Format: Region A Blu-ray, NTSC, Japanese Dialogue with optional Cantonese Dub and English and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) Subtitles
Length: 94 minutes
Production Date: 2015
Currently in Print (as of writing): Yes
The year is 2015. While the members of SV2 take a well-earned break, a missile is fired into the Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo, echoing the attack on Yokohama Bay Bridge in 2002 (as seen in “Patlabor 2 the movie”). The SV2 are recalled to duty and are visited again by Kei Takahata (played by Reiko Takashima) of Public Security. She plays them a video of the attack she has obtained from a private film company. It shows an actual missile being launched towards the bridge and the explosion. An analysis of the video also shows a previously unseen helicopter. Yuma Shiobara (Seiji Fukushi) who is a military otaku recognises the silhouette of the helicopter; a AH-88J2 Hellhound, the Grey Ghost, a stealth attack helicopter from the Japanese Self Defence Force (JSDF). Later in a private meeting with the SV2’s Captain Keiji Gotoda (Toshio Kakei), Takahata provides him with a wealth of information regarding the case. She tells him that a group people sympathetic to the ideals of Yukihito Tsuge (currently in prison for the attempted coup d'etat on Tokyo in 2002) stole the helicopter and preparing to wage war on Tokyo. A JSDF pilot Rei Haibara (Kanna Mori) apparently defected to the group and killed her co-pilot. Strangely all data relating to her was deleted from JSDF computers.
Gotoda and SV2 covertly take on the terrorists at their hide out with the two Labor crews storming their stronghold and the mechanics using the Revolver Cannon by itself to fire on the building. Despite their efforts and Takahata and members of Public Security belatedly proving support, Haibara and the Grey Ghost escape. Later Gotoda is contacted by his former senior, Shinobu Nagumo (Yoshiko Sakakibara), who has returned to Japan in secret from her overseas stint with the UNHCR in the Middle East. She explains why her and Captain Gotoh's disappeared after Tsuge's failed coup d'etat and how they left a “time bomb” at the SV2 in the form of the potential for this new terrorist attack.
Arriving back at the SV2, head mechanic Shige (Shigeru Chiba) is ropeable at the captain’s disappearance. He explains to Gotoda that while he was away Security Bureau came in an effectively shut down the SV2. Gotoda orders the SV2 to salvage as much material they can to prepare for an attack by the Grey Ghost. Gotoda is later called in to explain himself to the police chiefs at headquarters. They seem to be more concerned with his actions than those of the terrorists that stole the Grey Ghost. Eventually he can’t take anymore and asks them to dismiss him from his post. But before officers can take him away; the Grey Ghost attacks the building, shooting a hail of bullets into the conference room. Gotoda escapes and heads back to the SV2 where the SV2 hanger has previously been taken out and destroyed. Luckily the mechanics and Labor teams had hidden the Ingrams and their carriers under camouflage nets away from the hanger. Shige is still devastated at the loss of his “home”. Meanwhile the Grey Ghost shoots up various buildings around Tokyo including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices. JSDF helicopters and F-16s try to take out the Grey Ghost but have no luck. Gotoda leads his team to defeat the terrorists as his seniors had done so previously.
This is the concluding chapter in Mamoru Oshii’s "The Next Generation - Patlabor -" project. In the original press material before the film was shot, the public were promised that while the movie series (which I reviewed a while back) would be comedy, the film would be a dead serious affair. The reality was that the statement wasn’t exactly true. Certainly in the first quarter hour it has moments which are just as silly as those found in the series. The remainder of the film is essentially a complete remake of “Patlabor 2 the movie”, occasionally shot for shot, sometimes with dialogue taken directly from that film. This is the major problem with this film. I mean, why in god’s name would Oshii do this? It immediately draws comparisons between the two films and “Tokyo War” does not come off well in that comparison.
