Review of Ghost in the Shell (1995) by Colin T — 04 Apr 2010

There's a lot of great stuff here, but it just feels, well, kind of like a shell of a movie. As long as there's stuff happening, it's great--the action sequences are well-done and exciting, fun stuff, while the philosophy, despite being jejune, is carried off well and intelligently (the best part being when a victim of a brain hack realizes his brain is full of false--but not entirely false--memories; an interesting wrinkle on an old concept).

The problem is that 82 minutes isn't nearly enough time for anything more than a very barebones, yet simultaneously convoluted, plot to develop,and many of the slower sequences which would be acceptable in a longer film are just an unconscionable waste of time (From what I've heard the manga kind of got butchered in the translation to film).