Ghost in the Shell Review
There came a time in this movie when I started thinking back to the previews and really wanting to watch them instead of this. I turned to my brother and thought I saw he was asleep but apparently he wasn’t and turns out he really liked this movie so as with any review take this with a grain of salt.
Me on the other hand, I wish I had taken this with a grain of something else. I was not impressed by this movie. I will start by saying I have not seen the anime movie this was based on but I know it was better. When the news broke that Scar Jo was playing the Asian female lead I rolled my eyes. Another chance for Hollywood to embrace diversity and also stay true to source material but they crumbled again to the whims of what I am assuming were some old movie executives who said “Scar Jo Sells BABY”. Well only time will tell if that is true but I already have a feeling my sentiments are being shared by others.
In the movie she plays a robot with a human brain who is a cop or some type of fighting weapon. The story is not fleshed out very well and you can never tell if this is the government or a different organization. It obviously takes place in the future, were everyone is turning into robots so I guess there is some relevancy there as well. She is surrounded by a cast that includes the wonderful French actress Juliette Binoche, another Danish actor, and everyone else is Asian. The entire city is mostly Asian so it is very strange that Scar Jo isn’t. Even stranger is a scene towards the end of the movie where we find out she probably was Asian and just feels annoying.
The story is a very typical story and while there are bunch of lofty ideas that were very interesting, it seemed like they were not meant to be talked about as more than a throw away line here or there about what is real and what is fake and what it means to be human. This movie could have been really good but I just did not enjoy it. It tried to be a thinker but ended up being a stinker. I did enjoy Scar Jo’s boss, I don’t remember his name but he spoke in Japanese the entire time and no one else did, which seemed strange but again, the Shell is cooked by this point.
If you like movies with Scar Jo or adaptions of anime then this is your ticket to paradise. If you don’t like movies where you are confused about the casting, or things just seem a little off, then maybe skip this one for a home viewing. Ghost in the Shell is by no means a terrible movie, I just can’t recommend it.