First and foremost the story of “Patlabor 2 the movie” does not slide easily into the world of "The Next Generation - Patlabor -". You may remember from that film that the key reason Shigeki Arakawa chose to use the SV2 was the fact Shinobu Nagumo was formerly Yukihito Tsuge’s lover. Here that link is not present. There really isn’t a valid reason that Gotoda would accept Takahata’s request to storm the terrorist’s hideout. Nor does it make sense that Gotoda would order the Labor teams to take on the Grey Ghost when both the JSDF attack helicopters and F-16s had no effect at all on it. What the hell are two outdated, broken down, Labors supposed to do? The terrorist’s motivations are obscured as well. It is never really spelled out what they want, if anything. Other than that are sympathisers of Tsuge’s ideas, we are told nothing.
Gotoda’s involvement in all of this is clouded and not explained well either. In the final episode of the series, he visits Tsuge in gaol and later receives Captain Gotoh’s old mobile phone in the mail and a mysterious phone call on that mobile. In some of the translated promotional material it suggests that Gotoda was helping plot a coup d'etat before he joined the police force, but none of this information seems to have made its way into the series or the film. Nagumo’s (played by her original voice actor Yoshiko Sakakibara, continually in silhouette, her back to the camera or off screen) return is meant to fill in the blanks but just adds more confusion. For example we’re told that the former SV2 captains left a “time bomb” for the current SV2 which turned into the current terrorist actions, but it is never articulated how or why the captains did this. The other major question mark is Rei Haibara. Mystery surrounds her, but in the end nothing is really revealed, at all. It’s truly bizarre. I mean why devote so much time to her and leave the audience hanging. The final frustrating scene in the film suggests that she might appear in a sequel of some sort.
A lot of these gaps in this film may be due to the fact that the production company released a director’s cut five months after the original release which contained an additional 27 minutes of footage . This seems to be a deliberate ploy by the company to make fans come back to cinema a second time. However when the original 94 minute cut (which is the version on the Blu-ray I'm reviewing) was released, it was pretty much a box office bomb. So there really isn’t any logical reason why they would release a director’s cut of a failed film unless they already had the film made and the theatres already booked and couldn't get out of it. It’s kind of baffling why they stuck to this plan. Why didn’t they just cut their losses and go direct to video? To be honest there are a couple of redeeming features to the film. The most obvious one is the cinematography which is gorgeous. I particularly like the sequence where Takahata is investigating a former landing site of the Grey Ghost and the crime scene with the terrorists “appear” around her in her mind’s eye. The external shots of the F-16s while in flight are really well done too. The action sequences including the SV2’s attack on the terrorist’s hide out and the finale with the Labors versus the Grey Ghost are really well choreographed, though the latter comes off as a bit implausible. The music by Kenji Kawaii is as per usual fantastic, though he does refer back to “Patlabor 2 the movie”, which is to be expected.
But having said that the main problem with the film is it’s a pale imitation of the original anime. It cuts out a lot of elements which made “Patlabor 2 the movie” a fantastic movie such as the reasoning behind Tsuge’s actions, the sense of confusion inside Tokyo due to the radio jamming and the blimps full of potentially lethal gas, the occupation of the city by the military and the substantial connection between the main culprit and the captain of SV2. All of these elements contributed greatly to “Patlabor 2 the movie” and here they are sorely missed. Why Oshii thought this would be a great idea is beyond me. The whole project feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe if the budget was larger, maybe if the project was given to a creative team other than Oshii we’d have something far more entertaining than this cynical rehash. I really haven’t like any of Oshii’s works since 2001 (“Sky Crawlers” being the sole exception). I note that it was around the time that long-time collaborator Kazunori Ito stopped writing screenplays for him.
As with the movie series Blu-rays, there aren’t any on disc extras. It does come with a 16 page explanation booklet, in Chinese. I assume this was culled from the Japanese standard edition DVD and Blu-ray sets. The subtitles are maybe a little better than the ones on the movie series BDs. I still think they could have been better. They’re not up to snuff when compared with US anime releases. In conclusion, it’s a rather disappointing film. I really have no desire to seek out the director's cut version (which isn't available commercially in English at this stage). I don’t understand why Oshii felt the need to make this series and film, nor understand why the financial backers decided to fund it. I’m guessing they made a loss on their investment. 5.5 out of 10.
Remaining Backlog: 10 movies, 6 OVAs/specials, 13 TV series, also waiting for second parts for four shows to be released before viewing them.
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