Time for a stroll down memory lane...
Among the first animes I ever saw were AKIRA, NINJA SCROLL, and the original 1995 GHOST IN THE SHELL. I remember going into Camelot Music at Gateway Mall and purchasing both Ninja Scroll and Ghost In The Shell on VHS. That was about 1996 or 1997, before DVDs (wow, I just dated myself, didn't I?). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Ghost In The Shell has been with me for a long time. Then later I bought the Dark Horse Comics trade paperback of Shirow Masamune's original Ghost In The Shell manga. I even bought and played the Playstation One Ghost In The Shell video game. Needless to say, I couldn't get enough of Major Kusanagi and Section 9.
Then in 2004 when I was in college there was a Ghost In The Shell boom! Dark Horse Comics released Shirow Masamune's brand new manga sequel, Ghost In The Shell: Man-Machine Interface which followed what happened to Major Kusanagi after the events of the first manga. Then a brand new anime movie was released titled GITS 2: Innocence following Batou and Togusa and the rest of Section 9 after the events of the first movie. Major Kusanagi wasn't even in that movie until the end.
Of all the GITS stuff coming out though, the anime series STAND ALONE COMPLEX was hands down my favorite iteration of the story and characters. I remember being in college and buying the individual DVDs as they were coming out. My friends and I back at college were hooked on that show. It was around that time that we heard rumors of a live action GITS movie in the works.
Now, almost 15 years later, that live action film version of Ghost In The Shell is finally here!
THE PLOT
The Future. Cyber-enhancement for human beings is an everyday occurrence. Some see cyberization as the next evolution in humanity. Hanka Robotics is leading the cyberization industry. In the last few weeks half a dozen Hanka Robotics engineers have been murdered. The prime minister has assigned the special ops unit Section 9 to investigate. Leading the team is Major Mira Killian, a fully cybernetic body with a human brain, a one of a kind entity. The deeper Major Killian delves into this investigation the more she discovers corruption within Hanka and a failed experiment hinting that the Major might not be as unique as she thinks.
WHAT I LIKED
Visualization and Adaptation. It's no surprise that the visuals and special effects of this movie look stunning. But what's really remarkable about them is how they capture a futuristic crime noir esthetic. One of the finest aspects of the original Blade Runner is the melding of futuristic technology with a dirty slum-like cityscape, something not realized on screen since Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Ghost In The Shell achieves the same level of gritty sci-fi realism.
Going off of the visuals is the incredible recreation of sequences from the original 1995 anime film. The filmmakers took incredible care in recreating not just one scene but about half of the movie. Down to set designs, costume designs, and character mannerism. Camera angles and action choreography too have been adapted shot for shot in some instances too. All in all it is simply incredible to watch. I'd love to watch the original anime movie and this new film back to back for a deep dive comparison.
Unfortunately the visuals are about as far as the adaptation goes...
Scarlett Johansson's performance is also worthy of note. She carries herself in strange, almost unnatural ways. This could be interpreted as Johansson driving home the emphasis of her character not being entirely human and mostly artificial. This "strangeness" permeates her entire performance.
NITPICKS
Since I've praised the film on its recreations and adaptations of the original anime film, I question whether that 1995 anime movie was the right move. I know it's blasphemous to say but that original anime film, for all the praise it receives, is kinda boring. The characterizations are flat and the pacing is rather slow. What I'm saying is, for an action movie, the original anime movie fails to get the blood pumping.
As cool as it was to see the anime movie translated into live action, maybe the filmmakers should've done their own take and their own story featuring Section 9 rather than what's essentially a remake. This film is so accurate in its adaptation that it perfectly captures the flat characterizations and slow pacing. Now, this is just my personal opinion. Obviously I'm in the minority here as the 1995 anime has legendary status.
Personally, my favorite GITS rendition is the first season of Stand Alone Complex. I would've rather seen that adapted of all the GITS stories out there.
Now I have to clarify some of my previous statements. When I praised the adaptation I wasn't necessarily speaking of the this movie's story. The story here is basically a rendition of the Bourne Identity. SPOILER ALERT: The Major discovers bits and pieces of her previous life and sets out to discover who she really is.
If I'm not mistaken, Ghost In The Shell was never about Major's past. It was about what it means to be human. In a world where more and more people are replacing their body parts with artificial prosthesis where does the line of humanity end and robotics begin? The Major only has 17% actual human brain cells, the rest of her in completely synthetic. Is she human or robot? The matter is further complicated when an A.I. gains sentience. Can an A.I. have a ghost? These questions and concepts is the brilliance of Shirow Masamune's work and the original anime.
While the movie contains many accurately adapted visual sequences and character performances, the adapted sequences don't possess the same dialog nor do they occupy the same piece of the narrative.
It's as if the filmmakers decided to go off book in the wrong way. They should've kept the story the same and not stayed as tied down to the visuals as they were. It would be like if Peter Jackson, when making the Lord of the Rings, felt it was more important honor the visual style of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 Lord of the Rings film rather than Tolkien's story. It's just my opinion.
I'm also not so sure about the other actors rounding out the Section 9 unit. The actor who plays Togusa isn't Japanese. The actor playing Batou slurs his lines from time to time. And the other just aren't given much to do at all. Beat Takeshi (from the Zatoichi remake) plays Chief Aramaki and does a good job at it but something was still missing. Honestly, I found myself wishing the actors were dubbed by the same English voice cast from the animes.
Michael Wincott. I am a fan actor Michael Wincott's work. This is just a minor thing but he was featured in just about every trailer for the movie and he's barely in the movie. I just wish there was more for him to do in the movie.
THE VERDICT
The filmmakers go above and beyond to recreate the visual esthetics of the anime down to the finest details. It is amazing to see scenes from the anime come to life. Unfortunately they opted not to adapt the original anime's narrative or philosophies. Instead they adapt a story that never needed to be told, that of the origins of Major's natural body parts. The movie is still pretty cool though, just not a story I wanted to see.
Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
For the best of Ghost In The Shell, in my opinion, read the original graphic novel and then watch Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
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