BurtonReviews Ghost in the Shell: Birthday Suit Action

(Image sourced from http://www.hdwallpaperup.in/scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-the-shell-movie/)

 

Oh anime. What a weird and wonderful thing that still, strangely, hasn’t truly pierced the mainstream. So, how do we rectify that? Make a big budget live action film starring one of Holly Wood’s most beautiful stars in one of the anime industry’s most successful and popular properties. Yeah, seems like a good start, if the film is any good that is.

(Video sourced from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig1p4hSYKsg)

 

The story of Ghost in the Shell follows Major (Scarlett Johansson), the first human who has been stripped down to nothing but her brain, with the rest of her body being completely made up of a cybernetic shell. With no memory of who she was in her past, Major of course joins a covert team of spies and soldiers to help protect this futuristic-cyber-punk existence from falling into augmented chaos. But when Major learns that she may not be the only one of her kind, difficult questions are brought up that demand answers, and she won’t stop until they are delivered.

There was a lot of controversy when Johansson was cast as the main protagonist Major that I won’t get into here *cough*whitewashing*cough*. But putting all that aside, as we should when actually watching the movie and accepting it for what it unchangeably is, Johansson was a serviceable lead. Johansson did believably embody this kick ass robotic mercenary. While Major is partly a dear caught in the headlights as she searches for answers to her past mysteries, Johansson’s experience with badass action made it so when Major switched from questioning cyborg to robot of mass destruction, the change wasn’t jarring, but believable and natural, even if the action was sometimes hard to see through the pitch black of night or constantly flashing swipes of electric rods.

But something did always feel off. Whether it was Johansson’s acting choices in making her movements oddly clunky, that while conceptually may sound to make sense seeing as she is a robot, but in reality just looked like she was trying abit too hard to be a robot and took me out of the experience all together. Or the fact that I never really cared about Major or her journey, probably something to do with not being able to connect with this amnesiac cyborg, the heavily focused upon protagonist never really clicked with me, and so by proxy, neither did much of the film’s content. 

(Image sourced fro https://www.cnet.com/news/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-haunted-by-the-ghost-of-the-original/)

In-fact the main plot of the film kind of just skimmed right over my head as nothing about it really grabbed me or pushed me to the edge of my seat. While the original anime’s heady plot and dialogue had me rolling my eyes in a continuous loop while they had boring and stuffy debates on the content of a human’s soul, the remake doesn’t really have this. Instead these boring debates are relegated to quick and heavy handed comments, and the plot is left to feel like a random selection of locations that I guess lead to a conclusion, maybe. When the scenes feel so tangentially connected its really hard to ever get into the rhythm of the film and begin to connect with its events, and it is this problem that Ghost in the Shell never seemed to overcome.  

However one aspect of the film that did click with me was the refreshingly human best, gun toting, friend of Major's, Batou (Pilou Asbaek, was in preious Johansson lead action flick - Lucy). Batou, simply put, was a cool guy. With real sincerity to his character and the loeavble, but dangerous when called upon, big bear atmosphere the big and tough soldier had, Batou brought some much needed and welcomed levity to this all too serious movie. And through his care for Major, he even got me to slightly care about her and the main plot, slightly. 

Another shining star from the cast was Kuze (Michael Carmen Pitt, who played the monstrous Mason Verger in the Hannibal TV show). Without giving too much away about the shadowy character, Pitt’s powerful, almost Shakespearean, prescience on screen; combined with the choice to have him deliver his lines in such an off-puttingly robotic tone, of which was then heightened in post by modulation, and the character’s patchwork-robotic Frankenstein design, all came together to create a visually and contextually interesting character. And while it is disappointing that he was only truly used well once, he is still hands down one of the best acted, and strongest parts of the film from just one, thought provoking, speech.

(Image sourced from http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/learned-ghost-shell-launch/)

But what was truly THE strength of Ghost in the Shell was its incredible visuals. With the world of this movie being mostly created by green screen, you may cringe in memories of the over CGI’d Star Wars prequels. But they were years ago and the technology has progressed so much now that this neon cyber punk world feels tangible and out of this world, all at the same time. Coupled with some juicy atmospheric shots, the visuals of Ghost in the Shell really pop, making almost any screenshot taken from this film’s 106 minute runtime a jaw dropping mix of gritty realism faded out by the vibrant swirls of this world’s towering holographic advertisements that litter the city’s skyline.

And in the visuals comes the best story telling that Ghost in the Shell offers. This world’s futuristic cybernetic tech of removable face plates and USB like neck ports are shown so nonchalantly, with no fan fair or wonder, that you are forced to just accept this as a reality, just as the characters on screen have, and progress with the main plot. Additions like these are sprinkled throughout the film and make this reality feel even more concrete as these new and remarkably advanced technologies are accepted as everyday norms.

(Image sourced from http://blog.coyoteproductions.co.uk/films/ghost-shell-desktop/attachment/ghost-in-the-shell-film-wallpaper-4/)

And what makes it even easier to slip into this film’s reality is the awesomely cyber-punk soundtrack. The ambient chips of the score by Clint Mansell and Lorne Balfe, coupled with the nostalgic vocal screams of eerie empowerment that were heavily featured in the original score for the anime of Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow, make this soundtrack not only perfect for the film, but just damn cool in general.

Overall Ghost in the Shell is a movie that I gladly turned my brain off to and enjoyed the eye widening epic scope, cool cyber punk future tech and visual vibrance. While some characters briefly shined, you’re mainly left with un-relatable ones that are being lead through an uninteresting and incoherently ordered plot. But damn was this movie pretty.

Ghost in the Shell = 7/10

Why not check out my YouTube channel, BurtonReviews, where I upload awesome gaming montages put to badass songs or scores every Sunday. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbUfnyezvQsVsDgN3TGRh1Q