Ghost in the Shell

I am writing this review as someone who hasn't seen the original anime. I have also been very critical of the whitewashing of this film. With that I aside, I went to see it with willingness to give it the benefit of the doubt. "Ghost in the Shell" is well...a beautiful shell.

The visuals were absolutely breath taking. The action scenes flowed so beautifully with special effects. But that's all the movie had to offer. Take away the spectacles and you have a basic run-of-the-mill action movie.

The acting was fine. But honestly, the leads didn't have anything to actually sink their teeth into. Scarjo, and everyone else, was serviceable.

If you're looking for some mindless, yet stunning entertainment, then go see it.

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...

I know I wasn't supposed to love it but I accidentally did.

Final rating:½ - I strongly recommend you make the time.

I boned up on this movie by watching the 1995 version and Stand Alone Complex for a bit, loved the repartée from Major Kusanagi and her crew and hoped it would translate to the big screen. The movie succeeds in displaying the setting and overall feel of the area. Everything is a grainy, low-tech with abundant neon and cyber-solidified humans. Sadly, the script is a bit of a mess. Kusanagi becomes Major Mira Killian (you'll see why toward the end the film) and Scarlett Johhansson, generally a quite credible actress, is sort of wasted here.

We do not get a lot of character development for her or her crewmates. There aren't a lot of quirky, funny moments as there are in the animated versions. Worse still, a lot of the teaser from the movie ...

I was unable to make it to the theaters for this one due to traveling for work those first two weeks. And then it was gone; couldn't find it in any theaters. I'm sure glad I didn't waste my money for that and only spent $1.62 to rent it from RedBox. The trailer didn't show much, which is good. I hate trailers that give away everything about a movie.
So, a hot girl is always good...
And it had the teaser nudity that isn't real but is a suit - I'll let you be the judge of that. The rest is the same old overused nonsense from all other science fiction movies: A lot of fighting, shooting, explosions and destruction - way too much of that... but just about all sci-fi and superhero movies these days only contain that. The first hour ...

This is an okay movie but that is about it. The blurb sounded quite interesting and the trailers were promising even though I always take trailers with a huge pinch of salt. I have never read the original Manga. Whether that is good or bad with respect to the movie I do not know.

The good stuff as far as this movie is concerned is, not surprisingly, the visuals. I would not say that they are stunning but the are quite good. The environments are interesting and the special effects are not bad at all. I have to say that the tank design was pretty poor though. Not very exiting as a fictional design and utter nonsense from a functional point of view.

This is as far as the good stuff goes. The story is okay but it is pretty predictable and...

Too late to come out to impress its fans!

It was not my most anticipated film of the year. Like usual for any film, I just wanted to see it and enjoy it. The film was fine, but that does not mean so good. From the visuals to the performances, it sounded great. But the story wasn't. When the original concept was created nearly 30 years back, it fascinated people for being something new and powerful. But for the current world, for the current generation, it is just an ordinary sci-fi. All I say is it just came out at least 15 years late. So the 90s kids would have loved it!

The storyline was nothing, but a self-discovery of a half human, half machine. This has been the plot of hundreds of robot films. But it's just differently told....