HandyHandel
Since: Oct, 2011
09/08/2011 00:00:00
I've only seen this and the first Patlabor movie and it definitely is one of my favorite anime films ever. It's up there with Wings of Honneamise and Millenium Actress. Awesome review.
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Patlabor 2: The Movie
Patlabor 2 is a pitch perfect political thriller and the masterpiece of the Patlabor series.
The plot: A few years after the first movie, the members of the Special Vehicles Unit have gone their separate ways—until a rogue fighter jet bombs the Tokyo Bay Bridge, sparking a state of paranoia and martial law in Japan's capital. The situation spirals out of control, with the Japan Self-Defense Force, Tokyo Metropolitan Police, and U.S. Military scrambling to make sense of the attack and eying each other for treachery. A JSDF investigator approaches the SVU's Captains Goto and Nagumo with the answer: The attacks were carried out by a rogue JSDF officer and a cabal of disaffected soldiers, politicians, and industrialists with intent to shock Japan out of its post-WWII "illusionary peace" and start another war. And said rogue officer just happens to be Captain Nagumo's former love interest.
Patlabor 2 is tense, complex, intelligent political drama at its finest. Part thriller, part social commentary, the plot rings true today more than ever—comparisons to allegations against the Bush administration are very easy to make with the film's message about commanders who romanticize war without consideration for the human lives it affects (the film was released in 1993). The movie examines Japan's situation after WWII, how it swore off direct military action but continued to provide support to other countries' militaries, buying its own peace at the expense of war elsewhere, and asks whether such a bloodstained "false peace" is better than a real war. And while the movie comes to an anti-war conclusion, it does so without demonizing the military—everyone involved is a human being.
The cherry on the sundae is Patlabor's trademark character-driven drama with a dash of subtle comedy. However, it didn't really need to be a Patlabor story—the only established characters who drive the plot are Captains Goto and Nagumo, and the series's sci-fi "hyper technology" is completely incidental to the plot. This is literally the only negative thing I can say about Patlabor 2, and it doesn't detract from the movie whatsoever.
In summary, Patlabor 2 is an outstanding piece of cinema. If you like political drama, you must see Patlabor 2.
Final grade: A+.