March Movie Madness concluded with the premiere of two very different movies: "Boss Baby" by DreamWorks, and "Ghost in the Shell," produced (mainly) by Paramount Pictures. Needless to say, I was only interested in the later, and here's what I've come back with.
1. Look into the Original First
Many might only know of "Ghost in the Shell" from it's on an off anime airings on Toonami, a Saturday night program on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. That was me. I am extremely glad, however, that I looked into the franchise beyond those brief cable moments. I got a in depth look into the art style(s), the actual goal of theme of the franchise, other than being a Sci-Fiction, and in general a better background to compare. A tip for when you're looking for the original "Ghost in the Shell," the order of media releases are.
- The manga, by Masamune Shirow, in three volumes: "Ghost in the Shell," "Ghost in the Shell 2: Man-Machine," and "Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human-Error Processor."
- First Movie, "Ghost in the Shell" (1995)
- Animated Series: "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" (2002), and the second season "Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG"
- Second Movie: "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" (2004)
- Third Movie: "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society" (2006)
- Animated Series: "Ghost in the Shell: Arise" ("Ghost in the Shell: Arise - Alternative Architecture" is the same series, but reformatted for TV airing."
- Fourth Movie: "Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie" (2015)
2. Have an Open Mind
As you have read above, "Ghost in the Shell" is a massive franchise that isn't entirely linear. The manga, the first movie, and the second movie are the same, but the animated series is "Stand Along Complex," the second season, and the movie are it's own reimagining of the series. "Arise" and the "The New Movie" are similar reimagining, with entirely updated character designs and set before the original manga.
With so many different revivals, I was hopeful that the New Movie might do the same. A twist, a new plot, different visuals. Well, they did, but not in the best of ways. I will admit I looked up on Rotten Tomatoes before going into the movie, but that did not affect the my last thoughts
3. Final Movie Review
You've made it this far, so I guess you've earned an actual review of the movie. We'll begin with the positives:
- Beautiful, stunning, CG graphic animation was put into the film. It was to the quality of "Avatar," if I may say, but on a different Science fiction theme. It was very heavy in the movie, considering the world is a future where technology runs the lives of everything, human or not, but it was not cheesy. Everything flowed really well, and even when they interacted with the real and human actors. The setting's architectural structure was different too. The original film, which the movie is mostly based on, was dirty, more dystopian with the rare 1% looking clean and truly cybernetic. Based in Japan, they added to the back story of the setting that the city is plagued by floods constantly. In the live-action movie, they give it a more New York feel with skyscrapers, everyone looking glamorous, their class only showing by their strange locations, very bright lights and signs. We're not going to talk about the actual country setting for now, but it was visually stunning.
- The cast was not terrible. Everyone complained about white washing originally Asian characters, but after watching the original film, honestly, ethnicity didn't matter. The's a robot. Everyone literally has cybernetic enhancements that could change ethnicity if they wanted to. I definitely defend Scarlet Johansson taking the role, acting aside, being the main character. Her character is the newest technology, the first all synthetic body. I don't think they were worrying about retaining her ethnicity when building the body. They just wanted to be successful. Batou, another character, didn't even have a Japanese name. Another defense of the movie and their white washing is that they went for more American ideas. Japan, to say the least, are not so thrilled about foreigners and immigrants. Coinciding with how the live-action film gave the setting a more New York feel, I think the diversity was okay. I also don't think it did anything to the movie other than to be diverse, but it didn't really hurt it either. Ethnicity had nothing to do with the original plot or concept of the film, and that comes from an Asian writer, if I do say.
- Plot was fifty-fifty. The plot was not the same as the original "Ghost in Shell," which isn't too terrible considering all the different anime adaptations and depictions, and the overall message was condensed and tweaked a bit. However, the movie also wasn't original in it's new plot and was cliché and very predictable. It also had no emotional resonance with the audience; despite knowing the feelings the characters had or were expressions, I just wasn't feeling a connection, which overall weakened the new theme the movie aimed for. This didn't help the feeling of knowing what was going to happen next. To make it worse, the plot was riding on the symbolic and beautiful cinematic shots of the original animated movie. There were exactly, shot for shot, references that felt out of place because they did seem to mean a lot but just not for this 2017 rendition. Despite all of these details that generally make a movie outstanding, the plot was easy to watch and follow. If you prefer action and beauty, you will probably overlook the above comments and say you enjoyed the movie; to each their own.
That's my overall rating. Always give a movie you're interested in a chance; don't let reviews or the opinions sway your passion. Just watch out for snack prices!
