Ghost in the Shell

Typically when we see films that are either post-apocalyptic or set in a future of some time, we often get a grim premise at best. Although being grim, they are often intriguing in their premise. Whereas "The Fifth Element" was a drama with some comedic moments, "Ghost in the Shell", which has a similar feel to Element, is a drama with no real comedic moments.

 

In the near future, Major Motoko Kusanagi (Scarlett Johansson) is the first of her kind: a human saved from a terrible terrorist attack who is cyber-enhanced but with a transplanted human brain in order to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people's minds and control them, Major Kusanagi is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major Kusanagi discovers that she has been lied to: her life was not saved, it was actually stolen. She and her colleague, Batou (Pilou Asbaek) will stop at nothing to recover her past, find out who did this and stop them before they do it to others.

 

Others to round out the cast are Takeshi Kitano as Aramaki, Juliette Binoche as Dr. Ouelet, Michael Carmen Pitt as Kuze, Chin Han as Togusa, Danusia Samal as Ladriya, Lasarus Ratuere as Ishikawa, Anamaria Marinca as Dr. Dahlin, Yutaka Izumihara as Saito, Tawanda Manyimo as Borma and Peter Ferdinando as Cutter.

 

This was stylistically directed by Rupert Sanders ("Snow White and the Huntsman" '12) plus shorts. Although this director doesn't have a tremendous amount of experience in the director's chair, his style is exceptionally distinctive. The way he was able to get Johansson to convey human emotions with robotic characteristics was subtle and conveyed well. He will go far in this field. It was cleverly written by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler and Ehren Kruger based on the comic "The Ghost in the Shell" by Shirow Masamune. The experience of these writers run the gambit from one to many films to their credit. Kruger has the lion's share of the experience and it shows with this screenplay. Sure, it does have a couple of very small places of slowness, but this storyline is cohesive, tight and well thought out. It is as slick as the glossy overtones it emulates. And Johansson is superb in her role as Major. Visually, it is stunning as were the costumes.

 

This sci-fi flick is slick and moves right along keeping the audience glued to their proverbial seats. Production values as well as the story is entertaining and keeps one's attention all in a 4DX format is that is something you might want to try out.

 

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                       Rated: PG-13                                     107mins.