GHOST IN THE SHELL REVIEW; A STYLISH, CYBERPUNK FILM… NEED’S TO BE WATCHED ON THE BIG SC

Ghost in the Shell delivers a pretty terrific two hours in the cinema.

After all the stigma attached to sci-fi film, Ghost in the Shell while filming (atop a beautiful wave of whitewashing controversy), Director Rupert Sanders has produced a fantastic, stylized-cyberpunk film. Polished off in glitzy futuristic neon landscapes designed to appeal to us the consumers in the distant future.

Having watched some anime before, and the original Ghost in the Shell, I can compare this live action film adaptation to its source material.

Principally, Ghost in the Shell looks incredible, and you should see it on the biggest screen you can find. It may annoy some aficionados that the production design inevitably evokes Blade Runner, but in fact the futuristic cityscape reads more like a pixelated videogame interpretation of a dystopian Japanese city, with its looming holograms and misty horizons are a joy to behold.

Based on a Japanese manga and a remake of the 1995 animated feature film, Ghost in the Shell takes us to an incredibly plausible time in the not-so-distant cyberpunk future. In this morally-murky world, technological advances have meant that humans can freely swap out their shonky old eyes, limbs and organs with robotic replacements. Hanka robotics, the cutting-edge corporation that runs the town, takes this to the extreme in an experiment that seeks to replace an entire body, save for the brain.

And the star of the film, Scarlett Johannson dazzles us, as Major, a cybenitic, weapons-grade character of Major. Suffering a serious accident, she wakes up from certain death to find herself in a completely new synthetic body. A blend of human motions and intelligence with a sculptural hardened body (think on the lines of the Terminator!) After some extensive training under Dr Oulet (Juliette Binoche), Major becomes an unstoppable killing machine, tasked with the mission to bring down a dangerous cyber-terrorist named Kuze (Michael Pitt).

Due to computers being a staple component of brains, eyes, and bodies, let’s just say that hackers can do a lot more than leak emails on any Trump campaign.

As Major hits the streets, the eye-wateringly neon artifice (scenes were shot in Wellington, NZ) of what our future cities may look like is dazzling to behold.

Director Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) pulls no visual punches, building a Tokyo-on-acid metropolis of skyscrapers wrapped in hologram snakes, where projections of koi carp swim the streets and looming 3D advertisements dwarf nearby buildings. A visual mix of sci-fi classics, with the hallucinogenic brain-fry of Gaspar Noe’s Enter the Void, it’s a world best enjoyed in 3D on the biggest screen you can handle.But to its credit, or perhaps to the credit of the film’s director, Rupert Sanders, Ghost in the Shell also boasts an engaging story, not-too-stupid script and universally fine performances from an eclectic cast.

Takeshi Kitano and Rupert Sanders in Ghost in the Shell (2017).

Johansson does a decent job of playing what is essentially a brain in a jar. A really toned, strong jar (think back to the image of Terminator here.) She prowls the neon world a lone wolf, constantly battling between the titular ghost (her brain) and the shell (her robot body), which has given her a new life, though at an immense cost. After losing the ability to touch, feel and connect like a regular human, Johansson embodies the distance and loneliness of Major’s situation from head to toe. Her eyes wander, she walks clumsily, her shoulders go rigid at the slightest of glitches. There’s no doubting for a second that her body is not her own, but the constant vacancy in her eyes makes it more difficult to empathise with her as a protagonist.

Major is also supported by a great tactical team of soldier-types to locate and bring down baddies, under the instruction of the mysterious Aramaki (Kitano, who speaks only Japanese in response to the rest of the characters’ English).

Much of the action thus revolves around their entering strange places (there is the obligatory nightclub scene but, like everything else in the film, it looks so awesome you forgive all the tropes) and encountering rough, two-dimensional villains who sport varying degrees of facial reconstruction.

Famed Japanese actor, writer and Director, Takeshi Kitano stars as Section 9 Department Chief Aramaki.

Major’s backup team from Section 9: Yutaka Izumihara, Pilou Asbaek (as Batou), Chin Han, Lasarus Ratuere, Tawanda Manyimo

Despite impressive visuals and Scarlett pulling off a great performance, Ghost in the Shell avoids plumbing the moral depths and complexities as far as you might expect.

As the title suggests, there’s little beyond the shiny surface of the film when you compare it to the likes of  (Indie hit, Ex Machina) or (TV’s Westworld!)

There’s also no shaking the race problem with the film as Major’s backstory unfurls, and for all the bright sparkly lights and jaw-dropping effects, Johansson’s whiteness in what has been an historically Asian character remains glaring, even when she bumps into her mother for a nice cuppa!

But remember, Scarlett Johansson’s character had died (only her brain survived) when she inherits her new body, and all what was left was memories, so the point of whitewashing the character doesn’t actually stand up when you sit down at the cinema watching the film on the silver screen. By all accords, Scarlett Johansson was the perfect actress for the part, and played expertly beautifully.

It’s slick, visually enjoyable, brutal and beautiful crafted combat sequences (especially the Geisha scene – is jaw-dropping beautifully made) make Ghost in the Shell an ideal popcorn-fodder film for cyberpunks, sci-fi nuts everywhere and all round geeks to enjoy. But its key selling point has to be the film’s stunning set design, innovative make-up and costuming and the fact it still made every effort to wow its audience with some truly great photography.

Ghost in the Shell will also enthral its younger viewers for whom the source anime matters most, but it is also a terrific sci-fi adventure in its own right.

The film elivers a pretty terrific two hours in the cinema. So, go and watch it!

Ghost in the Shell showing now!