The Ghost In The Shell * * 1/2

 

Scarlet as "The Major getting ready for action

Apparently this originates from a popular Japanese comic book.  But as it has American Dollars behind it they have decided to “whitewash” it,  as they say.

    Set in the future, Scarlett Johansson plays a character called The Major.  She has a mechanical body but a human brain.  The exterior of her body is made up of flesh coloured panels that fit seamlessly together so when she drops her outer garment to be freed up for action she looks like a very pretty naked young lady, which, as you can imagine,  gives her quite an impressive entrance.  But if you are her target, any admiration of her will soon be soured by a kick to the chest (or elsewhere) or a bullet to the head as she cartwheels through the room.

    A lot of this high action you will see in the beginning, but unfortunately soon after we are back in the lab/head office with discussions about this and that and who owns what.  We learn she is part of a special operations group built by a corrupt organisation.

    The film then mucks about for the next 50 minutes with many a forgettable scene until we finally get a serious realisation, along with the main character, and get back on track with a scenario that gives us some actual drama and something to care about.

    One of the most impressive scenes is The Major meeting with an older Asian lady in a housing commission flat.  Funny how a scene like that can leave much more of a lasting impression than a huge tank that walks around like a spider

     Otherwise It provides a superb vision of a futuristic city,with huge hologram advertisements and slick technology but still with crowded market stalls no different to our own (a bit like Bladerunner). I guess the cars are reflecting the comic book as they all look like sports cars from the 1970’s. (If you give it five minutes thought you’d have to conclude there  won’t be any personally driven cars in the future.)

   It’s 100 minutes long and cost over 200 Million Dollars to make (do the maths).  A smaller budget would have probably served it well as they’d have had to do more of that drama stuff, rather than so many amazing visuals.