Lately I've not really been motivated to write reviews for some odd reason, but since this movie is my 100th finished anime, I thought I may as well make the effort of writing one, since I feel an urge to make people aware about this rather divisive and overlooked gem in the GiTS Rabbit Hole. So with that being said, here's my part-analytical, part-critical review of Innocence.

Plot, Structure, Pacing - The Plot is rather barebone and, its structured like a neo-noir detective drama in the first half and then turns into a surrealistic, trippy action packed blockbuster in the second. Not a whole lot to say, besides the fact that Innocence is a movie which moves at its own leisure and takes its sweet time to pick up and also sets up its mood as with any Oshii Film. Another aspect which I find rather difficult to put into words is that, this movie doesn't really feel like a GITS property and feels like a blend of Hollywood thrillers and Experimental anime with complex themes. It's this rarely seen mashup, which to me makes this film even more interesting and special.

Characters- When it comes to Sci-fi as a whole, characters aren't the most important aspect in its narrative, at least in comparison to worldbuilding or themes. But Innocence was the movie which made me connect to its leads on a much more deeper level. To put it simply, this anime does a great job of characterizing Batou and Togusa (as per Sci-fi standards at the minimum) and my appreciation for Batou increased after watching this movie. The antagonist while not interesting as the previous ones, served his job, and the same can apply to the other minor characters.

Themes- Innocence as a whole gets a lot of criticism for being so vastly different from its predecessor and TV Counterpart and I can understand the criticism-this anime is full of quotations and an endearing amount of exposition and symbolism which I won't pretend to fully understand. The movie keeps on throwing dense exposition onto the audience without a moment of pause for them to comprehend it. This can certainly be an issue for a lot of people who are not used to experimental media and went into this movie expecting it to be like a standard GiTS installment, which is really intelligent but also packed with action and is a lot more subtle at tackling its themes. The reason behind this anime being the way it is because, this movie is Oshii's ideas being put to life. This anime is more of Oshii's Brainchild and he tries to tackle complex themes in a very explicit and direct way through the use of the GiTS universe. Now whether this whole ordeal will work out for you or not depends on you, but in my humble opinion, Innocence from a purely thematic standpoint is better than the 1995 movie. The movies explores a lot of complex ideas via its dialogue, which forces the viewers to think even more deeply because of their abstract nature. To get it straight this film not only expands upon the OG film's themes, but it also asks questions such as

1.Are all sentient beings equal?
2.When does the line between inanimate objects and humans start to blur? Can Having a soul in a manufactured body make any creature a human?
3.Why does Humankind pursue A.I and why do we even make objects resembling us?
4.Is there any Significance to Human life? Can we be reduced to mere mechanical terms or are we complex beings?
The central idea behind both of the movies has been to explain the nature of sentient living beings as a whole and trying to answer the questions surrounding their existence. Questions like if unnatural lifeforms deserve to have their own will or if they can even said to be lifeforms, are some questions being put at the forefront and this movie in particular expands a lot on it
Another noteworthy point I'd like to make is that Innocence is also centered around the concept of dealing with grief and loss, thus its thematic exploration feels even more intimate and personal. The quality of dialogue is out of the roof when complex ideas and theories are being discussed (Like the whole discussion with Haraway) but it drops a bit when the anime exploits the concept of making direct and explicit references to other literary/religious/scientific works. That said this anime does put a lot of faith in the viewer and expects them to come to their own conclusions. Personally I like this way of conveying themes and I really appreciate what the film did. And I can see myself re-watching the film over n over again, because it has a high re-watch value.

Soundtrack, Art and Tone- OST is minimalistic but dang is it GOOD. The Ballade of Puppets suits this anime so much, the overall atmosphere is very moody and trippy depending on the act- and its just something I rarely see, add to that Oshii's masterful use of scenic shots. The mood kicks in. The Art is great. Sure the CGI looks a bit old, but I'd be lying to myself by saying that it doesn't look beautiful and pleasing. Even if PS3 level CGI has aged, it doesn't it looks bad. Easily Audiovisuals was the thing which carried this one for me. Not to say how fluid the animation was.

Action- Awesome, feels believable and Come on its Batou.

FINAL VERDICT
watch it if you have an affinity for stuff like serial experiments lain and if you can tolerate loads of exposition.
That being said, this show is easily 8.00+ on MAL IMO, yet it rests on 7.81 which is a shame really. So yeah it is underrated and overlooked, and if you can watch this gem.
MY FINAL SCORE is
87/100