Sci-Fi Ghost in the Shell (2017)

Kevin

Code Monkey
Staff member
Title: Ghost in the Shell

Tagline: There's nothing sadder than a puppet without a ghost.

Genre: Science Fiction, Action

Director: Rupert Sanders

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han, Juliette Binoche, Peter Ferdinando, Rila Fukushima, Daniel Henshall, Yutaka Izumihara, Anamaria Marinca, Kaori Momoi, Lasarus Ratuere, Danusia Samal, Tawanda Manyimo, Mana Hira Davis, Erroll Anderson, Kai Fung Rieck, Andrew Stehlin, Matthias Luafutu, John Luafutu, Kaori Yamamoto, Andrew Morris, Adwoa Aboah, Christopher Obi, Makoto Murata, Natarsha Orsman, Joseph Naufahu, Vinnie Bennett, Pete Teo, Xavier Horan, Allan Henry, Bowie Chan Wing Wai, Kirt Kishita, David Johnson Wood, Kate Venables, Emma Coppersmith, Tanya Drewery, Hannah Tasker-Poland, Jacqueline Lee Geurts, Shinji Ikefuji, Michael Wincott, Tricky, Philippe Joly, Yasushi Asaya

Release: 2017-03-29

Runtime: 107

Plot: In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human saved from a terrible crash, then cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.
Ghost in the Shell (2017)

 
Whether fans like it or not, the live-action movie version of Ghost In The Shell is moving forward. The live-action movie will be inspired from the GitS: Stand Alone Complex anime from the early 2000's which was based on the early GitS anime from the late 90's which was based on the manga that first came out in 1989. In more recent years a GitS: Arise series of anime was released which was a re-imagining of GitS: Stand Alone Complex.

The live-action movie has a been project that has been worked on in various stages going back to at least 2008.

In 2008, DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to produce a live-action film adaptation of the original manga. Avi Arad and Steven Paul were later confirmed as producers, with Jamie Moss to write the screenplay.

In October, 2009, it was announced that Laeta Kalogridis had replaced Moss as writer.

On January 24, 2014, it was reported that Rupert Sanders will direct the film, with a screenplay by William Wheeler. On September 3, 2014, Margot Robbie was in early talks for the lead role, but by October 16, 2014, the lead role was instead offered to Scarlett Johansson.

On January 5, 2015, Variety confirmed that Johansson would star in the film. Paramount Pictures will co-produce and co-finance the film and handle overseas distribution. The film is scheduled to start production in early 2016 for a March 31, 2017 release date by Touchstone Pictures. But In September 2015, it was reported that DreamWorks and Disney would not renew their distribution deal, set to expire in August 2016, with The BFG being the last film to be released under the original agreement. On October 23, 2015, Jonathan Herman was hired to write the script. On November 10, 2015, Variety reports that Pilou Asbaek was cast as Batou. On November 19, 2015, Deadline reports that Sam Riley is in talks for the role of the film's villain The Laughing Man.​

After seeing Scarlett Johansson in Lucy I can't say that I'm looking forward to her playing the lead character of Major Motoko Kusanagi (usually called just "Major"). :thinking:
 
Some teaser clips have been released....

Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi

"Beat" Takeshi as Daisuke Aramaki (leader of Section 9)


 
Caught this one DVD. If viewed as a one-off sci-fi movie then it wasn't bad. The CGI graphics were a bit over the top to the point where it reminded me more of a fully animated CGI film like Final Fantasy versus a futuristic urban city movie like Blade Runner. If you aren't fully familiar with the manga or anime works then this likely won't be a bad movie for you. It wasn't a bad movie but not a great movie either. It'll end up on the list of forgettable sci-fi movies like Jupiter Ascending and others. Oddly it feels more like a Neo Tokyo rift on Robo-Cop then GITS.

If you are familiar with the GITS background though, particularly the anime series, you likely won't be entirely happy with this. Sure, there are scenes that are straight recreations from the anime but the story as a whole left me disappointed. Let's start with the big one... the origin of the Major. The 'ghost' that came from transcendence, the digitization of a human conscious into a digital realm, isn't here. Instead what you get is a typical sci-fi premise of a human brain in a robot body. Then there is the character of Batou. In the series he is a physically large guy from a military background who doesn't speak much. In the movie he doesn't come across as an intimidating warrior as much as somebody who might be trying to cosplay as Kiefer Sutherland from Lost Boys and has watched a lot of Oprah Winfrey talk shows to get in touch with his emotional side. That may put the character more in line with the manga versus the movies but it is still a noticeable change. And the big bad villain, Kuze? He's a merger of a few different bad guys from the manga & series.

I don't want to say it was a bad movie, it wasn't. As noted above it's another forgettable sci-fi movie for genre fans to watch. For GITS fans, though, it's a re-imagining more so than a live-action adaption to the big screen.
 

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