Beautiful ‘Ghost,’ but levity is missing

In the cyborg-dominated future of Mamoru Oshii’s “Ghost in the Shell” anime films, the distinction between man and machine has been obscured and the very essence of life dangles precariously before us.

“Ghost in the Shell,” the influential 1995 Japanese film that earned a cult following in the U.S. through its video release and as a midnight movie, tracks a comely female detective named Major Kusanagi whose status as a cyborg -- all that remains of her humanity is her spirit or “ghost” -- causes her much existential angst. Kusanagi hunts down a superhacker who leaps from mechanized body to mechanized body, a vagabond ghost in search of a permanent shell. At the end of the film, the major escapes her own shell and flees into cyberspace.

With “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence,” Oshii’s even darker sequel, the director offers a glimmer of hope about our relationship with technology. In the making of the film, hand-drawn and computer-generated animation techniques are blended to create one of the most visually arresting motion pictures you are likely to see this year. If machines can be used to help generate images this stunning, they can’t be all bad.

Though visually impressive, “Innocence” follows the rough framework of the first film in plot, themes and even its strengths and weaknesses -- with Kusanagi’s colleague, the hyper-macho Batou, a supporting character in the first film, taking over as the protagonist. Perhaps it is Batou’s nickel-plated, bottle-cap eyes, which blunt any expression, or Kusanagi’s frequent habit of disrobing, but he is simply not as compelling a character as the major.

The “Blade Runner” look of the first film is expanded on with a sophisticated new production design that encompasses more fantastical elements. The dark alleys and mean streets remain in all their noirish/sci-fi menace, now enhanced by excursions into virtual reality that allow Oshii and his animators access to a far greater palette.

There is a “moving sidewalk” quality to the way the characters glide and lurch across the urban landscape that is at first distracting but gradually becomes part of the accepted reality of Oshii’s world.

The city where Batou doggedly pursues a strain of murderous androids looks like a Gothic erector set against magnificently ominous skies. The stained glass windows of a mysterious mansion provide an interplay of light and color that is simply dazzling in its ethereal beauty. The film’s visual centerpiece, however, is a magical Chinese festival featuring a parade of amazing elephants and falling confetti that alone is worth the price of admission.

Yet in both films, the narrative grinds to a halt whenever Kusanagi or Batou vent their philosophical sorrows, drawing on sources as varied as the Old Testament, Buddhist teachings, Rene Descartes and Jakob Grimm. Oshii has a lot on his mind -- perhaps too much -- and in some ways what his characters are saying need not be explained in such detail.

Batou begins investigating a particular model of android, referred to as gynoids or dolls, after one breaks down and kills its owner. The supposedly soulless gynoids are creepily modeled on early adolescent girls and are designed for sexual companionship. Oshii seems to be commenting on the exploitation of children here, but it is more than a little disturbing when Batou brings out the heavy artillery and starts blowing away what looks like a casting call for the next episode of “Sailor Moon.”

Oshii’s stated interest is the loss of humanism and the necessity for a coexistence of all life- forms, represented in the film by the cyborgs, dolls and a robotic basset hound that provides Batou with his only real relationship. The problem is that most of these ideas get muffled in the protean storytelling and existential ramblings.

Questioning one’s humanity daily would not be a bad thing for most of us; however, these contemplative cyborgs let it ruin what lives they do have (not to mention slowing what might have been a dynamic movie).

My suggestion is to take a lesson from Major Kusanagi in the first film: Unplug from the narrative, let the images of “Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence” wash over you, and enjoy the beautiful ride.

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‘Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence’

MPAA rating: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief language

Times guidelines: Some blood, but most of the violence is against androids.

Batou...Akio Ohtsuka

Motoko Kusanagi...Atsuko Tanaka

Togusa... Koichi Yamadera

A Production I.G. production, released by Go Fish Pictures. Director Mamoru Oshii. Producers Mitsuhisa Ishikawa, Toshio Suzuki. Screenplay by Mamoru Oshii, based on the manga by Shirow Masamune. Music Kenji Kawai. Production designer Yohei Taneda. Art director Shuichi Hirata. In Japanese with English subtitles. Running time:

1 hour, 40 minutes

In selected theaters.