American directors have tapped every possible resource for adaptations: books, TV shows, comic books, newspaper comics, even video games. One area that hasn’t been utilized as much though is Japan’s equivalent to animation; better known as “Anime.” Manga author Masamune Shirow created a staggeringly successful sci-fi franchise with his “Ghost in the Shell” series, creating a line of Manga books, animated films, TV series and now; a live action American incarnation. The thing is, with the exception of “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Edge of Tomorrow”, every adaptation of an anime or Manga has been a disastrous failure; both financially and being respectful to the source material. Even the two Manga based films that were actually good still flopped at the box office. Films like “Speed Racer” and “Dragon Ball: Evolution” have proven that Hollywood still doesn’t know what to do with anime titles.
Still, director Rupert Sanders (Snow White and the Huntsman) decided to play his hand at the Anime adaptation game and bring one of Japan’s most successful Anime films/franchise to the US. In the distant future, a young woman known as “The Major” (Scarlett Johansson) discovers she is the victim of a terrorist attack; killing her family and her body. Her brain is implanted in a state-of-the-art robotic “shell” and joins Section 9 to stop the world’s worst criminals. However, when she encounters the mysterious cyber hacker Kuze (Michael Pitt), she learns that her past was covered up by the same company that gave her this robotic body. Now the Major is out for truth and vengeance and will stop at nothing to uncover who she really is.
Adapting any material will guarantee a gigantic split between fans: those that see this as a bastardization of something they love, and those that are hearing about this property for the first time. In a weird way, “Ghost in the Shell” is severely underwhelming and disappointing…but it’s possible because of HOW faithful it was to its source material that it ended up disappointing. Let me explain. The original “Ghost in the Shell” movie in 1995 was a visual and technical marvel, its use of animation and special effects blew the minds and wallets off audience members without even trying. However, the story was painfully boring, nonsensical at times and the cast was nothing but hollowed out, lifeless dolls with wafer thin personalities. The live action, 2017 take on “Ghost in the Shell” suffers from EXACTLY the same problems.
Masamune Shirow’s cyber world of androids, mind hacking and rogue Geisha robots is brought beautifully to life through the effects and CGI. Much like the 1995 Anime film, every technical, visual and auditory aspect is sculpted to sickening perfection and it’s a gorgeous piece of art to ogle at from start to finish. However, again much like the 1995 Anime film, the characters here are just as boring and just as lifeless as their ink and paint counterparts. Johansson received monumental controversy for her “whitewashing” of a Japanese character, though truthfully, her lackluster performance here is only to look poorly on her record more than anything else. She’s no stranger to good performances or sci-fi films, but it feels like absolutely no effort was put into her character, delivery, dialog or any of the other characters for that matter.
The only somewhat decent performances I could find under all the glitz and glam were Pilou Asbæk as Batou and Michael Pitt as Kuze. They were nowhere good enough to be called standouts but at least I felt some people were actually trying with those characters. This is the textbook definition of all flash and no substance. Compelling characters and meaningful storytelling take a back seat to flashy effects and rock’em sock’em robot shootouts and they never once get to sit in the driver’s seat. This is a by the numbers, predictable story that offers no surprises, no shocking twists and no noticeable effort. I’m not sure who this film was made for because fans of the Anime clearly won’t get past certain issues, but the film follows too much of the Anime film’s worst flaws that even American moviegoers who never seen or heard of “Ghost in the Shell” will like it either.
Overall, “Ghost in the Shell” is not the worst Anime American adaptation to date, but it’s not going to be changing anyone’s minds on the subject anytime soon either. This is a stunning, moving piece of visual art but nothing that comes out of the characters mouths or their motivations is anything of the sort. It’s a story you’ve seen told a thousand times with half the effort or heart. This film may have cost a pretty penny to make, but at the end, that’s all this movie is…pretty.
I give “Ghost in the Shell” 1 ½ stars out of 4.
