Ghost in the Shell (2017) Review!
Anime fans, like any other fanbase, can be quit particular when a beloved classic in their field gets a remake. Especially a Hollywood remake. The most infamous of anime remakes in Hollywood has to be Dragonball: Evolution. Fans hated it. Critics hated it. Few liked it. It is not hard to understand why many fans were skeptical when it was announced that Ghost in the Shell, the Citizen Kane of anime, would be getting an American remake.
Like Beauty and the Beast, that was released around the same time, it's hard not to compare an adaptation to the original source material. Especially when the original source material is hailed as a masterpiece. You are also adapting the story for different cultures, which means things are going to change, and on top of that this film had a questionable amount of controversy surrounding it before the film was even released. The main controversy being "white washing" the main lead.
Without seeing the film at the time I can understand why people would think that. After seeing the film it really doesn't matter. I don't think the film would've been better with an Asian cast as the Major, and the film sort of gave a half-assed reason as to why the Major is white, but when you're watching the film Scarlett Johansson keeps you engaged through a dull, and at times boring, plot which shows me that she did her job to the best of her ability and anyone else would have had the same effect.
The original Ghost in the Shell is a thinking movie. It's supposed to sit with you and let your mind mull over the heavy, and mature ideas and themes it was trying to weave. Some will claim that as a masterpiece, others will think it was too pretentious, but I think we can all agree that the American adaptation of a thinking piece of work is exactly the opposite. This Ghost in the Shell tells you the meaning of the title in the first five minutes of the movie, explains the whole purpose of the movie's thoughtful questions within that five minutes, and then reminds you of these answers and questions throughout the film. I knew that the studio would dumb this down so that all audiences can watch it, because believe me Ghost in the Shell is not for everyone, but I did not expect the movie to be this dumb downed.
Out of the vast ocean of anime out there Ghost in the Shell is actually one of the easier titles to adapt for a world wide audience, and visually I believe this film nailed it. Obviously there were things that needed to be changed to achieve a PG-13 rating, but the compromises I saw on screen worked for me, and gave me something interesting to look at as an adaptation. The prime example is the Major's invisibility suit. In the original anime the invisibility is already ingrained into her body, so all she needs to do is strip and she can camouflage. Having Scarlett Johansson naked in the film would instantly give it an R-rating, and with the majority of anime fans being under the age of twenty I can understand why the studio would want to tone the content down. Instead of having the Major naked, she now has a skin-like suit that is aesthetically badass and really flows on screen. It was amazing to watch it work on screen.
The special effects in general were spectacular. The visual aesthetic of this film was obviously where all the attention and work was put into, and it shows. The only reason I would recommend this film to people is for them to see how awesome this psudo-cyberpunk world is. There are even a few short special effects shots I've never seen before. This film is beautiful to look at, and it's just cool in 3D. Unfortunately, the story isn't strong enough to pull you along. It's difficult for me to be attached to any of the characters. I didn't care much for anyone, and the plot was so bare bones that I felt bored multiple times while watching this. The only thing saving this movie for me was the special effects, because gosh darn it they were so cool to look at.
One of the more egregious aspects of this movie, that I noticed, was the sexualization of the Major. This felt so ham fisted in a Ghost in the Shell movie, and it showed me that the only reason they got Johansson was to show her off. Multiple times the camera would capture the Major from a sexual point of view, that was rarely, if at all, in the original. From being handcuffed and "forced" to dance for the bad guy, to even using the cool invisi-suit to simulate the nude female body in poses that would be interpreted as sexual. In the original the Major is naked, but it was never focused upon, she just was. In this one, the film tries its hardest to simulate nudity while trying to focus on their forms, and that's just a typical Western aesthetic that it pulled me out of the film.
Overall, Ghost in the Shell is a slightly passable film. I don't think there's enough in it to call it bad, but it nails being boring and dull. Only reason I can recommend someone to see this is for the special effects, and even then you could just look up clips on Youtube. For what they were given I thought all the actors brought their A-game, but this film makes it abundantly clear that doing a Western adaptation of an Eastern property is very hard.
C-
