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Overview: Every so often, I get around to reviewing something more to point out that it is NOT cyberpunk. I intended this category for movies like New Rose Hotel - while Gibson’s short story is top-notch, awesome cyberpunk, the movie of the same name is an unmitigated non-cyberpunk mess. The other reason I review a non-cyberpunk movie is because even though the movie packaging or description may indicate some cyber elements, movies in this category are going for deceptive advertising to sell their flick. Some erotic spoofs of popular movies are downright awesome. My favorite cyberpunk spoof is probably the Terminatrix (I still need to do some screencaps for that movie). However, in many other cases, soft core porn productions will try to leverage off a big title, but in fact really doesn’t have much of anything to do with it. Sexual Matrix fits this pattern, having nothing whatsoever to do with the Matrix movies, or much of anything else cyberpunk other than VR love scenes.

 

 

The Story: Sexual Matrix is pretty straightforward – a professor looks to get funding to build a prototype for helping people act out their fantasies in VR. To get started, he cons a local university into thinking he has funding lined up from a major corporation. The university, in their infinite wisdom doesn’t check his lie, and instead sends an ultra-hawt grad student to “oversee” his research. For some reason, the prototype appears already built, so no real work is necessary, other than a few twists of knobs on the Star Trek looking light panel. From this point, most of the movie involves students and test subjects coming in for fifty bucks to try out the VR system. There’s a brief human interest story dealing with the professor and his hawt assistant, but this isn’t worth going into.

 

 

The Bottom Line: Again, nothing special here from a cyberpunk perspective. The movie itself is decent quality production. Their “fantasies” are done up in decent quality production soft-core porn, but there’s no cyberpunk aspects and only one that shows cyber-type scenery. Most are regular soft-core porn scenes. If you’re interested in a decent quality soft core porn showing lots of breasts in a façade VR setting, Sexual Matrix may be of interest. I do however deduct a quality point for the misleading cover and description.

 

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Overview: Rarely do we find low-budget horror movies aspiring to be as intelligent and ambitious as Magdalena’s Brain. Reportedly shot on a shoestring budget of $25 - $30K, Magdalena’s Brain is a professional looking film with some interesting man-machine interface ideas. To limit costs, most of the movie takes place in a single warehouse setting. Unfortunately, this psychological horror is probably a bit too slow for most, and doesn’t have enough gore for the average horror fan (although there are a few good freak-out scenes). But if you do stick with it, you get treated to a fascinating ending twist.

 

 

The Story: Former brain surgeon, Magdalena (played wonderfully by Amy Shelton-White) is now a reclusive alcoholic, living in a warehouse, who continually changes out shrinks in the hopes of gaining some semblance of peace. Four years after a tragic accident that left her brilliant husband-scientist, Arthur (Sanjiban Sellew) a quadriplegic and their research in tatters, Magdalena has persevered in the fleeting hopes that things will improve. Magdalena has designed an implant that allows computer-assisted dialogue with her husband. With communication restored, they have been able to continue their research in developing a synthetic brain that processes information 1000 time faster than humans. While the last four years have been slow going, recent advances have shown promise. Currently a blank slate, the organic, crystalline brain structure appears ready memories implanting. Andrew (David Joseph), a love struck former patient of Magdalena (he has inoperable brain cancer), seems to be an obvious test subject, as he will do anything to win over Magdalena.

 

 

Magdalena reluctantly takes Arthur’s advice and accepts the help of her creepy brother, Jim (Robert Weingartner), in working out how to kick-start the organic crystalline brain. First, they will download Arthur’s memories into the crystalline structure, then insert the structure into Andrew’s brain, and finally they will remove the tumor. As the story continues, Magdalena becomes more unstable. As everything comes to a head, it appears as if the same issues that led to the tragic accident four years ago might be recurring.

 

 

The Pacing: The pacing in Magdalena’s Brain is problematic in places. The first half of the movie crawls at a snail’s pace. In part it’s due to the plot, but the editing decisions certainly contribute. Eventually, it picks up in the second half. The middle of the second half is really where Magdalena’s Brain hits its stride, both in plot and pacing. The movement is brisk and the scenes really tie together well. Unfortunately, the ending action sequence comes across a series of jumbled scenes (again, I’m blaming the editing here). Instead of the frantic chase, they would have been better served having their victim do the slow, bloody crawl, with Magdalena walking after while engaged in her personal struggle. The story would have worked the same either way, but the chosen course asks us to believe that a brain surgeon can’t determine if someone is dead, and that a guy who just had a hole drilled in his brain can run for his life.

