Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman, July 18, 2017

Most movie fans will recognize the nameas one of the all-time classic Anime films , as well as the larger franchise built around it (not to mention the original manga), rather than as an original property by way of its live-action adaptation. The story of combining flesh and technology in a dark Blade Runner -like future, the narrative serves as a warning sign as the potential for man and machine to meld becomes an ever more realistic proposition. The original was well ahead of its time and remains relevant today as a tight, exciting, and thought-provoking cautionary tale. The live action adaptation, in counter to the movie's very title, is little more than the shell; there's almost no soul despite the interesting, if not obviously recycled, contemplative themes. It's not entirely reliant on action and visual effects, and the themes do speak loudly and clearly, but one cannot shake the feeling that the film is little more than disposable entertainment that best leaves the thematic complexity to the original manga and classic animated film.In the future, technology has advanced to the point that the line between man and machine has become blurred. Cybernetic implants are commonplace, allowing feats of knowledge and dexterity previously impossible to man as easy as a brief medical procedure. A young woman, Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson), is the sole survivor of a deadly cyberterror attack that took her parents' lives. The attack may not have killed her, but it did injure her enough to make her an ideal candidate for a "life saving" transplant in which her brain was placed in a cybernetic shell. She's an unwitting pioneer, the first such transplant patient. A year passes. She's adapted to her new body and is a Major in the anti-terror group Section 9, partnered with an enhanced man named Batou (Pilou Asbæk). A routine counter terror mission places the Major on a path of discovery that will redefine everything she knows about herself, the world, and the technology around her.'s central story of the marriage of man and machine and the consequences thereof on the individual and the larger society are more relevant today than when the original film released more than two decades ago. Then, the technological revolution was still in its infancy; twenty-plus years have changed the world, not to the point that the world is an unrecognizable and out-of-control technocracy (yet), but the story seems much more valid and plausible today. That would seem to make this the perfect time to reintroduce the story to a wider, more contemporary audience and, indeed, the film does just that, promising and delivering a tightly dressed Scarlett Johansson, awe-inspiring visual effects, and action aplenty in the process. But even as the film explores its most fundamental and complex themes to satisfaction, one cannot help but feel that much of it is drowned out by style, that for all of the movie's efforts to the contrary its superficialities come to define it more than its narrative intricacies. For a movie of this nature, that's a death sentence. That successful balance is what makes a similar move like The Matrix so compelling.cannot compete with that depth of story and depth of action. Try as it might, it cannot consistently merge the two with any significance, and the action and style take command far more often than do the narrative drivers.The film is nevertheless an enjoyable, though certainly flawed, experience at that raw entertainment vessel level. It introduces no real new ideas or cinematic styles, but it's a solid enough entertainer and those superficialities will largely keep the viewer engaged, even as there are times when the plot becomes a plodding morass rather than a kinetic, fast-moving narrative blitz. Action comes furiously and with some quality support details in terms of props, places, and special effects. Gun battles are enjoyably organic and the world, as dense as it may be, feels vibrant and inspired. Of course, much of it will feel very familiar to fans of the original Anime. Thispainstakingly recreates a number of memorable moments and shots from the original and, at times, takes various elements of the larger series and creates an amalgamation for use in this film. It's comfortable, and familiarity with the original film will help audiences overcome this version's lack of ultra-intensive narrative study and characterization to slide by, a bit, knowing what it is trying to do while enjoying its visual richness along the way. At best, this is a compliment to the original, certainly not a replacement. It's simply asking too much of a big studio film to capture the same essence as an original classic these days.tries remarkably hard, and often comes close, but in the end its emphasis falls in the wrong place.