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ArsTechnica's reviewer, Sam Machkovech, opines:
The producers of this week's new Ghost in the Shell film must really believe nobody has seen its source material. That's the only way to enjoy this live-action reboot: oblivious to 1995's original anime film or its manga comic-book precursor. Scarlett Johansson runs around futuristic, CGI-filled worlds in a skin-tight outfit. She shoots guns, kicks faces, and beats the bad guys. Not bad.
But this pedestrian action movie looks nigh unbearable through the lens of the original series. Every bit of social commentary and science-fiction mystique that made the Japanese film and books so stunning has been wrung dry. Respect for the viewer goes into the garbage, replaced by an obnoxious, paint-by-numbers plot of good versus evil. And while I went into my screening ready to laugh off rumors of cast white-washing, I left the theater aghast at how blatantly that issue figured in the final product.
[...] The original film isn't an untouchable anime opus. Its sleepily slow pacing could have been tightened, and the script has its potholes. A live-action reboot may never have lived up to some of the original film's concepts, such as the maelstrom that is East Asian politics, but it could have kicked a lot of ass by at least retreading the basic plot details. Even today, the original feels like a topical, modern commentary on an Internet-of-things world—and that could have been easily reheated. Plus, this reboot deserves credit for a few cool CGI and action moments, along with perfectly solid action-movie acting performances. Johansson makes the most of the script and motivations she's given, and Pilou Asbæk (Johannson's co-star in Lucy) is a pitch-perfect choice to play her police sidekick Batou. (Plus, that character's implanted, robotic eyes look killer in this live-action version.)
But in this reboot, new, compelling plot threads are left to languish, and the original, genre-defining plot is carved up in the service of one of the more fine-but-forgettable action films in recent memory. It's like someone turned Gone with the Wind into a buddy-cop comedy starring Scarlett and Mammy. This reboot couldn't have missed the point harder.
What say you Soylentils? Worth seeing? If you are familiar with the originals, how did this version measure up for you? Is it worth watching as just a summer shoot-em-up action flick?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by julian on Monday April 03 2017, @04:49AM (4 children)
It has nothing to do with Scarjo being white. A beautiful white woman could play Motoko. The adaptation falls flat for being completely culturally unaware, and that means not understanding that the message of the original work was culturally specific. It wasn't racism, because the original animation was and is quite popular in the West.
They took on a difficult job and put forward a terrible effort in a medium it wasn't suited for within a culture that was alien to the point of the source material.
It would have been more surprising if it had been a good movie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @05:01AM (2 children)
Agreed, I don't think "white washing" is primarily a race thing anyway. Most anime characters look white anyway. The cultural differences are bigger, and personally I just don't think Johannson was the actress they should have gone with. I'm still not sure how she got a reputation for kicking ass, I guess it is Marvel's fault?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @05:05AM (1 child)
I think I'd rather see a Naruto remake (but not anime type) than this kind of crap coming out of Hollywood.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @05:44AM
Many of the Japanese live action movies I've seen look like campy trash to me. Hollywood knows how to gloss up its trash, spray some Febreze on it, etc. That can end up being better or worse.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 03 2017, @05:08AM
It's like a trailer trash version of the Mona Lisa put on display at the Museum of Fart.