Ghost in the Shell 1 spoiler warning. No GitS 2 spoilers tho.
Ghost in the Shell 2, titled "INNOCENCE" has got to be one of my most favorite films EVER. This stands side-by-side, shoulder-to-shoulder with Star Wars - and being the super Star Wars maniac that I am, that means a lot!
Ghost in the Shell is a manga (japanese comic) by Masamune Shirow, a mysterious writer who has never been seen or photographed. Shirow is a pseudonym and nobody knowns his real name. This man is a genius - in many aspects far greater than Lucas or Roddenberry.
I won't go into details about the GitS universe. Go see the first film and come back. 
The audio was more than half the experience. The sounds and music were amazing. Kenji Kawai hits another home run with this soundtrack - the opening haunting vocals stay with you long after the movie is over. The reuse of this music throughout the film, especially in the third act / main combat sequence with the Japanese War drums was fantastic!! And it's no coincidence the music and audio was so cool - it was all done at Skywalker Sound.
Batou's darkness has increased since the Major merged with the Puppetmaster. And this time, Mamoru Oshii goes really deep into philosophy. Humanism, machinist theories, and nihilism. Quite a powerful blend!! GitS2 is also one of the inspirations behind "Sentience" - a small something I wrote a while back - BEFORE I saw Innocence. I'll post the full essay here in a few days.
The finalé is very much action packed like in GitS, and Oshii uses that trademark Japenese music-volume-louder-than-sound-effects-when-super-action-starts technique very nicely.
The end may seem a bit anti-climactic but it's not - not if you really understand the philosophy.
I recommend getting a original Japanese version DVD with subtitles rather than an English dub.
It's worth owning the DVD. Go order it.
Oh, and did I mention that Ghost in the Shell (The first one) was the main inspiration behind THE MATRIX trilogy? They even ripped off some of the Major's moves to give to Trinity and Neo. Even some of the settings are similar to GitS.