Ghost in the Shell 2017 (Review)

My brother, is a fan of many things Japanese. Food, anime, video games, etc. And let's face it, he's not alone. Since the 80s Japan has had a significant and growing influence on the west. While I'd say he neatly avoids the flavor of fan that has earned the "weeb" demarcation, he still has a interest in the culture.

Being a bit of a film fan I got him a copy of "Ghost in the Shell", the 1995 anime movie. We watched it together and it was a nice time of brotherly bonding.

It was my second choice, but here we are.

But the movie itself is...flawed. While it's better than the other cyberpunk anime darling Akira, it's not better by much. The movie forgoes telling a story instead focusing on asking a question. While Akira simply collapses under the weight of its gargantuan plot and is saved only by its stellar animation.

What makes a human? Body? Mind? A combination of both? How much of each is required? Just a brain? Pieces of a brain?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's interesting stuff, but the anime suffers for it. While gorgeous, visually, it's lack of adequate plot makes it a bit of a snore. And right when it gets good, it ends. Quite abruptly and strangely. But I digress.

The point is, after finishing the movie with my bro, I told him that if he liked it, I'd go with him to see the live-action big-budget remake that was coming out the following month. And we did.

Ghost in the Shell (2017) is a horse of a different color. While it borrows many of the major scenes from the anime (the garbage man scene, the opening, the spider tank, and the boat) the majority of these scenes are changed by a switch in both storytelling style and plot context.
 

50% of the fight scenes in this movie are awesome.

Unlike, the anime, the ScarJo boat is plot based and excuses itself from asking the tough questions that are the heart and soul of the original. This switch is the films weakness, but only because the plot that replaces it is a little too simple for my taste. Had it been a little beefier like I would have preferred it to the bare-bones story that is in the anime.

The "Unscrupulous Corporation" is a very overused trope and even though it's a staple of cyberpunk fiction, it feels too predictable here.

You know who the bad guy is the second he speaks, and the movie doesn't throw a single curve ball to make you second guess that analysis. The Puppet-Master, the anime's main antagonist, is renamed and hollowed by detail. Instead of a being an enigmatic killer who is using people's cybernetic implants against them, he's a broken bird who is murdering everyone associated with the cybernetic project that created him.

Major (Scarlet Johanson) only on one occasion questions her humanity, and only for a few seconds. Whereas the anime has this as one of her major (heh) character traits, and what ultimately leads her to identify with the Puppet-Master.

Ahoy!

Now, because it was such a big deal before the movie's release, allow me to address and put to rest the "White-washing" controversy and put it to rest once and for all.

Yes, they cast a caucasian woman to star in a Japanese story. Yes, the movie could have been told with a Japanese actress like the beautiful and talented Rinko Kikuchi. But the counter-arguments are numerous.

1. The source material, and in this film, the character of Major is a machine. And can therefor look like anything her designers want her too. She could be black, bald, or have no ears. It would not change the plot.
2. The director of the original Japanese film fully supported the casting for multiple reasons, namely the fact that ScarJo is badass and would perfectly fit the character.
3. Lastly, there is the economic benefit. While the majority of fanboys (And fragile SJWs) who wanted to see the movie made cried foul at the casting it has a legitimate and indisputable reason. Scarlet Johanson is HUGE. She's an Avenger for goodness sake. For as much as I love Rinko in Pacific Rim and Kumiko (both excellent movies by the way) she has maybe a 1/5 the star power of ScarJo if that. She's not a worse actor, but she's low-profile. And when a studio is funding a cult-film reboot, they want a sure bet. And if that means casting Black Widow, then so be it.
4. [SPOILER ALERT] The character has had her memory wiped and was previously of Japanese descent, the changing of her race could have been an attempt to further remove her from her previous identity by the Hanka corporation.

Other critics have written (like this one) about the race issue in hollywood and have done a far better job than I ever could, but this one was so moronic I needed to take a swing at it. To quote Amir from Jake and Amir.

"You don't have to know shit to be angry about shit. You just have to have an opinion....dumbass!"

Oh yeah, these two totally look Japanese.

GiTS 2017's biggest problem has nothing to do with race. While not a spectacular failure, the additions the filmmakers added in an attempt to make the movie more consumable for the masses simply stripped the story of it's haunting mystique.

But maybe the fact that the best parts of the film are it's visuals mean that it's actually the best adaption possible. Hmm...

Walking clumsily in the beautiful, but hollow footsteps of its 1995 predecessor.