Stunning, beautiful work of art. It seemed as if this sequel is a completely different film compared to the first one. Mamoru Oshii's fascination for cityscapes and his ability to capture them with immense elegance is in full view here, blurry like a mirage as if extracted out of a dream, to quote Rust from True Detective:

"(…)like someone's memory of a place and the memory's fading.."

The more meditative moments really stood out a lot. The action was light and I've come to prefer it that way after getting used to the first movie. The final confronation was like something out of a boss fight in a Souls game -- setting, mood and all. Bloodborne, maybe, when we go against Gehrman but this time with birds instead of flowers, a view of the city that Oshii treasured so much in place of a burning mansion. Poetic, melancholic, and again, so beautiful.

Patlabor 2 captures such a real portrayal of domestic terror attacks. Something like the blowing up of a bridge that you wouldn't even think about in something like Transformers where everything gets destroyed in mindless action, yet here it holds so much weight. Instances like this is what makes the tone of this better than almost every other film out there. A film so dense demands a rewatch soon. Oshii is without a doubt the god of anime right behind Anno.

are you kidding me? how is this movie not a bigger deal? mp mp mp

patlabor 1: who are you?
patlabor 2: i'm you but stronger in every possible way

really tho, oshii is a fucking genius. if you watch the original seven episode OVA series and then the first two patlabor films, you'll see such a remarkably transparent genre reconstruction; so transparent it's as palpable as the different art styles across the series. this film is also perhaps the best political thriller ever made, and perhaps equal to oshii's other philosophical affairs: his ghost in the shell films and angel's egg. i truly believe this may be a perfect film.

"Do you suppose that I come to bring peace to the World? No, not peace, but division. From now on, a family of five will be divided, three against two and two against three. Fathers will be against their sons, and sons against their fathers. Mothers will be against their daughters, and daughters against their mothers..."

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Meilleur que le premier, ça donne l'impression d'une dérive, de la série jusqu'à ce film, où peu à peu Oshii s'en empare pour se rapprocher de ce qu'il fera après (enfin je crois je n'ai pas vu la série). C'est dense en chien, l'art de tout crisser dans le même film 101, ça appelle à sortir son Virillio, Baudrillard, Deleuze, etc., mais en même temps ça me parle pas beaucoup ces temps-ci tous ces enjeux de numérique, surveillance, terrorisme, virtuel, etc. alors ça m'indiffère un peu.

Aussi, je trouve ça drôle que dans le 1999 de ces films, on avait des gros robots mais qu'on continuait d'enregistrer sur VHS.

One of the best (at least, the best I've ever seen) political thrillers of all time, animated or live action. A true classic that will leave you thinking long after about the state of society and our governments. Don't let the giant robots fool you, this is serious stuff sporting an Oscar worthy screenplay.

Mark Wahlberg definitely could not have prevented 9/11 from happening but Mamoru Oshii definitely could

Listen to my podcast wherever you listen to podcasts by searching up "Screen Weens". Alternatively you can click here to watch it on Youtube. The attached episode not only covers this film, but 4 other works by Mamoru Oshii.

So much denser than I was expected. To the point that I was constantly feeling that one watch wasnt enough. Its great regardless of that, and a blast to watch, but something I need to rewatch. I gaurantee I will like it even more on a rewatch as well.

Let’s watch a fun movie with robo-

“Many people are God, usually in a universe no bigger than their own minds, all-present, all-knowing. And yet, impotent outside the confines of their heads. And what God cannot do, men will attempt.”

Okay that was pretty intense but this is a neat mystery I gue-

“Fifty years ago, all the effort and passion Japan put into the war resulted in Hiroshima and defeat. Then the Americans came - bringing their nuclear deterrent, their Cold War, their Hollywood-chewing gum war, and now, all over the world, bullet wars, civil wars, death. We've become a rich nation, and what is all our wealth and power built on? The bloody corpses of all those wars.”

A perfect evolution of what Patlabor wanted to say. I feel like if I was a kid when the original OVA came out and grew up and saw 2 as an older teen/adult it would've shaped my entire worldview for a good while.

deep political conflict with some sick visuals shoutout the jet scenes

birb

Moody. Always a plot, always a circle of birds.

My man done it again.

Better than the first one. Like in the first film, the political thriller/mystery aspect is the most compelling, and it works well here. Just needed a little something more.

Tears at the fabric of ignorance that conceals how fragile peace in modern times truly is; constructing a debate that is examined both verbally and visually through Oshii's cold, visionary eyes.

incredibly dense and ahead of the curve, vehemently anti end of history, and captures the same bleak feeling of the paranoia, warmongering and desire to control the population that many people experienced post 9/11.

It's kind of unreal that this came out before the paranoid, "forever war," post-9/11 style of violence fully manifested itself. The oppression enacted by the First World is approached through a full, speculative fiction lens here. This movie captures the empty cycles of aggression that are now the M.O. for America and its allies. Too good. I can't wait to return to this.