 

 

The Acting: If there’s one decision that Director Warren Amerman made that other extremely low budget film projects should consider emulating was hiring a real actor/actress to play the lead role. Even with having only a $25,000 budget, a large chunk of that went toward hiring Lost-Angeles based actress, Amy Shelton-White. Had they not done this, Magdalena’s Brain might have been a disaster. Shelton-White shines to the point that she single-handedly carries the project toward respectability, while adeptly displaying a wide range of talent and emotion. The script is problematic in places, the pacing is too slow, and the rest of the cast are role players at best, but in the end this film still works due to Shelton-White’s performance. Being in virtually every scene, she seems to bring out the best in the rest of the cast. I say this because the rest of the cast suffers when in monologue type situations, but generally hold up well when interacting with Amy. David Joseph (Andrew) in particular looks really shaky in places where he’s basically on his own, but gets lots better when interacting with Shelton-White. I haven’t seen Shelton-White in anything else, but clearly she has the chops to go places. Other the lead, the only performance with mentioning is Robert Weingartner – the “look” he generates as a creepy side-kick really worked well.

 

 

The Cinematography: Often indie films that venture into the Science Fiction genre attempt to make up for low-budget effects with innovative cinematography and lighting. This definitely is the case for Magdalena’s Brain. The use of lighting and shadow always seems to be in the forefront of Amerman’s thinking when composing a shot. Some scenes, such as the bowling scene, really don’t seem to have a place in the film from a story standpoint, but are probably left there due to the wonderful lighting and composition. Throughout the film Amerman is able to take a truly dingy set and come up with some wonderful shots. Also interesting is the lighting and sound choices for the flashbacks, although the horror shots have a cheesy low-budget feel to them. This, along with Shelton-White’s performance is able to help get the viewer through some of the pacing and editing issues.

 

 

Problems With Organic Brain Design: Magdalena’s Brain uses a different approach toward creating AI. Instead of building a set of programs that mimic some trait of humanity (referred to as the “brute force method), they attempt to replicate the operations of a brain. Through the creation of a “crystalline lattice work in a gel suspension” – the thought is to create a structure that supports the firing of electrodes in a way that allows it to build its own pathways and connections. This part of the techy “mumbo jumbo” was wonderfully thought out, sparking interesting thoughts on how one might go about connecting such a “blank slate” learning structure artificial senses so that it might interact with the outside environment. One can imagine that a structure such as this, once connected to sensory input could grow at an impressive rate

 

 

Unfortunately, this is where their science falls apart. They “solve” the blank slate problem by simply “downloading” Arthur’s memories into the crystalline brain. Worse, the brain will apparently make its own pathways using a “first-come, first-served” method of storage. Not only does this approach smack of a “miracle occurs here” scaffold, it also removes most of the innovativeness of the crystalline brain learning structure – as opposed to the pathways being organically grown based on ongoing input from its environment, they simply load a bundle of memories (which are apparently discrete chunks of data) up in sequential fashion. In doing so, they seem to be valuing the mass-storage view of the brain while discounting the interconnectedness of the pathways and concepts. This wouldn’t be too much of a problem accept that their synthetic brain seems based on creating its own connections based on organic growth.

 

 

Integration of Synthetic Processing Structures with Human Brains: The most interesting cyberpunk thought in Magdalena’s Brain involves integrating synthetic processing structures with human brains. In the movie, the integrated structure will already have a sentient presence in it (see the downloading memories part above). This is an interesting approach toward building a cyborg with synthetic thinking capabilities, and is a somewhat different approach from say, the Ghost in the Shell method of increasing human capacity. In the GITS Cyborg model, computers are essentially integrated into the human mind, almost as a huge memory bank. The action thinking and decision making largely remain with the human portion of the brain (there are also fully AI processors like the Puppet Master, but they aren’t cyborgs). In the Magdalena’s Brain approach toward cyborgs, one wonders what happens when the two brain structures (synthetic and natural) occupy the same body – will they work in harmony; will one dominate the other; or will a type of schizophrenia emerge? This is all the more interesting when transposed against the psychological struggle Magdalena is undergoing.

 

 

Is Magdalena’s Brain Cyberpunk? Magdalena’s Brain is one of those movies that I think barely makes it into the genre. It takes place in the present, not near future (at least that we can tell), and has no connections to evil corporations. Nor does it have much in the way of cyberpunk visuals. It does however have negative impact of technology down in spades, and an interesting take on the fusion of man and machine. For these reasons, I’ve decided to include it, but just barely.

 

 

The Bottom Line: Magdalena’s Brain puts forward a terrific production considering the virtually non-existent budget. It’s very difficult to do a convincing science fiction movie on that type of shoot. I would like discuss the psychological horror aspect of Magdalena’s Brain, but won’t for fear of ruining the ending. The high points are definitely Amy Shelton-White’s performance, and a good number of some well-shot scenes. The audio FX are also worth mentioning, but the score doesn’t always fit. That said, the pacing issues will significantly reduce the potential market for Magdalena’s Brain, as most horror (and many cyberpunk) fans won’t stick with it long enough to get to the fast-paced ending. While it certainly has its problems, Magdalena’s Brain gets a passing grade. There is enough here for indie fans to give it a go, and enough of a jolt at the end that many horror fans will enjoy as well.

