Rupert Sanders' Ghost in the Shell is all visuals, but that's just about it
The moment Juliette Binoche's character in "Ghost in the Shell" (2017, USA), a live-action remake of the Japanese anime directed by Mamoru Oshii (which, in turn, was adapted from the manga), practically "explains" the meaning of the film's title (like what's the "ghost"? what's the "shell"?) early on to Scarlett Johansson's cyborg character, I intuitively know that we're in for a big trouble. Such an expository dialogue spoon-feeding the audience right away, instead of them discovering for themselves the essence of the title - and of the film itself - as the movie progresses is a sure deal-breaker for a good and rich cinematic experience. True enough (as this film junkie eventually finds out), this latest version of "Ghost in the Shell", directed by Rupert Sanders, is yet another incontrovertible proof that Hollywood shouldn't really tinker with the untouchable ("Psycho"? "Solaris"? "Oldboy"? "The Magnificent Seven"? It's only a matter of time before someone lays his hands on "A Clockwork Orange"!) A noted Filipino film critic wrote many years ago that "Hollywood is the destroyer of all things lovely". Up till now, that wisdom regrettably still applies. Heaven only knows when such blasphemy will come to an end.
To its credit, this Scarlett Johansson cyberpunk-starrer has plenty of knock-out visuals, fully realizing the kind of high-tech future envisioned by the anime. And perhaps to appease the fans who were understandably alarmed when news of the live-action remake initially came out a couple of years ago (especially when it was learned that it was Johansson who would eventually play the lead character), Sanders re-created some of the important scenes from Oshii's film (for example, the setpiece involving the two garbage-truck drivers). It all looks pretty and dazzling enough. But then, Oshii didn't envision "Ghost in the Shell" to be purely a visual spectacle. All icing without the cake surely tastes hollow. And that's what I felt about Sanders' "Ghost in the Shell".
More than a visual and technical marvel, Oshii's film most importantly delved into the questions of identity and selfhood in an increasingly mechanized world, where the line between man and machine already becomes blurred. Being a philosophical sci-fi that shares a kindred spirit with such Andrei Tarkovsky classics as "Solaris" and "Stalker", the tone and pace of Oshii's film are decidedly deliberate, moody and dreamy. As is characteristic of Japanese cinema, Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell" is reflective at best. The action sequences serve the film's ontological musings.
The action scenes in Sanders' film, on the other hand, merely trump the anime's - and of course, the manga's - philosophical substance. To be fair, the screenplay (credited to no less than three writers) does touch upon the questions posed in Oshii's film, by way of Johansson's Major (or Motoko) Kusanagi occasionally wondering blank-eye about the nature of her existence. But then, the inquiry is more of a gloss than an analysis. It just becomes the excuse for, rather than the essence of, Kusanagi's high-charge encounters. Sanders may have been able to make the film a feast for the senses (even having it designed for IMAX viewing, a privilege which was remotely possible for the anime back in its day), but when one goes deep into it, there's really nothing much to explore. The result then is rather an unengaging filmic experience. Or putting it in another way, this Hollywood version may have "engaged" the viewers' eyes, but not their minds. I'd prefer anytime the intellectual pleasures of "Stalker" over the hollow eye-candy of this particular version of "Ghost in the Shell". (And I think it wouldn't make any difference to how I viewed the film if it did happen that I wasn't able to see first Oshii's cult classic.)
Johansson, who was memorable in "Under the Skin", "Lucy" and "Her" (and to think that she was just a "voice" in the latter film) where she all played "half-human" characters, just doesn't register strongly as the cyborg Major Kusanagi, who could really be an amalgam of her roles in the three aforementioned films (and we can even include her Black Widow character in "The Avengers" movies). The actress does try her best, even in the way she postures herself, hunched and all, but the way her character was written works against her. In Oshii's film, the heroine actually carries out the task attendant with her assigned identity with a resigned willingness. Suffice it to say that she could have really embraced her destiny. Johansson as the Major, however, conveys some kind of half-heartedness (no pun here) over her entire identity and how she's being used by those who created her. She could really be just seeing herself as no more than a guinea pig, subject to the dictates and whims of others. In that sense, her character is actually weak, in contrast to the indelible potency exhibited by her previous characters in the aforementioned films. Not even the presence of such great artists as Juliette Binoche and Takeshi Kitano can inject vigor into this what really feels to be a soul-less film. Binoche, as the scientist who helped in creating the Major, is in fact miscast;while Kitano, who is the "Section 9" chief for which the Major works, shows none of the deadpan savagery that he skillfully exhibited in the films that he directed and starred in (even if he gets to bring out his gun towards the end).
