PATLABOR: THE MOVIE
[MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR]
A film review by Chris Meadows
Copyright 1997 Chris Meadows
Review Rating: 9 out of 10
Directed by Mamoru Oshii Script by Kazunori Itoh Produced by Bandai Co., Ltd.
118 Minutes; Not Rated (though I suspect it would be rated PG for adult themes and language)
Mamoru Oshii is a name that probably isn't very well-known to most American audiences, but perhaps it should be. Oshii was the director of last year's best-known Japanese animated film import, _Ghost in the Shell_, and is known among fans of Japanese animation, or anime, for making films with a deep philosophical bent.
One of these films was the first theatrical venture for the Patlabor animated series. In its many incarnations--graphic novels ("manga"), two different runs of made-for-video episodes (Original Animation Videos, or OAVs for short), and a television series running to nearly fifty episodes--Patlabor has proven to be one of the most popular series ever in Japan. Set in the very near future (though it was a somewhat farther away near future when the series was first conceived), this atypical giant robot anime features the characters, rather than the machinery, as the primary focus.
As a whole, Patlabor is the story of an exciting time for Japan. As the prologue to each episode of the television series explains, giant industrial robots, known as "Labors" (an interesting play on words, considering that "robot" is derived from the Czech word for labor), have come into widespread use in Japan toward the close of the twentieth century. With the rise of Labors, however, has come a new menace--Labor crime. This led to the creation of the two Special Vehicle divisions, using Patrol Labors to fight Labor crime.
The Patlabor story centers around the second Special Vehicle division, SV2, who, through no fault of their own, have acquired a bad reputation for destructiveness. Sometimes utterly hilarious, sometimes almost deadly serious, the Patlabor series explores the interpersonal relationships of the Special Vehicle crewmembers, and also looks at the effects of technology on modern life.
Those who are unfamiliar with the Patlabor story and characters may find themselves slightly confused coming into the movie, although there is ample background exposition provided for new viewers. The story, as has much of Patlabor before, centers around the controversial Babylon Project, a gigantic seawall that will, on its completion, allow the reclamation of thousands of square miles of land from Tokyo Bay. This project has been an almost constant target of environmentalist terrorists, most notably the House of Sea organization. However, the threat in this case comes not from any terrorist, but from someone who is already dead...
Shinohara Heavy Industries, the premier Labor manufacturer in Japan (if not the whole world), has just come out with a new operating system that increases Labors' movement speed and efficiency by 30%. This Hyper Operating System, HOS for short, has very quickly been installed into well over 90% of the nation's Labors...including the Patrol Labors of SV2. Since that installation, dozens of Labors, including a heavily-armed military model, have begun to go on berzerk rampages for no apparent reason...and the only factor they all had in common was that they were all running under the new HOS. (Some wags have compared this to Windows 95.) It's up to Asuma Shinohara, labor command officer with SV2 and the son of the president of Shinohara Heavy Industries, to find the source of these problems before more Labors--including SV2's own--fall victim to them, and before HOS drags his father's company down with it.
As was the case with _Ghost in the Shell_, if you just want a no-brainer actionfest, this might not be the movie for you. _Patlabor: The Movie_ is more of a psychological thriller, a technological suspense drama. It is closer, perhaps, to a Chrichton novel than to an action movie (Crichton novels that have been made _into_ action movies notwithstanding). There are long, thoughtful montages of dialogueless footage as two investigators make their way through slums and derelict housing in old quarters of Tokyo, similar to sequences from _Ghost in the Shell_. This movie is fraught with symbolism--in fact a large part of it is based on Christian symbolism.
Patlabor's near-future setting is, aside from the giant robots tromping around, very similar to our own present day. The film uses this setting to make its central point: is progress moving too fast for humans to keep up? Are history and culture falling by the wayside like the old buildings that are being torn down and replaced with new? This is a question just as applicable to today as it is to Patlabor's alternate-1999 setting.
As far as the technical aspects of the film go (referring to the subtitled version, as that's the only one I've seen), the film transfer is clear, almost phenomenally so. The animation quality is incredible, though the character design is different from what most Patlabor fans will be used to. The OAVs and TV series were more cheerful, better-suited to humor; the movie, however, makes everyone look a great deal less cute, and emphasizes that this is going to be, for the most part, a deadly serious storyline.
As far as cinematography goes, there are many interesting moments in _Patlabor: The Movie_. I don't think I can recall ever seeing a fish-eye perspective used in any other animated film (save for _Ghost in the Shell_, another Oshii film), or indeed, in many other movies at all. The cinematography is well-suited to the storyline, emphasizing what it needs to, though a couple of scenes (where characters' features are exaggerated in anger) may seem slightly strange to Western audiences.
The audio track of _Patlabor: The Movie_ is in glorious hi-fi stereo, and should be used to demonstrate home theater systems--it _is_ that good. Even without headphones, sounds from either side of the screen can be clearly heard to _come_ from that side. Giant robot footsteps are deep and booming. The sometimes-understated, sometimes-blaring score is crisp and clear, and always right on the mark, enhancing the moods created by the animated scenery.
As far as the subtitles go, I have to say that they're among the most easily-readable subtitles I've ever seen for _anything_. Large enough that they don't strain the eyes, but small enough not to conceal too much of the screen.
Although it does have several action sequences in it, most notably the climactic conclusion, _Patlabor_ is foremost not an action movie. Although it is a superbly-realized film, it relies in large part upon prior familiarity with some of the characters to carry the story, and that could detract from some people's enjoyment. My rating: 9 out of 10.
(As an aside, the Patlabor OAVs and TV show are being released by U.S. Manga Corps, and the first and second theatrical movies are released through Manga Video.) -- Chris Meadows aka | Author, Team M.E.C.H.A., Crapshoot & Co. Robotech_Master | on the Superguy Listserv (bit.listserv.superguy) robotech@jurai.net | With a World Wide Web homepage located at robotech@eyrie.org | http://www.jurai.net/~robotech/index.html
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews