As a fan of the original Anime, Ghost in The Shell (1995) is an intelligent and influential piece of cyberpunk fiction that was too short and featured way too much political jargo. This live action adaptation expands the run time and trims majority of the original's needless political dialogue but it sadly misses 'the point' of the original anime.
Upon initially watching this film, I felt it deserved around an 8/10 as the cinematography, music and overall production of the movie is really high and it's great from this prospective. Scarlett Johansson also does a great job as Major (despite not being Asian and the backlash she received from the role) and the rest of the acting is pretty good here and the action is solid as well; solid translation to live action in these departments.
In terms of plot, however, upon reflection I felt Ghost in The Shell suffers in that it re-writes core elements of the original story which doesn't come together as well in my opinion - some of the character expansion featured is appreciated but some of the film really doesn't adapt some of the stronger philosophical elements of the original and this was a large part of its popularity. The original anime had some deep, subtle moments and it feels as if this was thrown away for a more personal story but it doesn't feel satisfying. The final act should've followed the original material much closer.
In my opinion, watch the original for a better story adaptation but do give this live action version a watch even just for the music and visuals as they are really good!
Upon initially watching this film, I felt it deserved around an 8/10 as the cinematography, music and overall production of the movie is really high and it's great from this prospective. Scarlett Johansson also does a great job as Major (despite not being Asian and the backlash she received from the role) and the rest of the acting is pretty good here and the action is solid as well; solid translation to live action in these departments.
In terms of plot, however, upon reflection I felt Ghost in The Shell suffers in that it re-writes core elements of the original story which doesn't come together as well in my opinion - some of the character expansion featured is appreciated but some of the film really doesn't adapt some of the stronger philosophical elements of the original and this was a large part of its popularity. The original anime had some deep, subtle moments and it feels as if this was thrown away for a more personal story but it doesn't feel satisfying. The final act should've followed the original material much closer.
In my opinion, watch the original for a better story adaptation but do give this live action version a watch even just for the music and visuals as they are really good!