Ghost in the shell is one of the few anime's in which a live action adaptation makes sense. Ghost in the shell has a straight forward story, which is set in a familiar world which has existed in many books, films and TV series which came had come before and after it. The familiarity of themes and the aesthetic of Ghost in the shell ensures that it would not be perceived as a little too left or too different to latch onto a mainstream audience. Good luck to those people trying to bring a live action Akira to life. That shit gon' be hell.
The live adaptation of Ghost in the shell is nowhere near as iconic as the films of which it is influenced by and that its source material had in turn influenced. It's not as ambitious as Blade runner. As iconic as RoboCop. As visually cool as The Matrix. As thought provoking as Ex-Machina. The film succeeds in giving you a great set of visuals and sticking closely to the 1995 animated film, but it fails to give you anything more. The Ghost in the shell film is pure superficiality.
The animated feature film itself also had a cinematic air about it in how many of the scenes were handled and framed, almost as though it was giving a clear framework of a live action film. The director of this film seems to have picked up on this, because he re-creates shots and scenes frame for frame. Whilst the faithfulness is to be respected and admired by some fans, the film's inability to give you anything more than just recreations is one of its biggest downfalls.
I love the original Ghost in the shell anime from a visual standpoint. It's visual impact is still felt today in films such as The Matrix and video games such as Metal Gear Solid. But the story wasn't all that great. That said, it had enough that going on for it that it could have been made into a great live action film if it were built upon. But what we have ended up with is a film which seems so afraid to build on the story, that it sgives you the
The writer's and the director's insistence of faithfulness to the original material is what actually ends up hurting the film. The Ghost in the shell live action movie should not have been a carbon copy of the anime. It should have been a revised / re-told version of it.
The film doesn't go deeper with the premise of cybernetics and gentrification, both of which are fascinating and very real topics which are shaping the world we live in today. Ghost in the shell could have told an amazing story with a real heart and a message which resonates universally. But instead it goes with the typical cyborg tropes and ends there. Whenever there are moments when the film or the narrative could push the envelope on social issues, it shies away and shows you a skyline of Neo-Tokyo instead. It passes up any opportunity to make a statement, which does nothing to draw your attention from the most glaring issue which had arisen from the minute the cast of this movie was announced: the whitewashing of the lead character.
The white washing of Matoko is one thing, but it permeates throughout the film. Ghost in the shell wants all of the visual nuances that come with a film set in a futuristic fusion of Tokyo, without having a Japanese cast. Oddly, Takeshi Kitano is cast in a main role as Major's boss, Aramaki. He speaks Japanese throughout the film, with characters replying and answering him in English. I never really questioned it and just assumed that the cybernetics within the characters allow them to understand languages that they may not be able to speak. But it was definitely strange. If Aramaki was going to speak Japanese, then it would have made more sense for characters to converse with him in Japanese. After all, Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu were both made to speak it in Kill Bill. Scarlet Johannson barely does anything in this film. The bitch just about acts. The least she could have been made to do for her salary in this film is to learn some conversational Japanese.
My concern over Scarlett being cast as Major was not just the whitewashing, but her chops as an action star. I just don't buy them. Scarlett is so one note as an action hero. The only difference between her characters in the Marvel films, Lucy and Ghost in the shell is her wigs. They're all the same damn character. Broken women with chequered pasts that they can't quite remember, so they shoot their way towards the truth.
I get why Scarlett's performance is so flat in this film. But the issue with it is that it is not a true representation of the Major from the animated film. Major is real life human in a synthetic body. Her mind (her ghost) is still 100% human. This is completely lost in Scarlett's performance, as she just comes across as a robot. Major in the animated film felt much more grounded in her own humanity than what Scarlett gives in the live action film. Major's display of emotion in the animated film wasn't forthcoming by any means, but it was there. She had a sense of humour. She cared for her team mates. She showed genuine concern. She showed compassion. Scarlett displays none of these things in this film, with the exception of a moment when she starts to recover her past, and even then her acting is as flat as roti. This is in stark contrast to the woman who plays Motoko's mother, who acts the absolute shit out of her scene to the point where I was wondering where my own damn daughter was and I'm not even a father.
Only towards the end of the film do we start to see human and emotional compassion come through in Major. But it comes at a point in the film where you're already bored stiff of everything, and it plays out over the course of an act which is just a complete mess and feels like nothing but a run up to the iconic moment in the anime where Major tears her own body to shreds.
Ghost in the shell isn't a bad film. But it is the by product of bad decisions. No risks were taken with this film and there was no effort put into re-imagining the story of Ghost in the shell for a 2017 audience. The soundtrack is amazing. Visually, the film is breathtaking at times. But the finesse of the visuals and the audio is not extended to the story or the direction of the film as a whole. The biggest homage and respect that the live action film could have paid to the animated film, would have been to build on it. Not just copy it. Re-tell the story of Ghost in the shell in the social climate of today, not the social climate of 12 years ago.
Verdict: Only watch this if you have watched the anime or you're up for a film that looks nice and requires zero thinking
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