This is a much
anticipated live action adaptation of the hugely acclaimed cyberpunk manga by Masamune Shirow, it has also gained a fair amount of
attention for its casting of caucasian Scarlett Johansson in the lead role amid
accusations of ‘whitewashing’
Well Johansson plays ‘Major’, a woman,
who’s brain has been placed into a cybernetic body, and against the wishes of
her Doctor/Designer Dr. Ouelet (played by Juliette Binoche) now heads up a combat unit for Section 9, dedicated to
tracking down cyber terrorists, most notably the mysterious ‘Kuze’ who is
rather busy making scrambled egg out of the brains of Hanka Corporation
employees involved in a mysterious project 2571 , the very company that built
Major…. Da Da Daaaaaa!
Much chasing of Kuze with sidekick Batou
and unit boss Chief Aramaki ensues, more Hanka peeps get turned into breakfast
bites, and Major discovers that she is not who she was conditioned to believe
she was before her fantastic drastic plastic makeover. As she delves deeper
into the motivations of Kuze’s beef with her makers, apple carts get upset,
truths get exposed, mums get met, and nasty corporate bosses get even
nastyerish.
This movie is a near future cyberpunk
flick, so you don’t need Sherlock to deduce it’s fairly big on the CGI, but
there is nothing groundbreaking in its look. The influences such as Blade
Runner, Fifth Element, and under-appreciated Tarsem Singh movie ‘The Cell’ are
worn pretty heavily on the old sleeve. It looks good without wowing ya, but on
the plus side it’s not so busy that it makes you boss eyed, but instead allows
you to take in the view, which compared with some recent fare (Latest
instalment of resident Evil a prime example) is a blessed relief and gives me
hope I will not develop celluloid induced epilepsy anytime soon. Script and pace are pretty sound and
overall Rupert Sanders filled the directors chair ably.
This is not a great movie. If I had to
categorize it I would say it sits somewhere between Okay and good, but it is a
must see. Why you ask? Well I will tell ya, and you are not gonna believe it
kids! Put the whitewashing guff to one side. Scarlett Johansson was cast in
this movie because she was able to convey the very basic theme of the movie,
and that is asking the question ‘How far do we embrace technology before we
stop being human?’ Scarlett Johansson showed us in the Indy flick ‘Under the
Skin’ that she is able to physically convey un-humanness to a spectacular
degree, and that is why she was cast in this movie. Miss J is truly unnerving
in this film. The way she walks, her posture, the way she interacts, are all
infinitesimally ‘off’ to the extent that you don’t notice it at first, but it
kinda pulls you in and subtly freaks you out over time. This is an actor doing
what they do at the top of their game, and it’s worth the ticket price for that
alone.
The persona of Johansson’s ‘Major’
absolutely dominates this movie, to the extent that few others manage to really
get a look in, but Juliette Binoche, and Takeshi Kitano as ‘The Chief’ both
manage to give their characters some depth.
If like me you are into the Ghost in the Shell lore, you are more than
likely to find this a strong(ish) addition to what has gone before, otherwise
it’s a fairly entertaining watch that will leave you slightly weirded out by an
actor with alt-human bones….
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