Given that events in The Next Generation Patlabor: Tokyo War - viewed here in Mamoru Oshii's longer, Gray Ghost titled Director's Cut - are predicated on a laser guided missile striking a suspension bridge, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this live action engagement is an out-and-out remake of Patlabor 2: The Movie. Tokyo War, after a spell, wrongfoots this assumption by referencing Yukihito Tsuge, the mastermind behind the previous (animated) film's attack, using the past tense. Despite the obvious and intended similarities, we are specifically being told that we are now in uncharted waters. Unfortunately, the ways in which Tokyo War departs from its predecessor decomplexifies the piece, relentlessly thwarting any feeling of tension or danger in the process. Where Patlabor 2 focused on a citywide response, expertly mapping the competing factions and agencies within Japan's capital and how their reactions and political retaliations frustrate any attempt at a unified response, Tokyo War sticks to grave whispering in and around prefab compounds. Mamoru Oshii's 2015 film is simplistic by comparison then; a degraded photostat of an out-and-out triumph that largely fails to convey that much of anything has changed following the initial terror attack. Oshii's preference for sedate rhythms and placid talking heads, as well as a budget that (quite apparently) doesn't stretch to the scale of coverage required to depict a boiling city, results in an unhurried film that fails to impart a sense that anything connected to these discussions is happening beyond the confines of these beautifully lit sets. Tokyo War isn't a complete bust though: Rina Ohta has such an obvious star presence that Oshii can't help but construct every single action set piece around her; even if there's also a boat mounted machinegun or an enormous, distressed robot in play.
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