This movie is pretty much a condensed version of some of the anime Ghost in the Shell movies. It stars Scarlett Johannson as the Major. She's the first successful human-ai hybrid and she works for this organization called Section 9 that fights terrorists. In the movie she's fighting a terrorist who turns out to be a failed human-ai hybrid. There were tons of experiments done on other people and they were junked, left to die.
Let's make one thing clear. Scarlett is a beautiful woman, pretty stunning sometimes in certain angles but when it comes to acting in this film her performances are very lukewarm. She shows little to no emotion, just like her acting in Avengers. She has the t and a but when it comes to the acting talent she's close but no cigar. With that being said the acting in this movie could've been way better. However, I still give Scarlett points for being hot. And trying. A lot of people online (reddit and elsewhere) were upset that the Major wasn't going to be played by an Asian actress. In the end they went with Scarlett and I think that hurt the film. But hey they wanted to get the sales and Scarlett brings in the sales.
There were tons of action shots and scenes all over the movie. The most memorable action scene was at the end when this evil corporate dude is using the spider tank (from the anime) to kill the Major and the Terrorist who had supposedly turned her. It was great to see the spider tank from the anime set to a live action film set. That might have been the most authentic Ghost in the Shell thing in the entire film. Everything else was close but no cigar. It was a massive firepower weapon and it looked damn cool. Most of the other action scenes were stereotypical shooting, punching, and kicking. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, I thought most of the action scenes in the movie were quite boring. I kind of tuned out during some of the fights because they started and ended so fast and I was just like "okay".
The story for the film was actually not bad. The anime movies have various plot lines but they all revolve around Section 9 fighting terrorists. In this movie it asks bigger questions. Questions like what is consciousness? What is the soul? What is ai? Things like that are questions that will continue to be important in the world in which we live. A world that has been overtaken by technology and perhaps in the future by robotics.
We live in a world controlled by technology. Technology has helped us but it has also hurt us. This movie brings to mind the fact that one day people could actually be enhanced by cybernetics. There's going to be a human head transplant done in a few months. And there are already people in the world who live on artificial hearts being kept alive by machinery. In a way ai has already been brought to the forefront in our world. The bigger question is how does technology affect consciousness? I think this movie asks those kinds of questions if we want to think about it in a more metaphysical and philosophical way.
Just because the movie brings up important questions about the world we live in I found it to be a thoughtful and engaging film. On the other hand I can also see where the movie threw out everything that makes sense and just turned it into an action flick. In the end it was just okay. Sometimes anime movies turn out like this because the important features from the anime (which is made by Japanese producers and artists) are lost in translation to the American audience. I think that happened with this movie but it was still a fun movie to watch.
7/10 by my book. Good to see Ghost in the Shell get some on screen love in a movie theater.
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