 

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Overview – Good luck in finding a copy! Once upon a time, Renaissance was one of my most anticipated movies of 2006. Originally released in France on March 15th, I eagerly awaited its September release in the US. My anticipation was heightened in that I was even contacted by Miramax representatives as part of a pre-hype blitz. So imagine my surprise when its release in the US only comprised a few select cities – unfortunately my city didn’t make the cut (thanks Miramax!). Similar to so many other good, but foreign science fiction and fantasy flicks, instead of getting a nice theatrical viewing, I was yet again forced wait and then later buy an import (or pirated – sometimes you just aren’t sure) DVD off of eBay. If you are in the US and are interested in seeing Renaissance, chances are you’re in the same boat. One would have hoped that a movie as visually stunning as Renaissance would have been at least able to quality for a DVD release, but clearly something larger is going on here as many other foreign genre films are in the same boat.

 

 

The Setting: In the year 2054, mega-corporations are all-powerful, with tentacles in all aspects of life. The divisions between rich (megacorps) and poor are greater than ever. Paris has grown in layers, with high-tech buildings pushing every further into the sky. Although the city is sleek and stylish, most people live a pathetic existence. In Paris, the Avalon Corporation rules the cityscapes. The police force is not immune from their pressures, and often become their lackeys.

 

 

The Story: When a promising young biogeneticist named Ilona (voiced by Romala Garai) from the Avalon Corporation is kidnapped, detective Barthélémy Karas (Daniel Craig) and his team are brought in to investigate. As Karas interviews all the key players, it becomes clear that this isn’t a simple missing person case, as the details of the disappearance become increasingly more bizarre and complicated. The Avalon corporation president, Dellenback (Jonathan Pryce), not known for his loyalty to his workers, is extremely interested in her return. Ilona’s bioengineering mentor has a strange past, and stopped doing research after an accident from 2006. Karas befriends Ilona’s older sister, Bislane (Catherine McCormack), who tells of a stolen book.

 

 

Similar to Howard Hawks’ “The Big Sleep” (1946), Karas spirals back and forth between the key players as more clues are provided. Karas uncovers a darker side of the Avalon Corporation, and of Ilona’s mentor, Dellenback. Furthermore, it appears that the secret to immortality has been discovered, and is tied to Ilona herself. As Karas and Bislane continue searching for Ilona, the list of enemies grows. The key players are getting offed, Karas is booted from the force, and is now in fear of his life. Worse, they are discovering that humanity itself may be at risk if Ilona is found.

 

 

The Characters: It’s not a stretch to say that virtually every character in Renaissance comes “cookie cutter” from the old noir movies, with a nice slice of traditional cyberpunk thrown in the mix. From the honest but jaded crusty cop with a soft spot to the megalomaniac mega-corporation leader, to the shady friend the cop goes to when he needs a favor to the femme fatale; don’t expect freshness, because it isn’t coming. Like the old noirs, everyone in Renaissance is flawed; everyone is gray – which does make for an interesting contrast when transposed on such stark black and white animation.

 

 

The Atmosphere: While the story falls short, the look of Renaissance fully original and is flat-out amazing. If Renaissance is best described as style over substance, the style really comes STRONG to the party. Stark black and whites dominate virtually every shot. Shadows are in abundance, and usually highlight the main action points. Gray is used sparingly, and is usually applied to change the mood of the scene. To its credit, Volckman succeeds at creating a near-future world that is deeply flawed but not overly futuristic. The cityscapes are incredibly detailed, and give the impression that there are always a bevy of interesting happenings occurring. A transparent glass-like substance is now used to make walkways above and below the roads – this more than anything creates a sleek, near-future ambience. The stark black and white look of Renaissance works well both in the daylight and evening shots, both having shadows prominently placed in virtually every frame.

 

 

Traditional cyberpunk conventions are often applied, including huge billboards of beautiful women that extol the virtues of the Avalon Corporation. Avalon fills the role of the dominating mega-corporation that owns and controls virtually everything in Paris. Nothing is beyond their grasp. The police are on their payroll, and the entire city appears to be under surveillance. Immortality, derived through advances in bioengineering (initially undertaken by a Japanese scientist) is the dominating technology intended to challenge God’s position over humanity.

 

 

Similarities with Sin City: Volckman stated he was interested in creating a visual feel similar to what one might get when looking at a painting. In terms of what was produced, yes, the look is definitely similar, but Renaissance is not copying Sin City. Although Sin City came out first, Renaissance started its production far before Sin City. In terms of look, Renaissance really does match very closely with the Sin City graphic novels – more so than Sin City in fact. But while it also is a neo-noir, the dialogue and mood of Renaissance is far more like a corporate espionage version of a standard 40s detective noir (think “The Big Sleep” with corporations instead of the mob), whereas Sin City had more of a hyper-real, over-the-top neo-noir feel.

