Exclusive film review: Ghost in the Shell

Newsroom 28/04/2017 | 13:15

In a futuristic Hong Kong, humans can get spare parts from robots to heal their injuries and generally improve their all-round functioning. The company pioneering the technology, Hanka Robotics, is working on a special project: putting a real brain into a mechanical body, thereby combining the best of human and robot, to make a high-performing, indestructible, crime-fighting machine.

By Debbie Stowe

Mira (Scarlett Johansson), a young woman seriously wounded by a terrorist attack that left her orphaned, is the product of the top-secret experiments. Despite the misgivings of her designer, Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche), she is put to work on the counter-terrorism squad, where she quickly rises through the ranks to become Major.

But Mira is troubled. Not only does she have difficulty remembering anything of her life pre-augmentation, while being plagued with hallucinations, but strange things are going on at Hanka, including a series of suspicious deaths. Soon, to the annoyance of the company’s dead-eyed CEO Cutter (Peter Ferdinando), Mira is going rogue, conducting her own investigation.

Cue lots of Matrix-style robotic fighting. Although, given that the movie’s source material is a Japanese manga said to have inspired the Wachowski brothers’ trilogy, director Rupert Sanders is not necessarily the one doing the borrowing.

Ghost in the Shell’s origins in animation are evident in its impressive look. Almost all the scenes are visually captivating, from the high-tech Hong Kong skyline to the dank and gloomy rebel underworld and the pristine corporate labs.

The plot is less powerful. Stories of huge, innovative corporations that might or might not be ethically dubious are a tired trope, one which feels old, even though the film’s aesthetic is so modern.

The acting is decent enough. Johansson’s lack of range is not an impediment given that she’s playing a cyborg – a bit like when directors cast Keanu Reeves as an alien so they could have a much-loved star in their film without it being ruined by his woodenness.

Ghost in the Shell’s main weakness is probably the fighting versus non-fighting ratio, which is tilted too far in favor of fighting. The story works best in the moments of neat characterization, deduction and enlightenment, when Mira gets closer to the mystery of what’s going on at the corporation. Its shootouts, ambushes, punch-ups, chases and melees are done with some style, but overall they drag on too long, and distract from the narrative build and tension.

Another criticism has been that of whitewashing: the source material is Japanese, as are the main characters, and the parachuting in of white actors to play most of the lead roles has not gone down well with critics. The presence of non-Asians can partly be explained with the transposition of the action to Hong Kong, where white people are a more common sight than in the more monoethnic Japan, but it still strikes a jarring note, especially later in the film when Mira’s hazy background becomes clearer.

Romanian viewers’ interest in the casting choices may instead focus on the appearance of Anamaria Marinca, of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days fame, as a Hanka doctor.

It’s not a particularly memorable movie, and, unlike some superior sci-fi flicks, doesn’t attempt to engage with the big questions presented by the narrative, such as the nature of humanity and the ethics of biotechnology. However, Ghost in the Shell’s charms, fleeting as they are, outweigh its lack of originality and overreliance on high-octane action.

DIRECTOR: Rupert Sanders

STARRING: Scarlett Johansson, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han, Juliette Binoche, Anamaria Marinca

ON AT: Movieplex Cinema Plaza, Grand Cinema & More, Happy Cinema, Cine Globe Titan, Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Cotroceni VIP, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Cinema City Mega Mall, T IMAX®, Cinema City ParkLake, Cinema City ParkLake VIP

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