Review of Ghost in the Shell (2017) by Rox22 — 15 Apr 2017

I want to be clear about somethin: I love the GITS franchise. I watched the original anime shortly after its western release in the 90s. After that I was hooked on anime and watch all GITS movies and spinoffs. Even tried the manga series too. To this day GITS is still my favourite anime movie. I even flew out to watch the live action version on IMAX (as there are none in the country that I live in.) With all that said what did I think? It was good. Not great, but good.

I could go in depth and write pages and pages completely dissecting every scene. But that's for another time and place. So I'll keep this as brief as I can.

Visually it is gorgeous. So much detail. It looks and feels like the GITS universe. Sound and music were a dream, I might even dare to say better than the original.

Story wise it does follow the anime very closely, however it does take some liberties and does something all it's own. To those segements I understand why they were done that way and agree that they do fit the movie. I did like how the story focuses on the Major and developes her character, giving her more depth than she had in the anime (though her character was flushed out in the SAC series.) Bato is more or less on par with his character in the anime. Where the movie does waver is with some of the side characters. If you are fan of the series then you'll know who they are and be a little annoyed that if they had so little dialogue, why didn't they make them look and act more like their anime counterparts. The new designs really add nothing, and due to their lack of introduction are redundant to anyone not familiar with. True these characters weren't that developed in the anime either (SAC did that part too) but if they need to be there with little to no dialogue, they should at least look the part.

If anything, I always thought that the Major's character was the only one that it did not matter if the actress was Japanese or not. Afterall, she does have a full body prosthetic so it is an easy thing to explain. I do think Johansen was a good choice, but she is a bit too high profile and her performance was far too similar to her role as Black Widow.

Another bother about the movie is that they really toned down the violence and blood. I'm guessing so they could get a better rating. The hyper violence and use of blood added to the atmosphere of the anime, making it feel more real and serious. In the movie this is lacking and made to look more action packed. This essentially is what makes the film feel a bit hollow. It lacks the intensity that fueled some of the scenes from the anime.

Overall: The live action GITS is the best western adaptation of an anime for the big screen to date. It looks the part, sounds the part, but doesn't completely feel the part. I feel that they tried really hard and stayed as close to the source material as they could, but I also feel like they watered it down too much so that it could get a lower age rating and appeal to a broader audience. In short: It was a good effort, but look at Deadpool and learn from that. Don't be afraid of the R rating if it delivers a better movie.