Ghost in the Shell: Movie Review
I went into “Ghost in the Shell” with absolutely no attachment to the Japanese manga that the film is based on. I know the original anime has a huge fan base that was outraged by the casting of Scarlett Johansson in the title role. In all honesty, I don’t blame them one bit. Unfortunately this is Hollywood and those who produced the film felt that they needed a big name star to justify the budget. Personally, I feel we live in an era that doesn’t need a big name to sell a big movie. The “Ghost in the Shell” brand as well as the visual elements should be enough to draw an audience. Having said that, the film should also be good and unfortunately it isn’t. “Ghost in the Shell” is actually a bit better than I expected it to be, but despite all the beautiful colors on screen, the special effects don’t feel all that special.
“Ghost in the Shell” is definitely an improvement over director Rupert Sanders’ first film “Snow White and the Huntsman”, but not by much. Set in the near future, a large percentage of the human race has been enhanced with technological upgrades (robotic limbs, x-ray eyes, and of course improved livers for the ultimate alcohol consumption). This brings us to Major (Johansson), the first fully functional cyborg with a human brain. She is part of a task force known as Section 9, that goes after criminals, hackers, and terrorists.
Major and her partner Batou (Pilou Asbæk) are now up against a new enemy that is much smarter than anyone they dealt with before. Kuze (Michael Pitt) is also a cyborg, a failed creation from the company that built Major and he is out for revenge on those who created him. We already knew that the Hanka Robotics Company was up to no good when we meet the man who runs it at the start of the film. Of course in sci-fi movies, the big companies are usually evil (we are talking about you, Robocop’s OCP.)
“Ghost in the Shell” has tons of CGI action and yeah, Scar-Jo looks pretty damn good in her tight body suit but there is just so much nonsense being thrown in our faces that even the action can’t make up for it. I am sure even those anime fans who are upset about Johansson in the lead are going to see this but I think they will agree that once the film is over, the star is the least for the film’s problems.
By: Marc Ferman
