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

Ghost in the Shell is a film that will play very well to a general audience, though I think long-time fans will find a lot more fault with it. It’s a well told and well executed take on the original film and I must be honest, I kind of liked it, I thought it had a decent running plot, what it recreated it did well and it sold me on the whole thing.

The performances from Scarlett Johannson and Michael Pitt really made the film stand out. Its only issue is that it sticks too close to story lines that we have already been told and it doesn’t have enough trust in its audience to not signpost things too much, nor does it have enough of the nuance that the original film had.

That being said though, with the bar being set so low for Anime adaptations, this stands head and shoulders above its contemporaries and I hope it is a success because I would like to think it’s a lead to more films like it and I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel.

If you are a fan of Anime then I would say give it a go because it might have something for you,, though I would expect you to be a bit more critical than someone with no prior knowledge. This film is trying to get a balance between the two markets though I suspect it will succeed in one more than the other.

In short, I think it’s a good film, but I’m not sure how it will stand up as time goes on, though I think it should be praised a lot more than it’s bashed.