Ghost In The Shell 2.0 (a mini review)

[Rolf Hawkins]

Just got the import BD of Ghost in the Shell 2.0, which is the curious "not a remix" and "not a remake" (so they say) of the original GITS movie from 1995. They completely remastered the entire film, cleaned it up beautifully, and added a Dolby TrueHD track with a brand new voice-over recording using all the original (Japanese) voice-actors. There's a new and improved English subtitle track, too.

The film remaster is so perfectly done and looks so fresh and gorgeous (infinitely superior to the previous BD release), that it's very puzzling to me why they bothered to replace some scenes entirely (or merely some objects) with dazzling CGI in the first place. It's doubly puzzling because the intent of the CGI insertions appears to be to make the cityscapes in GITS more closely match those in Innocence: Ghost in the Shell 2, but because this supposed wish for continuity is not carried through the entire GITS film, it struck me as rather pointless. In my opinion, they should either have redone the entire film in CGI, scene for scene, or left the CGI out.

I have to say here that I read quite a few negative things about this version 2.0 on the web when it was re-released in the theaters in Japan and elsewhere. I can't say I agree with them. While I would have preferred to see all of this landmark film restored, none of the CGI scenes detract or in any way alter the story or my enjoyment of it. This is not Star Wars 2.0. This is the same GITS we know and love, just with some visual enhancements thrown in.

All that being said, for anyone who does not already own the much drabber and stereo-only GITS on BD, this is a worthy disc to have in any collection. It's still a great story and the non-CGI artwork is, mostly, flawless. My only real complaint is that the bass in both the stereo PCM and Dolby TrueHD 6.1 mixes is excessive, to say the least. Case in point, I intentionally have one of the memory settings in my receiver's room EQ set to zero bass, and the bass was still too flippin' much.

Test gear:
Pioneer Elite PRO-150FD 60" PDP
Pioneer Elite SC-07 A/V Receiver
Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-ray Disc Player
Polk RT-2000p Front L/R Towers w/dual 8" 200Watt Subwoofers
Polk CS-350 Center
Polk LS-FX Surrounds
Ethereal A/V Cables