 

 

The Animation: Using an innovative motion-capture to rotoscope approach, where 24 cameras are used when shooting the actors, Volckman was able to work on the framing and viewpoint well after the shoot was complete, and then paint on the black and white animation. Unlike Linklater’s rotoscoping, where the actors’ faces and body appear to be constantly shifting, the level of precision used in Renaissance is significantly higher. When moving, the sprite’s actions are incredibly human-looking. There is a slight lag though when they first take action – a noticeable lag that’s slower than you would expect a person’s actions to be.

 

 

The Technology: While the basic story for Renaissance is straight cyberpunk neo-noir, the technology options provided are numerous and fairly interesting. Most visually arresting was the Holodeck sphere prison where Ilona is kept. Karas had a very advanced cybernetic eye implant that allowed him to identify people through solid objects – it also was able to be hacked by Avalon, the Mega-corporation. Computers are slick, now often just the size of a pen with a virtual display that arises upon command. Biotechnological modifications are in vogue, although not at the level of Ghost in the Shell. Similar to Motoko’s invisibility suit, the goons at Avalon have similar suits, although they look more like the soldiers in Jin-Roh than they do the hawt, naked Motoko. Holograms are now used in combination with pictures to remember people and events – in some cases, holograms interact with their human counterparts.

 

 

Do you Want to Live Forever? One thesis of Renaissance is the notion that immortality, if invented, would destroy humanity. Not a lot of backing is provided for this idea, but the idea put forward is that this irrevocable change in the hands of a mega-corporation would provide a method of control so powerful that society would no longer function. This is all the more interesting in that some are predicting that humanity will have the equivalent of immortality within the next 50 years. If this comes to pass, will the possibility of immortality be distributed evenly or will this be a tool of domination similar to in Renaissance?

 

 

The Bottom Line: Although the story and characters are not original, the animation and overall cinematography is both innovative and outstanding, and should not be missed. There is truly something unique in the look here that you just won’t find anywhere else. The voice and motion acting are more than passable and Nicholas Dodd’s score provides a wonderful combination of a 007 espionage flick with the haunting eeriness of the score from Stargate. As icing on the cake, the science, technology and architecture exhibited in Renaissance will make you think. It may be hard to find, but it’s well worth the time spent looking for it.

 

Page 2, More Screencaps–>

 

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Overview: Equilibrium is one of those movies that most everyone who knows of it has only seen it on DVD. Essentially thrown away by its studio, Equilibrium, created for a budget just over 20 million was given no dollars for marketing and made less than a million at the box office. But don’t let that sway you into thinking this movie is a piece of trash. Equilibrium has become a cult DVD hit. Made in Eastern Germany portion of Berlin, Equilibrium looks lots more substantial than the 20 million that went into it. Due to some terrific location choices, Equilibrium shines with a polish of a movie made for at least twice that budget. This, plus high quality acting and at least a modicum of interesting thought raise Equilibrium up from the pop-FX action-fest that it otherwise might have become.

 

 

The Setting: Set sometime in the 21st century, after a massive nuclear war has wiped out the majority of the human race, a 1984 style society has emerged after a method of full population control was discovered. The entire population is now given a daily dose of a drug called of Prozium. Prozium removes all semblances of emotion, and leaves the populace docile and controlled. Exhibiting emotion is now considered the greatest of all crimes, and is punishable by death. The all-knowing, all-controlling “Father” has constructed a group of supra-police called “clerics” who spend their time seeking out “sense offenders” and burning all remnants of the old way.

 

 

The Story: Cleric John Preston (starring Christian Bale) is among the best cleric enforcers. Along with his partner, Errol Partridge (Sean Bean), they spend their days burning heretical artifacts like the Mona Lisa and bringing sense offenders in for processing – a euphemism for baking people in a large oven. Unfortunately, Partridge has begun to have doubts about society, and has apparently stopped taking the drug. After Preston finds out and kills him, Partridge’s final thoughts compel Preston to revisit his own personal history in which he showed no emotions as his wife was burned for sense making. Preston begins to question the intense surveillance society.

 

 

In tracking down Partridge’s lover (Emily Watson), Preston’s world finally crumbles. Now he realizes he has presided over the destruction of humanity, and can no longer continue. Unfortunately, Dupont (Angus Macfadyen), the mouthpiece of the Father and leader of the Clerics has asked Preston to infiltrate the remainder of the resistance in order to crush them once and for all. But Preston is actually approached by the resistance leader, Jürgen (William Fichtner) who has noticed his recent spate of emotion. While Preston is still conflicted, Jürgen tries to enlist Preston in destroying the Father. Even worse, Preston’s ambitious new partner, Brandt (Taye Diggs) strongly suspects Preston of becoming a sense offender.