I hate to say this, but I can't really bring myself to sympathize with any of the characters in the film. Not necessarily because they're machines, but because they're just plain hollow. At least Chappie (from the Neill Blomkamp sci-fi movie) was able to tug my heart. Perhaps, a Hollywood blockbuster fare isn't really meant to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. The least that Sanders could've probably done was to turn "Ghost in the Shell" into a more brutal and graphic affair (along the ranks of "John Wick" and "Logan"). But even the fight scenes in this PG-rated fare are simply uninteresting and bloodless - even when Takeshi Kitano finally gets to shoot his gun! Ah yes, the violence in the movie is mostly directed against cyborgs, that's why not a drip of blood is seen. Dumb me.
(Scarlett Johansson portrays another half-human, half-something character in Rupert Sanders' version of the Japanese cult classic "Ghost in the Shell")
To its credit, this Scarlett Johansson cyberpunk-starrer has plenty of knock-out visuals, fully realizing the kind of high-tech future envisioned by the anime. And perhaps to appease the fans who were understandably alarmed when news of the live-action remake initially came out a couple of years ago (especially when it was learned that it was Johansson who would eventually play the lead character), Sanders re-created some of the important scenes from Oshii's film (for example, the setpiece involving the two garbage-truck drivers). It all looks pretty and dazzling enough. But then, Oshii didn't envision "Ghost in the Shell" to be purely a visual spectacle. All icing without the cake surely tastes hollow. And that's what I felt about Sanders' "Ghost in the Shell".
More than a visual and technical marvel, Oshii's film most importantly delved into the questions of identity and selfhood in an increasingly mechanized world, where the line between man and machine already becomes blurred. Being a philosophical sci-fi that shares a kindred spirit with such Andrei Tarkovsky classics as "Solaris" and "Stalker", the tone and pace of Oshii's film are decidedly deliberate, moody and dreamy. As is characteristic of Japanese cinema, Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell" is reflective at best. The action sequences serve the film's ontological musings.
The action scenes in Sanders' film, on the other hand, merely trump the anime's - and of course, the manga's - philosophical substance. To be fair, the screenplay (credited to no less than three writers) does touch upon the questions posed in Oshii's film, by way of Johansson's Major (or Motoko) Kusanagi occasionally wondering blank-eye about the nature of her existence. But then, the inquiry is more of a gloss than an analysis. It just becomes the excuse for, rather than the essence of, Kusanagi's high-charge encounters. Sanders may have been able to make the film a feast for the senses (even having it designed for IMAX viewing, a privilege which was remotely possible for the anime back in its day), but when one goes deep into it, there's really nothing much to explore. The result then is rather an unengaging filmic experience. Or putting it in another way, this Hollywood version may have "engaged" the viewers' eyes, but not their minds. I'd prefer anytime the intellectual pleasures of "Stalker" over the hollow eye-candy of this particular version of "Ghost in the Shell". (And I think it wouldn't make any difference to how I viewed the film if it did happen that I wasn't able to see first Oshii's cult classic.)
Johansson, who was memorable in "Under the Skin", "Lucy" and "Her" (and to think that she was just a "voice" in the latter film) where she all played "half-human" characters, just doesn't register strongly as the cyborg Major Kusanagi, who could really be an amalgam of her roles in the three aforementioned films (and we can even include her Black Widow character in "The Avengers" movies). The actress does try her best, even in the way she postures herself, hunched and all, but the way her character was written works against her. In Oshii's film, the heroine actually carries out the task attendant with her assigned identity with a resigned willingness. Suffice it to say that she could have really embraced her destiny. Johansson as the Major, however, conveys some kind of half-heartedness (no pun here) over her entire identity and how she's being used by those who created her. She could really be just seeing herself as no more than a guinea pig, subject to the dictates and whims of others. In that sense, her character is actually weak, in contrast to the indelible potency exhibited by her previous characters in the aforementioned films. Not even the presence of such great artists as Juliette Binoche and Takeshi Kitano can inject vigor into this what really feels to be a soul-less film. Binoche, as the scientist who helped in creating the Major, is in fact miscast;while Kitano, who is the "Section 9" chief for which the Major works, shows none of the deadpan savagery that he skillfully exhibited in the films that he directed and starred in (even if he gets to bring out his gun towards the end).
I hate to say this, but I can't really bring myself to sympathize with any of the characters in the film. Not necessarily because they're machines, but because they're just plain hollow. At least Chappie (from the Neill Blomkamp sci-fi movie) was able to tug my heart. Perhaps, a Hollywood blockbuster fare isn't really meant to be intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. The least that Sanders could've probably done was to turn "Ghost in the Shell" into a more brutal and graphic affair (along the ranks of "John Wick" and "Logan"). But even the fight scenes in this PG-rated fare are simply uninteresting and bloodless - even when Takeshi Kitano finally gets to shoot his gun! Ah yes, the violence in the movie is mostly directed against cyborgs, that's why not a drip of blood is seen. Dumb me.
(Scarlett Johansson portrays another half-human, half-something character in Rupert Sanders' version of the Japanese cult classic "Ghost in the Shell")
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