Ghost In The Shell

This review may contain spoilers!

This might be one of the most visually stunning films so far this year but the story is a bit of a disaster. I would give Ghost In The Shell a 6/10.

The setting of the world Ghost In The Shell takes place in is inherently quite fascinating, I was very impressed with seeing a population who viewed technology as a form of evolution on one hand and on the other there were people who had to live with technology and felt significantly less than human. The main character of Major really empathises this struggle, there are several great scenes where her existence as more machine than human makes her feel very isolated and alone. The cinematography is beautiful and captures some of the most absolutely hypnotising shots, I especially enjoyed how the director made use of water environments to create some very memorable visuals. The special effects are unlike anything I've seen over the course of the year so far, well crafted 'holograms' are scattered in the forefront or the background throughout the feature and the CGI machines look visually stunning. The fight sequences are brilliantly executed, they have such natural progression and feel as smooth as the camera work accompanying them. The score for the film is another great aspect, with a technological edge that makes me think of a grittier Tron: Legacy.

Scarlett Johansson, who played Major, made for quite a good leading performer; Johansson really captures how lost the Major is living in a machine body and the hurt she exhibits upon discovering her true origins is very well done. Pilou Asbaek, who played Batou, might be big gruff law enforcer but he has a lot of heart, his recovery after losing his eyes is probably one of the sadder scenes in the film. Juliette Binoche, who played Dr Ouelet, shows a great sense of care for Major's life and is a very compelling guardian role; her ethical debates with Ferdinando make for some fascinating moments of dialogue. Peter Ferdinando, who played Cutter, made what could have been a very generic antagonist actually quite compelling; Ferdinando had a cold methodical edge and always approached a scene with a sense of reason and strategy. Adwoa Aboah, who played Lia, has a very standout scene with Johansson in this film; this scene is great to watch because it brings forth questions about what it means to be human and Aboah's mix of fascination and fear really makes it.

However the best performance came from Michael Pitt, who played Kuze. As far as initially antagonistic figures go Pitt brought forth something out of a dystopic nightmare, this was a conquest from a machine. Yet the scene where Johansson and Pitt meet for the first time brings out such a deeper aspect to the character, Pitt shows a loss of identity and an inescapable need for vengeance that makes Kuze quite the tragic figure. The more we come to see Pitt's role the better we understand how experimentation and his existence within his robot body has made him incredibly vulnerable and isolated. If this film achieves nothing else, you will feel a lot of grief due to Pitt's incredible performance.

Where this film fails is that it does not construct a very interesting main storyline, the idea that the company who made Major is evil and that the antagonist is the experiment before her is a film that has been done multiple times over in recent years. Furthermore the way the final act rushes to pump up he action scenes feels very strained, suddenly characters who have been inactive for most of the film are capable of awesome and staggering feats like shooting down a helicopter or taking out a hit squad singlehandedly. The backstory subplot around the Major is what really let this feature down, it was so poorly brought together that it became rather jarring. The introduction of the Major's mother felt as if it had come out of nowhere and the way the film established that Major used to be a young Asian woman seemed in poor taste considering the film's casting and setting.

Takeshi Kitano, who played Aramaki, is quite a dull character for most of the film; as a leader role he doesn't really seem to fit until he suddenly becomes some sort of weird out of character action hero in the last twenty minutes. Chin Han, Danusia Samal and Lasarus Ratuere, who played Han, Ladriya and Ishikawa respectively, were a collection of rather background performances who supposedly comprised Major's 'team'; the way they were made more relevant by gaining a ton of action time in the last twenty minutes was very poorly handled. Anamaria Marinca, who played Dr Dahlin, was a very gruff side role with little reason for aiding the main characters in the ways that she did; her death scene was treated as a big deal but you never felt she connected with the rest of the cast. Kaori Momoi, who played Hairi, is a very over the top and convenient role in this film; her sudden introduction at the start of the film's final act is a jarring experience to say the least.