Ghost in the Shell – Review
Ghost in the shell. I’ve never seen the anime or even read the graphic novel to be honest. So my expectations were never that high to begin with. However, when I listened to those who are familiar with the anime (Ghost in the Shell), most of them were underwhelmed with the movie adaptation.
The obvious hoo-ha about the anime is the casting of Scarlett Johansson as the lead, Major. as many labelled the movie as being whitewashed. Social media were getting on the studio’s faces as they rallied against the idea of Scarlett playing the cyborg Major. For me, it’s an okay move and it didn’t affect my judgment. Furthermore, Scarlett is one of my favourite actor since Lost in Translation.
Now what do I think about the overall movie experience? I have to say this is one tricky anime to adapt to the big screen. I was impressed with some of the action sequences but I wasn’t overwhelmed. Let’s just say that the producers were playing it safe to begin with and there was nothing new or spectacular that I will remember about Ghost in the Shell. Yea, there wasn’t any ground breaking scenes that will make you go “awwwww…” I was only impressed to an extent and more drawn to the visuals than anything else.
There were definitely some plot holes and the exposition could have been tighter and well explained. There were some unnecessary scenes which didn’t really add anything to the movie. Scarlett was suited for the role if you ask me but she wasn’t good enough to save the show to my expectations.
If I were to say entertaining, yes. If I were to say, wasteful, yes and no. This is a good popcorn movie with plentiful of potential. The audience are getting smarter and more demanding. So I hope future producers will think twice if they were to do a sci-fi movie and such. Even more demanding if it’s based on the popular anime or graphic novel.
I doubt Ghost in the Shell will get a sequel after the flop in the opening weekend. The movie costs more than USD 200 million dollars due to high production cost and delays. The opening only made less than USD 20 million in the US which is off their expected target and so far only USD 60 million was earned worldwide and I believe it won’t even make USD 200 million worldwide.
Having said all the woes they are facing especially by Paramount, I still enjoyed Ghost in the Shell.
Verdict: 7/10.