Ghost in the Shell is based on a Japanese comic book/anime series that started in the late 80s. I haven’t read the comics or seen the anime and I wish that I had because then I might have something more to say here. The hardest movies to review are mediocre ones because they don’t inspire either positive or negative enthusiasm. I barely have the enthusiasm to acknowledge that I watched this movie let alone review the damn thing. But I’ll give it a shot.
This takes place in the future when robotics have advanced to the point where most humans are augmenting themselves with robotic parts. Scarlet Johansson plays a robot with a human brain and is a cop or counter-terrorist or military or something. I never exactly understood what she was supposed to be. Anyway, somebody is killing people that have something to do with how she was created, so she goes after them and starts learning more about where she came from. It’s a very generic story where the hero with missing memories begins to assemble their history. Ever seen Robocop? Imagine that, but shittier. Ever seen the Bourne movies? Well, I don’t like those movies either, but this is Jason Bourne with robots. Kind of like Robocop. Except shittier.
I have heard many people say that a wooden performance from Scarlet Johansson is the main problem with this movie. I disagree. There isn’t anything particularly great about her performance, but it isn’t terrible. In that sense, her performance is a microcosm of the entire movie. I just never cared. I didn’t even really understand what was happening until the last half hour or so. But I could never even give enough of a shit to be angry with it. The performances are boring, the plot is both generic and confusing (which is actually something of an accomplishment) and I just wanted it to end. I will say, though, that the production design is excellent. The massive city lit in neon with massive holograms is well-done, even though it reminded me of Blade Runner and made me wish I was watching that instead.
Maybe I’m the wrong person to review this since I don’t know anything about the source material. I would be curious what fans of the anime have to say about it. But if you know nothing about the source material, there is nothing notable here. Don’t go to the theater for it; maybe watch it on Netflix if you are really bored. But for the love of god, watch Robocop or Blade Runner first if you haven’t seen those classics. They cover this material in a far more memorable way.
I try to make these reviews at least 500 words…..but I’ve got nothing. Scarlet Johansson is really pretty. Did that get me to 500 words? Screw it. This movie sucks.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell_(2017_film)#/media/File:Ghost_in_the_Shell_(2017_film).png
