GHOST IN THE SHELL(2017) movie review

I first saw “Ghost In The Shell” back in the 90’s during the advent of anime fever in the Philippines. It was an innovative anime movie that shows there is diversity in anime or Japanese animation that all people should be aware of.

 

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

There are anime genres that have specific audience. Ghost In The Shell was published in a seinen manga. Manga is the term used for Japanese comic books and seinen is the term for adolescent boy. This genre caters to young boys who are already aware of sexuality. It may be a taboo in the Philippines but Japanese has a different culture.

But Ghost In The Shell is not hentai Yes, it may be graphic and shows the main character Major in the Hollywood version and Motoko Kusanagi in the original movie in skin-tight covert gear that appeared nude; but it is an intelligent story. In the original anime, the dialogues were so deep and very philosophical. In this Hollywood movie, it toned down.

You may find it similar to The Matrix when Major connects her wires to the network because it was Ghost In The Shell that inspired the Wachowski brothers to developed The Matrix. If you’ve seen the original anime, Motoko looks similar to Trinity. The good thing about the movie, Scarlett Johansson didn’t look like Trinity.

The Hollywood version opened a “can of worms” because of it. The movie adaptations of Aeon Flux and Dragonball (Evolution) are examples of epic failure. Not only that, it began making Major a Caucasian instead of Asian. But after watching the movie, I never thought of it as whitewashing anymore. The movie is also not a direct adaptation since it became an origin story which I appreciate more.

As for Major’s skintight gear, it got more detailed that it is also a piece of technology. Ghost In The Shell didn’t divert from the original source but it got me impressed with the semi-direction it took from the original. It turned out OK for me and I am looking forward for a sequel of the story. Director Rupert Sanders may not did well with Snow White and The Huntsman but he was able to redeem himself with Ghost In The Shell.

The only flaw of the movie was they didn't explore the direction of which the original animation took off. The original animation asks the question, does a machine have a soul? Maybe the production didn't include this so there won't be some criticism from deist audience. What made me wonder in this movie was how close are we in achieving cybernetics in real life. There are some medical breakthroughs that almost replace our body parts with artificial ones. Maybe someday, cyborgs will no longer be limited to science fiction but in reality.

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