Batou doesn't mention that he saw her but as he starts to believe that she may be the Puppeteer he is forced to tell Togusa about his fears.As one would expect the animation looks fantastic without being distracting... unlike in GitS: Innocence where I often found myself admiring an animated object at the expense of following the story. Once again the music went well with the action and the voice actors all sounded good, although I had to read the subtitles as I can't speak Japanese.If you liked the "Tachikomatic Days" shorts at the end of each episode be sure to watch "Uchikoma Days" on the second DVD which features the little blue tanks as well as the new green ones and the Jameson Unit.I strongly recommend this film to anybody who enjoyed the series, while it isn't essential to watch them first I'm sure it will be a better experience if you have as you'll know and care about the characters more.

There's two kind of anime(Japanese animation):one kind shows clichés of the genre and the other kind is used as an economic way for telling very variate stories which could exist with real actors but that it would be very expensive to make as normal movies.In the first category,I would put almost all of the teen anime with melodramatic stories,girls using the school uniform,tragic heroes,giant robots,surrealistic humor and magic creatures.In the second category,I would put more serious movies made to adults where the narrative has a complexity and emotional impact that we will never find in Pokemon or Digimon.As examples,I can mention Cowboy Bebop,all the movies made by director Satoshi Kon(for example,Perfect Blue or Millennium Actress) and the cyber-punk movies of Ghost in the Shell.Ghost in the Shell,based on the manga(comic) written by Masamune Shirow,has been adapted to TV and to the cinema.The films are Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2:Innocence.That films do not have much to do with the original manga because director Mamoru Oshii took the futuristic stories and concepts to explore philosophic and fascinating topics.Oshii put to them impressing images and spectacular action scenes but his emphasis is always in the ideas.As a parallel version of the same stories,the TV series Ghost in the Shell:Stand Alone Complex is more like the manga,making a balance between philosophic topics,politic mystery and futuristic action.Ghost in the Shell:Solid State Society is like a sequel of that TV series.Ghost in the Shell:Solid State Society is an exciting,intelligent,complex and very interesting film.This movie is a real masterpiece.Director Kenji Kamiyama tells an excellent story in this movie.The animation is perfect.Solid State Society is a very intelligent entertainment,which makes us think at the same time it totally entertains us.This masterpiece is a pleasure to any lover of the cinema.