I've watched Ghost in the Shell at the cinema 3 days ago, knowing
beforehand about the controversies that have surrounded this movie for
the last 6 months or so. Science fiction movies are probably my
favorite genre and I also enjoyed most of Scarlett's movies for the
past 8-9 years so those two factors were a plus for me going in.
Regarding the whitewashing business, I think its been blown way, WAY
out of proportion by social justice warriors with nothing better to do
than drag media attention over whatever they're feeling insecure about
this month/year. For those of you who might be on the fence about
watching a Caucasian actress in the role that (supposedly) should've
been reserved to an Asian actress, please consider this a NON-MATTER
and watch it anyway. The character she is portraying is SUPPOSED to
look Caucasian/white. It was the same in the source material and even
the creator of that anime said so in interviews.
Now, is the movie any good? In my opinion, yes. Yes it was. It wasn't
amazing but at the very least entertaining. There is a good amount of
people who score this a 1/10 because they are butt hurt that the story
was changed a lot. Please ignore them and see for yourself even if
you're a fan of the anime and are able to keep an open mind. I think
maybe I was able to judge it more objectively because I had zero
knowledge about the story in the anime going in, but, if nothing else,
the movie actually made me want to watch those old ones to compare.
The acting - 7.5/10 - Since Scarlett Johansson is the only big name
that the movie is being marketed alongside, I'd say she did a good job.
At no point in the movie could I say she didn't belong there. She
played the part of cyborg who had difficulty belonging in a human world
very well. The cast is diverse enough in my opinion, though some of
them get pretty little screen time.
The visuals - 9/10 - If there is one point most critics/viewers are in
alignment concerning this movie, that point is definitely the visuals.
The movie both looks and feels spectacular, with the futuristic city
looking like a close-future mix of Blade Runner and TRON. The
combination of CGI and practical effects looks organic, the movie's
powerful themes of excessive self-augmentation and technology almost
running amok represented very well visually.
Soundtrack - 8/10 - Sometimes pretty subdued, sometimes
almost-but-not-quite in your face, I found the soundtrack to vary
between decent and very good in some moments. It didn't MAKE the movie
but it enhanced a good deal in my opinion.
Story - 7/10 - Here is where the good points of the movie kinda start
to run dry. A lot of other people would probably rate it a lot lower,
with 5 or 4's if they're at least trying to be objective. Yes, the
story is fairly predictable, and the fact that the movie is only around
100 minutes long doesn't do it any favors either. Here is probably
where most of the legitimate hate towards this movie stems from. The
creators adapted a story that had a lot more depth and philosophical
insight and turned it into a somewhat generic cyborg coming of age
story mixed with an evil corporation doing questionable things. The
villain is also very cookie-cutter and has almost zero depth. HOWEVER,
I do think that concerning this film's particular themes and narrative,
a weak villain doesn't hurt it so much since its more about
losing/gaining your humanity through technology than any bad guy trying
to shoot you.
Writing/Dialogue - 6/10 - By far the movie's weakest aspect. In fact, I
believe if some more meaningful dialogue and character interactions
were written into this film, it could've easily been 1 or 2 points
higher on anyone's scoring system. As it is, the dialogue is shallow
and fairly run-of-the-mill for about half the movie's length. Some bits
of good interactions are sprinkled here and there, and thankfully
that's enough to preserve the soul of the movie's central theme of
human souls surviving in machine bodies, BUT not enough to give Ghost
in the Shell the depth it should've inherited from the source material.
Overall - I gave this movie 3.5/5 stars here, mostly because I
couldn't give it a 7.5/10 which felt more appropriate to me. My advice
would be to not listen to the whitewashing nonsense, because that's
exactly what it is, nonsense. Also don't listen to the haters who rate
this movie a 1/10 or call it shit because those people should not be
reviewing anything to begin with. It is a decent movie, with great
visuals and a theme that might get you thinking for a couple of days
after seeing it. The acting is decent, with an above average
performance from Scarlett and a good soundtrack that might hit the
right spot on occasion. The only bad aspects, like I mentioned, are the
film's rather short running time and weak dialogue/writing which hold
it back from being truly great.
