Ghost In The Shell (2017 film)

This is by no means one of the most controversial Hollywood take on a hit anime franchise since...er...um...you get the point and this Hollywood remake on a Mamoru Oshii masterpiece that the Aint-It-Cool-News once called a "breathtaking leap forward in the history of science fiction and anime". Sadly though, this Hollywood live-action take on Ghost In The Shell has a lot of explaining to do for the otaku community and movie junkies alike and let's find out why.

Ghost In The Shell (2017 film)

Here it is, the movie in question, and this action film stars Scarlett Johansson as The Major, inspired by the anime franchise's Major Motoko Kusanagi, and set in the same timeframe as the original classic anime film that started it all, well just about, The Major, a female government cyber agent and the Internal Bureau of Investigations are gunning down against a computer hacker who unleashed a virus that can invade cybernetic brains and altering its victim's memory. The nefarious computer hacker in question was actually a prototype virtual agent created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has now defied its makers and unleash cybernetic hell on earth. Now, both agencies are on a deadly cat-and-mouse game against a powerful enemy.

For an average movie goer, there's no problem about how cool and how hardcore this movie is even with some stuff that feels like it came from sci-fi action flicks in the likes of The Matrix trilogy, Aeon Flux, and Ultraviolet. It's somewhat fluidic, intense, suspenseful, and thrilling fit enough for an action movie of this magnitude. 

For an anime otaku, however, this film is a complete disaster and a complete waste for the franchise, despite the makers of this defended their views that it was the right thing to do with it. Still, could be worse, this film is just another victim of the so-called whitewashing trend, which involves using Western actors for Asian character roles. Most critics believed that having Johansson in the role of The Major is not right and needs to be someone Asian to fit that role but in the views of Sir Mamoru Oshii, he thinks that having Scarlett Johansson playing the role of The Major is the right thing to do and it's hard to explain what's what about this film.

To sum this film up, even though this is visually thrilling for action movie junkies, this live-action take on a Mamoru Oshii masterpiece is a complete waste for the franchise and there are doubts that any Japanese watching this film may feel offended about this Hollywood remake of the legendary GITS anime film and they should tell filmmakers that when it comes to making Hollywood live-action films based on anime franchises, they need to be very considerate in the future.

My rating: 2.6 out 5