Before I get into this review, let me start off by saying that I'm very familiar with the original Ghost in the Shell. Overall, the original was an excellent movie. Moving on, I'm pleasantly surprised how good Ghost in the Shell 2017 is. Within the first 5 minutes, I was immersed in the film's atmosphere. It seemed as if the music and sound, the camera angles, the lighting and effects, the acting, etc, all served a purpose for the greater good of the movie. Never once did I get the feeling that the special effects were there to just be eye candy. All the elements of production seemed to synergize off of each other. It seemed that every singe ounce and aspect of production effects were used to their full potential. The film looked gorgeous, and sounded awesome. Every scene had a sense of wonder to it as there was always something to visually admire. Wardrobe was amazing as well. The acting was ok, but I'm a little biased since I'm not too fond of Scarlet J.Beat Takishi was phenomenal (as always). The actor who stood out the most was Pilou Asbæk as Batou. His performance, body language, and overall presence was great to watch.
The only reservation I had about the film was the story line. The only comparison I will make to the original is that this 2017 counterpart is more streamlined compared to the nihilistic tone of the original. I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad thing, it's just different. This definitely had a more mainstream appeal to it. Again, not bad, just different. The action scenes were breathtaking and exciting. The few times I've felt this type of excitement towards action scenes were 1) The first time I saw the trailer for The 5th Element and 2) The first time I saw the trailer for The Matrix.
Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about Ghost in the Shell (2017). It's a pure sci-fi movie down to its core. While it doesn't alienate most of its viewers, it doesn't spoon feed plot, character motivation, or dialogue. In my completely subjective opinion, it is a visual appealing, streamlined masterpiece of the original.
