A Landmark Masterpiece

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2016)

As the credits rolled after two hours of sci-fi action, philosophy, and metaphysics, I just sat and stared at my screen. I didn't know what to think of this movie. I still don't. But it is one of the most starkly original and creative films out there, and it is certainly one of the most influential. Many Americans were first introduced to anime via this film and its graphic, dystopian, confusing spectacle. Watching this movie, it is clear how many things it has influenced, things that are probably a lot more well-known to a modern audience than it. Although I do doubt if many Americans understood it. It's a hard movie to really understand if you're an American. It's probably a hard movie to understand even if you're not.
In fact, to some degree, it is the sort of movie that is not supposed to be understood. It is meant to be experienced, and experience it I did. I'm not even sure if I enjoyed it or not, but I do know I'm in awe of it.
The animation is spectacular, particularly for its time. It doesn't look basic or simple or old-fashioned. It looks smooth, fresh, dynamic, beautiful, and above all, evocative. Not even Tarantino can make a mess of blood and guts looks so artistic, and Neo Tokyo is a completely believable futuristic city. It's hard to make a dystopian landscape that is equal parts terrifying and beautiful, but they managed to pull it off with aplomb.
If I had to describe this movie in terms of other movies, I'd say it's a combination of Brazil, Contact, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Blade Runner. But even that doesn't really cover it. This film is Japanese, through and through, both in the obvious ways, and in the less obvious, more cultural ways. If you have a fair understanding of Japanese culture and/or have just watched a lot of anime, you should be fine. If not, you might get lost pretty quickly.
Speaking of anime, the second half of this movie is absolutely anime-tastic. It's as anime as anything I've seen. I've never been a personal fan of anime tropes, but they are done really well here, and they make a sort of sense, not a particularly logical sense, but a thematic, philosophical sense.
The story is interesting. It's too long and complicated to describe here, so suffice it to say it revolves around two boys, Shōtarō Kaneda and Tetsuo Shima, and a girl, named Kei. I wish the story had gone more into the three of them as people, but what we get is all right, if a bit generic. The story itself... if you love anime, you'll love it; if you don't, you might not. It certainly gets more abstract and dramatic and less based in reality as it goes on. The disconnect between the first and second halves is one of my biggest problems with the movie, but it doesn't ruin it or anything.
Check out this movie. It is a building block of so many genres and the animation medium in general. Maybe you'll end up as speechless as I was. But hopefully, you'll be as blown away as I was too.