Review of Ghost in the Shell (2017) by Calumrhysuk — 02 Apr 2017

Visually, Rupert Sanders's adaptation of 'Ghost in the Shell' is stunning, featuring gorgeous cinematography and mind-blowing CGI, oh and of course Scarlett Johansson - but then there's EVERYTHING else about it.

Firstly, don't get me wrong, 'Ghost in the Shell' is far from a bad film, but equally it's far from being an excellent film, maybe just balancing above mediocre, and the reason for this is down to the clichéd and convoluted storyline, underdeveloped two-dimensional characters and lack of relation to its source material - but as I stated above, visually this film is a marvel. The original version of 'Ghost in the Shell' was one of the first anime films I ever had the chance to see, and whilst it does delve into the "weird" side of anime at parts, it is nonetheless an abstract piece of art and still stands the test of time as one of the finest anime films, however this will never come near that.

So what are the memorable qualities in this film? Um, there's, um... well there's Scarlett Johansson when she... um... yeah. Virtually nothing. It depicts a metropolitan future on an almost frightening note - but that's been done before time and time again. In this future, around 70% of humanity have cyborg-like alterations made to their body, and the general vistas of the city, whilst stunning, add an almost claustrophobic quality to them. Tight smothering streets, and enough fluorescent lights to make 'Blade Runner' jealous.

The story itself is rather straight forward, a woman is cybernetically-enhanced and forced to act as a weapon to prevent the occurrence of "terrorism" and "hacking", however along the way she begins to uncover more about her past and how she became the titular "ghost in the shell". But the problem is, this plot is clichéd to hell, and characters dash in and out of the story never having any real relevance within the movie's world, including the concluding villain (don't worry, no spoilers here). It tries to be smart, but just ends up convoluted and over-blown.

All-in-all it's a fair attempt at an adaptation, which is more than can be said for Sanders's film before. But it just falls short in too many places to really make its mark as a sci-fi great. If we were just there for the visuals, this film would be near-masterful, but that's not the case here.