Patlabor 2: The Movie

1993 [JAPANESE]

Action / Animation / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 84%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 84% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 7.5/10 10 5038 5K

police mecha anime real robot

Plot summary

A Japanese police unit who use giant anthropomorphic robots (called Labors) is caught up in a political struggle between the civilian authorities and the military when a terrorist act is blamed on an Air Force jet. With the aid of a government agent, the team gets close to a terrorist leader to stop things from going out of control when after the military is impelled to impose martial law.

Director

Mamoru Oshii Photo
Mamoru Oshii

Top cast

Joe Ochman Photo
Joe Ochman as Mikiyasu Shinshi
Robert Clotworthy Photo
Robert Clotworthy as Yukihito Tsuge
Stuart Milligan Photo
Stuart Milligan as Chief of Police / Chopper Pilot / Classmate / JGSDF
Tomomichi Nishimura Photo
Tomomichi Nishimura as Detective Takahiro Matsui
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
1.02 GB
1280*688
Japanese 2.0
NR
Subtitles jp  
23.976 fps
1 hr 53 min
Seeds 1
2.09 GB
1904*1024
Japanese 5.1
NR
Subtitles jp  
23.976 fps
1 hr 53 min
Seeds 31

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Katana_dk 8 / 10

Hollywood-worthy screenplay!

"Japanese cartoons are for kids"...This is yet another movie to show to people who wrongfully believe that!A movie like "Ghost in The Shell" and the series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" have proven to contain more plot in the screenplay, and even afterthought in the mind of the audience, than most Hollywood-movies I know of. "Patlabor 2" is definitely another addition to my list of movies I would say disproves the first sentence in this comment.As other commenters have noted, "Patlabor 2" resembles a Tom Clancy political thriller. The storytelling was so good that it got my heart racing in some scenes, and that is saying a lot from my point of view (Trust me on that one - I've seen "The Others" and similar movies, without moving a muscle when the rest of the theatre screamed).If the story was tightened here, and the plot was elaborated there, "Patlabor 2" could be made into a Hollywood-movie as a frame-by-frame copy! I really mean that - There is always room for improvement, but in my opinion there are only very minor blemishes to the flow of the movie. I enjoyed every second, although some other commenters found the "slow parts" boring or irrelevant.The music (or lack thereof) is also definitely worth a mention. It's hard to describe - I just couldn't imagine it being any different for this movie. The reason I write lack of music is because there are scenes where any Hollywood-producer would have slapped on some generic classical music, but in this case there is none. For example there is a scene after a climax where you just see different parts of the cityscape, with snow falling, and there is no sound at all. THAT's movie-magic. It's part of what draws me to this strange, exotic type of movies - it's so different than what most of us are used to.Recreate the visuals using a film-camera, actors and a special-effects crew, copy+paste the music, label it "made in Hollywood" and you've got yourself a blockbuster-hit!Japanese cartoons are for kids - not. If you have a brain, and an attention-span bigger than your average action-monkey, this movie is for you.
Reviewed by emaan 8 / 10

Strong, quiet characterisation... Excellent!

Director Mamoru Oshii gets it right the second time round. His penchant for deep philosophical stories is executed with the right touch of pathos and aided greatly by the superior quality of animation and more "mature" character designs.Followers of the TV and OAV series would know that the chief of Section 2, Goto harbours a crush for chief Nagano of Section 1. However, being the stoic man that Goto is, he could never openly admit his affection for her.The plot focuses on Nagano's past as a brilliant student of labor tatics - and her relationship with her much older mentor.Their affair was doomed as he was a married man. The political fallout caused her high-flying career to to come to a halt and ended up with her posted to the "lowly" Special Vehicle Section 1.Her mentor took charge of a UN labor peacekeeping force which got slaughtered in the jungles due to inept commands from his superiors. He returned to Japan a changed man.The story is a vastly superior adaptation of "SV2's Longest Day", one of the outstanding episodes in the first OAV series. The film is filled with poignant scenes and quiet, surreal sequences in the heart of the city that are a prequel of sorts to Oshii's masterpeice Ghost in the Shell. Like I said, fans of the series will especially appreciate Goto's dilemma in the closing scene.
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