 

 

The Acting: The acting in Equilibrium is top notch. For my money, the best performance is turned in by Sean Bean, who, while only on screen for a brief time, really hammers home the essence of the message Equilibrium is conveying. But truly, all the main cast is terrific. Bale does a very good job in going through a conversion in losing his faith, while Fichtner, Macfadyen, Diggs and Watson all really add real believability to a somewhat forced story. Truly, the acting sets Equilibrium above a better than average genre movie to something really worth watching.

 

 

The Action - GunKata: Gunkata is Kurt Wimmer’s newly invented martial art – gun combat in close quarters. The idea is that body positioning and fluid movements, along with an intense understanding of one’s opponents’ most likely actions will allow the Gunkata master – Clerics, in Equilibrium – to be close to unstoppable. Many times in Equilibrium, Preston goes into a room LOADED of bad guys and wipes them all out. Does it look in the least realistic? Not at all, but it does look cool. The action sequences are hectic by design, but are always well planned out and executed. Even if you could care less about the message, if you like gun fighting, Equilibrium is for you!

 

 

The Visuals: The color of the day for Equilibrium is black, gray and occasionally white. Virtually everything is in black with brief highlights. This makes the instances where other colors are used, such as Preston’s Bruce Lee white outfit near the end of the picture, or the yellow sunset as seeming enormously more significant than they normally would seem. The other dominant theme is squared off architecture. Everything here is comprised of right angles to emphasize the controlled, boxed-in feel of the society. Even worse, the only prominent place that a circle appears is the processing factory, where sense-offenders are burned. Wimmer uses his most excellent set selections to optimal effect. The Cinematography choices always go for high shadows and contrasts, and usually come from interesting angles and contexts. Without trying to resort to high-tech wizardry, the world Wimmer ultimately creates is believable and otherworldly.

 

 

Centralized Control and the Surveillance Society: While the message is often obscured by the slick visuals and action sequences, Equilibrium’s basis is right out of the Metropolis, 1984 model. In looking at a situation where humanity has gone awry, the corrective procedure is one which divorces people from that which makes them human – their emotions. In this model, emotion control leads to thought control, which yields a smooth, functioning society. The warning is clear – if we move down a road that involves giving up our personal freedom, the danger is that we lose our technology. If I were to point out quibbles with this, the idea of the single, evil genius behind all of everything bad lessons the impact. The message conveyed is that society slowly made the choice to go this route – it would have been better to see remnants of that choice still guiding the society versus the simple “glorious leader” bad guy.

 

 

Is There Any Relevance to Today’s World? While only briefly mentioned by Sean Bean’s character, Partridge discusses the “trade off” that humanity made. In exchange for security and stability, they agreed to trade away their freewill. One gets the sense that this was a slow process at first, but which picked up dramatically once centralized control was present. While it’s a far stretch to imagine an emotion blocker being instituted, if we imagine freewill as a sliding scale, its clear that the debate between our personal freedoms and societal security measures are clashing right now. One can only imagine how much greater support the security side would be if in fact a nuclear conflict did break out. Unfortunately, this too is becoming far more likely – in 20 years, we can certainly envision that the number of groups and governments in possession of nuclear material will be far greater than today. The risk isn’t just that a small group of terrorists will use it. Unfortunately, pre-emption of conflict by larger countries could also lead to such a response. In short, as the concern for security and stability are greater, the pressure to impact personal freedoms will grow. If this isn’t a key ingredient for the creation of a cyberpunked world, I don’t know what would be.

 

 

Is Equilibrium Cyberpunk? This is an open question at some level, but I’ve come down on the “yes” side (obviously, as its reviewed here) for three reasons. First, in Equilibrium, centralized control dominates all “above ground” communication, while the horizontal control is the domain of the rebels. We don’t really see any instances of an internet, but we know it exists in some form, based on the rebel leader Jürgen’s comments. The only true downer from a cyberpunk control standpoint is the book used to record contraband – gimme a break, Wimmer! The second reason is the drug, Prozium. The bio-engineered drugs serve as a dominating form of technology that serves to dehumanize society. Until we separate out “Biopunk” movies from Cyberpunk, Equilibrium belongs here. Thirdly, the visuals TRULY fit into a post-Matrix cyberpunk visual style. Without hearing a lick of dialogue, if you only saw the visuals, you might consider sticking Equilibrium into the cyberpunk bucket.

 

 

The Bottom Line: Equilibrium makes the most of its 20 million dollar budget. Truly, after watching it, most people are shocked to find out how little was spent on making Equilibrium. From an execution standpoint, everything fits like a sleeck black glove. From the well integrated and motivating score, to the high quality acting, to the even pacing, Equilibrium works to create a very believable mood. On top of this, Equilibrium’s action is hot shit! Wimmer’s creation of GunKata - a new martial arts for close-combat gunfighting is interesting and innovative. However, the story itself is still a stretch, as is the believability of the Gunkata. In the end though, this is really a minor quibble, as the end product is intelligent enough to cause you to ponder while engaging enough to keep you entertained.

