Patlabor 2 Highly recommended

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Mamoru Oshii
Production
Bandai, Production IG, Tatsunoko Productions
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Film
Running time
125 mins
Year
1993

Patlabor 2

By Joseph Wood
21st May 04

I had to re-watch the second film, so that I could fairly right this review. Something that I didn't have to do when reviewing the first. I think this is because the first was more memorable to me personally, or the fact I didn't think the second was as good.

It is set three years after the events of the first film and some of the characters have left the SV2 second division to pursue new careers all involving labors. We alls get to see the characters that have remained at the second section. As opposed to focusing on Noa and Asuma which the first film did, the second's main characters are Goto and Nagumo the captains of the SV2's divisions. Also detective Matsui is given a greater role in this film and well played it is to.

The film starts in 1999 the same period of the first film, and shows a UN labor force being wiped out in Asia, leaving one survivor. Then after a kind of "where are they now" where we catch up with some of the members who left SV2, and those who still remain. Nagumo, we see giving a speech on the now completed "Babylon project" and the current rise in labor crime all over Japan. After a run in with some "friends" who inquire about Nagumo's old master and lover, Tsuge, who was the only survivor of the UN group from the beginning of the film, and how after returning to Japan she received one letter from him before he disappeared. On her way back to the SV2 Nagumo is caught in traffic, which has been stopped due to a bomb threat. The bridge is then blown up; but not by a bomb, by a mysterious plane that was picked up on a camera, that looks to be American. This sets of a political nightmare, as the threat of war seems to be a possibility, however the original video recording has been taken by someone claming to be the police. Shortly after Goto and Nagumo are contacted by a strange man who claims to know who is behind the bombing, and shows them the unedited video, in which the plane is clearly not American; the man says the people behind it are a terrorist organization lead by Tsuge. This then becomes a battle between Nagumo's love and her duty, as the terrorist organization take things a step further.

The animation for the second film is greatly improved over that of the first, and includes the use of some CGI sections, however some of these are quite poor, but it was made over ten years ago so it's easy to let it off. Like the other two Patlabor films and series the focus is on the characters and not on mecha. The relationship between Nagumo and Goto is tested to the extremes. Patlabor is well known for its mecha action, which comes at the heat of the story, however the films climatic sequence is pretty poor if compared to the first and third films. This film is a lot more suspenseful than the first film; due to the fact the threat of war dominates the majority of the film, where as with the first where the threat doesn't really become apparent until the end of the film.

This film overall is great but just slightly worse than the first (unless your into politics as it does take up quite a bit of the story). Seeing as it is currently on sale in a box set with the first film from "Manga" for about twenty pounds, your getting two great films for the price of one, however there are very few extras, a "making of" the second film on the first disc which is quite interesting, but other than that nothing worth mentioning.

7/10

-- Joseph Wood 21st May 04

Patlabor 2 Images