Review of Ghost in the Shell (1995) by Al M — 06 Mar 2011

Ghost in the Shell remains one of the indisputable masterpieces of anime films alongside Akira, Grave of the Fireflies, Spirited Away, Wings of Honneamise, and The End of Evangelion. While some critics may find fault with the film's philosophical flights or confusing political background, they are missing the larger picture--Ghost in the Shell remains one of the most important cyborg films of all time along with Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and James Cameron's The Terminator.

Ghost in the Shell imagines a startlingly bright yet also dystopic future of computerization in which our sick bodies can be replaced with mechanical shells, our consciousness can be preserved in perpetuity, we can access the net directly from our brains, and we can communicate telepathically via cyber-brain implants.

The downsides: our very selves (or ghosts) are opened up to attacks--we can be ghost-hacked and have our identities erased and replaced with false ones. Ghost in the Shell is a film about the computerization of the society and the effects of technology upon society and the psyche, but it is also a film about very old philosophical questions concerning the nature of humanity, being, and identity.

In many ways, it is a film about Cartesian doubt, about reality becoming so permeated by simulacra that we can no longer trust that our perceptions and memories are real. It is about the fundamentally foolish all to human desire to proof we are special in the larger scheme of things, to demarcate our spot at the apex of evolutionary ladder.

Aside from its philosophical implications, Ghost in the Shell represents a cinematic tour-de-force with its mesmerizing, haunting visuals of a world both all too familiar and all too strange. A brilliantly haunting score, a striking blend of handdrawn and computer animation, and stylish direction from Mamoru Oshii mark Ghost in the Shell as one of the greatest anime films of all time.