 

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Overview: The following is an overview and review of the first episode of first season of Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (see SFAM’s season review), a hugely successful anime TV series, based on the Manga and the movies that preceeded it. With the highest budget given in the history of anime on Japanese television, Stand Alone Complex fuses state-of-the-art concepts with traditional metaphysical and sociological topics, capped off with a jaw-dropping animated style that is so unique, so addictive, it’s mind-blowing in its ongoing intensity. The series follows Section 9, a secret government security force that doesn’t officially exist. When acts of terrorism and dangerous criminals rise to the surface, Section 9 rises to the challenge to counteract the threat. Its members are made up of cyborgs, each with their own unique special trait, AI Tachikoma robots, and state-of-the-art technology and weaponary.

 

 

The Story: When three robot geishas in a restaurant kill two diplomats and capture the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and two visitors from the North American Industry Support Association, it’s up to Section 9 to rescue them. When the criminal controlling the robot geishas escapes, after Motoko sends a hunting virus down the line to trace him - before he erases the evidence of his actions - the team track him down through the city.

 

 

As Pazu and Bouma chase him down in their car, they see that he is a cyborg running at great speed. Batou takes to the street to chase him by foot, eventually tackling him to the ground, but the cyborg erases his own memory on the scene! With the diplomats rescued, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs safe, Section 9 is told by Kubota that the minister’s secretary, who was killed in the restaurant, was his inside contact.

 

 

She was under his command, making secret inquiries on the Minister, regarding The Ichinose Report, which contains scenarios for diplomatic and military tactics in an emergency. The minister has this in his possession. Kubota’s contact was killed because she knew something, that’s why he’s come to Section 9, so they can find out what it is she knew and why she was killed.

With Kubota’s job and reputation on the line, Aramaki initiates an investigation to uncover light on the puzzling death for his old friend Kubota. Motoko reviews the CCTV footage of the restaurant, to find out what went off at the kidnap scene with the robot geishas, but doesn’t find any revelatory details. It is not until Togusa physically walks the crime-scene that he realises the Minister, who liked to switch his ghost between himself and geishas, has in fact had his brain-core hijacked and been replaced by an imposter, so they can gain access to The Ichinose Report.

 

 

Aramaki contacts Kubota and learns that the Minister has just taken the report and is on his way to the airport to fly back to America. When Section 9 arrives, they confront the minister, exposing and arresting him as ‘Assemblyman’, a political exile, spying on Japan. In the metal case the imposter carries is the Minister’s real cyberbrain-core.

 

 

Section 9: Section 9 are up against the bureaucracy of Police jurisdiction, who, when faced with the crisis of the robot geishas, sit around a desk arguing over how to control the scene; with the army wanting to take control, instead of taking affirmative, immediate action and responsibility themselves. In steps Aramaki, taking over with Public Peace Section 9’s combat force to deal with the situation before it escalates further. The aftermath of the events is what they subsequently investigate throughout the first episode.

 

 

The Characters:

• Majore Motoko Kusanagi - in control from the get-go. Sexy, athletic, and as expected in anime, has very large breasts! (They’re even bigger in the second series), has purple hair and some very cool-looking combat outfits.


• Batou – muscle-bound character with eye-goggles and ponytail. Tough, macho, but with a soft side and a sense of humour. Him and Major Motoko have a bit of a chemisty going on between each other that develops throughout the series.


• Togusa – the youngest member of Section 9. A family man with a young family, he is a rookie in some parts, but more than makes up for his lack of experience. He’s usually partnered alongside Batou, and the two have many good scenes together through the series.


• Ishikawa – senior Section 9 member. Primarily handles information and communication elements of the cases, usually from the secret headquarters, but is shown on mission in this first episode.


• Saitou – primary sniper member of the team. Has a cyborg eye implant that is established in this first episode, with enhanced optic capabilities, but uses his natural eye when using his sniper rifle in the episode.


• Pazu – along with Bouma, provides backup on missions if targets escape. Drives a very stylish yellow sports car.


• Bouma – has red eye-implants, and works alongside Pazu.


• Aramaki - cutting through the red tape of modern-day Japanese bureaucracy that he has to deal with daily. So much so, he almost seems tired of the whole routine of it all.


• Kubota - an old friend of Aramaki’s, who respects him gratefully. He works for the Army and is concerned about the robot geisha situation, as one of his men is inside, but due to the nature of the people involved, can’t even tell Aramaki all the details, let alone the police.


• Robot Geishas – look exactly like the real thing, but have enhanced physical capabilities, using their strength to restrain the diplomats, keeping them at the point of pain, without killing them as they hold them kidnapped.

