Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell

Starring Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt

Directed by Rupert Sanders

The Story:
In the future, cybernetic enhancements are as common as breathing, and they're used to better enhance the body that gives people better abilities and essentially make them eternal.  Major (Scarlett Johansson) was involved in an event that led to her death, but her brain remained intact, so it was placed in an artificial body, and she became the first of her kind, being a perfect blend of human and machine.  Her mind and soul - or "ghost," as it is common referred - remains intact and her body - referred to as the "shell" - houses her ghost. 

One year later, she works for Section 9, an anti-terrorist group led by Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano), but she's experiencing glitches that could point to her life before her "death."  She turns to Doctor Ouelet (Juliette Binoche), who she considers her mother, to help find the answers while fighting cyber terrorist Kuze (Michael Pitt), who also warns her not to trust the people she works for.  As her glitches become more apparent, she learns the real purpose of her existence and the past she had forgotten, which puts her in danger with the very company she works for.

The Synopsis:
I'm going to begin by saying I've never seen the original anime movie or read the original manga, so I'm basing my review solely on the film I saw.

Scarlett Johansson is one of today's biggest action heroines, appearing in "Under the Skin," "Lucy" and as Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  While she's in danger of being typecast in this type of role, it suits her well and she does a tremendous job here, even if it's slightly reminiscent of her previous works.  As Major, she plays the typical character of someone who has their memory erased, yet still has glimpses of a past she knows nothing about, and as she delves deeper into finding out her past, she learns that the people she trusted might not be the people she thought they were.

While the story is a very generic one, it's lavishly wrapped in magnificent CGI and robotics, with dazzling action and awe-inspiring set pieces that draw you into the movie in a way that other films might not have been able to accomplish.  Still, there's no escaping the simplistic plot that can be read a mile away, but at least it was an enjoyable predictability.

Another issue with the movie (other than the fact that critics claim the film was being "whitewashed" because the original source material featured an Asian star, something I don't particularly find that important because form the little I've seen of the actual series Johansson closely resembles the character) is the lack of character depth and emotion.  This could stem from the fact that the world we see is one that mixes humanity and machine, where emotions aren't shown and we're not given a deeper character depth because of that.  Johansson strives to find out who she was, but her search seemed as important to her as finding a missing set of spare car keys.  Ditto for the main "villain" in Kuze, whom is acted with about as much emotion as Siri on a bender.  The only character who really emotes emotion is Juliette Binoche's Dr. Ouelet, who holds a particular motherly bond with the Major,and her character is the most conflicted in the entire film.

The Summary:
While the story is simplistic and predictable, Scarlett Johansson's performance elevates it to something more than it was, plus the addition of stellar CGI, robotics and action help propel it to an exciting adventure.

The Score: A-