Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society (2006) Review

 

"Stay away from the Solid State Society"

 After two seasons, the Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex series gets a high budget film titled Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society. Featuring high and detailed production values, an interesting story and mastermind villain, how does it compare to the Oshii previous films?

 STORY- A.D. 2034. Its been two years after 2nd GIG and Major Motoko Kusanagi left Public Security Section 9. Togusa is now in charge of the growing Section 9, Batou prefers to work based on his instincts, and now they must investigate the assassination of a former dictator. They later investigate that a mastermind super hacker called the "Puppeteer" is behind this act. Is the Major the so called Puppeteer? Can Section 9 solve and unveil the identity of this mastermind? And what is the Solid State Society? Compared the Laughing Man and Individual Eleven cases, the film is good in its own way, but does not reach the former and latter's greatness.

Is the Major a friend or foe?

CHARACTERS- All of the members of Section 9 make a return in the film, but the story mainly focuses on Motoko, Batou, and Togusa. The Major operates in her own way(it would be considered spoilers if talk more about her); Batou, feeling lonely after the Major left the team, is more quiet and calm, similar to the Oshii movies. Togusa plays a more prominent role in the film since he is in charge of Section 9, and we get to see how it has affected him and his family. If you have watched the two season of Stand Alone Complex, you should already be familiar with all of Section 9's crew. Also, the Prime Minister from 2nd GIG makes a cameo appearance in the film, which is slightly disappointing since she showed potential in the second season.

PRESENTATION- Solid State Society features some impressive production values, the animations, backgrounds, and characters are all well designed and neat looking. However, if you've the past two seasons, you will notice that its too similar, basically one long episode. The audio work is impressive, with great performances from the voice cast and the soundtrack. Speaking of the soundtrack, Yoko Kanno, as always, does a fantastic job with the score of the film, with some upbeat and futuristic tracks. However, compared to 2nd GIG, the soundtrack is a step back since most of they songs don't stick with you that much.

OVERALL- As a fan of Stand Alone Complex, I did enjoy Solid State Society. While not as great as the previous movies, but manages to entertains for those who watched the TV series. Despite not having a strong antagonist, the story and characters, as well as the presentation still makes it a good movie and continuation of 2nd GIG.

- There are some scenes of violence and profanity, so its mostly targeted at a mature audience.- 

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