 

 

The Visuals
• Looks beautiful in pretty much every single scene. The colours used are not just single painted on cells, but have texture, and many backgrounds have colour gradients, illuminated by light. The level of detail is amazing.

• The slow motion fight on the roof is spectacular and reminiscent – I think deliberately – of the first The Matrix film, where Trinity jumps from the roof, after being chased by the Agents. Here we have Motoko chasing a criminal across the roof and shooting his ankle out. It is done with considerable more style than The Matrix, with better camera angles.

• Detail in atmospherics. The little touches that make up the whole. Neon signs in the background.

• Flashing lights, moving camera angles instead of static shots. Realistic lighting design gives the animation a real depth. Good use of tonal green colours for the city at night. Very vivid.

• When the helicopter at the start rises, the heat haze blurs out the corner of the frame for a brief moment, barely visible, but there all the same.

• Very good standards for an animated series. I prefer this style to that of the last three movies.

• CCTV shots with analogue signal interference, wavering over the image.

• Characters walking into the shadows of buildings, takes some attention to detail to pull off.

• Body movement when characters are running is amazing. Works on an impressive loop-cycle for the character in the foreground, instead of just repeating the background. The background moves new with each frame of animation, creating a stunning fluidity to character’s interacting with the cene, giving it a real three-dimensional death.

• Electrical surges are popular thoughout this episode and look visually impressive.

• There’s a lot of movement with the characters’ heads, even when they’re just standing still, their head will move, conveying emotion through animation.

• Depth of field. If it’s a two-shot, the character in the foreground will be out of focus, and the character in the background will be in focus; and vice a versa, just like a real film camera.

 

 

The Procedures
• Communication-blockade – so that the geishas cannot communicate within anyone else from inside the restaurant. They are completely isolated and cut off from outside communication. This doesn’t appear to have any effect on them, but it does allow action to be taken, with the element of surprise given to Section 9.

• News Censorship: Code 1-4 – only lasts about half-an-hour before the media become aware of what’s going on inside the restaurant.

• Alert Level B-6 – when the hacker escapes from the scene, Aramaki raises the threat level to this.

• Army Wiretap – listening in on Section 9’s Sniping Group. Batou hears the wiretap as he listens to the communications before they storm the restaurant.

• L-2 – Batou equips the L-2, the code-name for their Tiltorotor plane/helicopter that the team uses near the end of the episode.

 

 

The Technology
• Holographic Display Interface - on the police desk, gives a three-dimensional schematic of the restaurant, in variations of green and yellow, pinpointing the precise location of individuals inside the building. Cool.

• Portable Cyberbrain Interface - Aramaki uses this C-shaped device around his neck to plug-in to Kubota’s cyberbrain and have a secure private conversation, to find out what’s going on about the geisha robots and why Kubota’s involved. He uses this at the start of the episode as well as later on.

• Aramaki’s Cell Phone – uses it to give the order for Motoko and the team to strike against the restaurant and rescue the kidnapped diplomats, and later uses it to view a data-disc inserted in the right-hand side of the device, linking the phone again to his cyberbrain to view the video data.

• Ishikawa’s Portable Computer – used when he tries to connect to the communication lines beneath the restaurant.

• Optical Camouflage – part of the combat suits the Section 9 team wear. Motoko initiates the suit and with its invisibility cloak, similar to the invisibility shield used by the Predator; enters the restaurant without being spotted. Togusa uses it whilst running through the courtyard of the restaurant, and Batou cloaks as he enters the basement and runs up the stairs.

• Cyberbrain Eraser – the unknown, anonymous cyborg uses this device, linked into the neck of his cyberbrain hub, creating an electrical charge that formats his own memory.

• Cyberneticly Enhanced Eyes – the Minister has these, but when he tries to read the document report, it’s encrypted and it returns ‘error’ as his retinas try to scan each line but are unable to read the encrypted data.

• Cyberbrain Core – the Minister’s real cyberbrain is kept in a portable containment case by the impostor throughout the episode. Much like a portable hard-drive.

• Data Disc – red, quite similar to a Sony Mini-Disc, but a lot more compact.

 

 

The Tachikomas
AI Sensha Tachikomas are blue-metal alloy combat tanks with Artificial Intelligence. They have the capabilities to think for themselves, but with a child-like female voice, they add an often hilarious element to the serious action around them. Featured frequently throughout Stand Alone Complex, we learn a little more about the Tachikomas with each episode. They frequently display a mischievous and curious side whenever they’re in the prescence of things that are new to them, especially technology! Each night they are synchronized, so their intelligence is equal across each Tachikomas for the next working day. Seen:

• In the Tiltorotor with Batou at the beginning, then the same one on the roof with Batou, observing the restaurant before he goes in. Later on in the series we will discover that Batou prefers a single one of the Tachikoma’s to the rest, and uses this one on missions along side him. It arrives later, albeit late, once Batou has caught the hacker cyborg.

• One in the service tunnel beneath the restaurant, shining one of its high beams on the communication box as Togusa watches on as Ishikawa tries to connect to it with a portable device.

 

 

The Weapons
• Criminal firearm - semi-automatic pistol with a long barrel. Reminiscent of the main gun in Robocop, except this one is gunmetal blue, instead of nickel-plated.

• Semi-automatic machine gun - reminiscent of a modern sub-machine gun design. Used by Batou, Motoko, and Togusa, with a silencer for maximum stealth.

• Saitou’s sniper rifle - colossal, portable mounted to the ground it’s that big, but he is unable to use it on the restaurant and can only do limited sniping as there are too many trees blocking his view.

• Pazu and Bouma carry and draw a black 9mm semi-automatic pistol on the cyborg.

• Togusa’s gun – a firearm blend between a revolver, with the barrel of a semi-automatic pistol. This is a very cool-looking gun, like something out of Blade Runner. He uses the gun with armour-piercing bullets.

 

 

The Cyberpunk
Hacking, ghost control, cyborgs, retinal implants, portable computers, triple-screen laptops. Pretty much every scene contains some element of cyberpunk concepts and visuals that are necessary to the story as well as to the life of the characters. Throw in the visual aesthetic of the futuristic New Port City, in 2030, with characters wearing cyberpunk-style clothes, and you have the perfect cyberpunk narrative experience. What is interesting to see is how, after seven years from the first Ghost In The Shell movie, Stand Alone Complex presents a more contemporary look at cyberpunk culture, with the technology displayed being not so far-fetched and entirely plausible.

 

 

The Violence
• Main violence in the series is here, instead of the other episodes. We see it once in this episode, and don’t see it again in later episodes, unless it’s a unique situation, where a scene of ultraviolence is necessary to convey emotion.

• When the robot Geishas get shot, the back of their synthetic heads explode with white liquid. The sexual connotations of the serving geisha’s white bodily fluids is quite obvious as they literally explode, splurt over their kidnapped clients – a clever role reversal - as the diplomats cry out with their release, instead of the geishas. This scene is also a reference to Ash’s destruction scene in the first Alien film.

 

 

Quotes
• Batou (just before they storm the restaurant with the geishas):
“Major! What if the robot geishas ask to entertain us?”

• Batou (after the cyborg he’s caught wipes his own memory):
“Shit… I might’ve screwed up…”

 

 

Trivia
• The series starts with two helicopters flying overhead past the Major, which is exactly how the movie opens.

• Motoko’s hair has been changed from black to purple and her eye color from blue to burnt sienna, Batou has long hair, Togusa’s hair has become a lighter brown, and Aramaki has been given a more chiseled face.

• The Minister of Foreign Affairs in this episode appears to be the same MOFA head from the first Ghost In The Shell movie.

• The Major says that the dead NAIPA man’s spinal column unit should have been, “made by the North American Neutron Company,” which is the same company that Doctor Willis worked for in the movie.

• The Section 9 Tiltorotor: V-22 Osprey, the plane that the Major and Batou jump down from towards the end of the episode, dubbed a Tiltorotor, is a descendant of the very Tiltorotor that the unit uses in the 1991 manga Ghost in the Shell by Shirō Masamune. In the manga, there are two blades on each rotor. Section 9’s Osprey in the television series also has two blades per rotor. The aircraft makes its first appearance in the manga in Chapter 7 - “PHANTOM FUND”.

• The Minister of Foreign Affairs attempts to read an encrypted document. Around the pupils of his cyberneticly enhanced eyes reads: “Made in Germany… Carl Zeiss”. Carl Zeiss (1816-1888) was a famous German optician who pioneered several camera technologies. It is also a tribute to cyberpunk classic/precursor William Gibson who used eye implants by Carl Zeiss in his short story Burning Chrome (1984). It also reads “Directed by K.K.” in reference to series director Kenji Kamiyama.

 

 

The Bottom Line: A lot can happen in under twenty-five minutes, and an episode of Stand Alone Complex is working proof of this. The pacing is flawless, running at breathtaking speed from scene-to-scene, but never feeling rushed. You get an almost film-length story told in a short duration of time that is a pleasure to watch, and this is just the first episode! I just wish films could be this entertaining, and Stand Alone Complex gets better as it progresses. One of the core themes of Stand Alone Complex is the establisment of individual identity against the bigger whole of society. Section 9 exists as a covert group to counter terrorist threats carried out against society. Even though the criminals may work in a group, it is usually one individual that is the focus of the episode. Section 9 is a group, but as Aramaki says in a later episode, they’ve never thought of themselves as part of a team. This is the Stand Alone Complex, working as one for the good of society, Publice Peace Section 9.