Ghost in the Shell - Hollow, Soulless, a Shell, etc.

Tanis

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Aug 30, 2010
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"looks pretty but is emotionally and intellectually vapid."
"Visually stunning but with nothing else going for it"

Sad to say, this feels like SarJo's WHOLE CAREER.

I've yet to see her go past the whole 'Keanu Reeves' level of emotional acting.
Don't get me wrong.
She's pretty and she can do nice looking action scenes, but that's about it.

Her best films are when she's saying little, looking pretty while bouncing around like an 80s action star.

Anytime she tries to do anything 'deep' or that requires more than three emotions...she fails.

But, hey, at least it's not as bad as Avatar:TLA's movie...right?
 

Metalrocks

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so far i heard mixed reviews of it. also i expected it not to be great. but im still going to watch it once i have finally my time off.
 

Mister K

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Apr 25, 2011
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Burnouts3s3 said:
Okay, let's address the elephant in the room. How do you all feel about the white washing aspect of the movie?

Especially when

it's revealed that Mira Killian, the main character in the movie, is revealed to be Motoko Kusanagi, who was originally of Japanese descent, killed in a raid and implanted into a Caucasian woman's body?
Meh, I don't see the point of it. What does it add to her character? I guess literally nothing.

I guess it was just a late-production adition to make the movie somehow closer to the original, though it feel like a cheap cop-out attempt. "No, guys, come on, she is still Motoko, we are keeping it pure".

Look, either don't change anything significant or at the very least stick to your guns.

I mean, if it was clever, or added something to the story besides "the tech in this world is WHACK, YO!", then it would've been fine. As it is? Not really.
 

Gordon_4_v1legacy

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I made peace with the idea of ScarJo as the Major, indeed I felt the direction they took of her being a Japanese woman who was placed in a cybernetic body was consistent with in-universe behaviour there was something I heard about in a few reviews - spoilers below:

That rather than it being a voluntary procedure as (I presume) it was in the movie and Stand Alone Complex due a severe accident to receive a new body in exchange for service in Section 9 for the Japanese government, here it is the result of illegal experimentation on her as a runaway

What the fuck is that nonsense?

I mean I had other minor complaints like that Section 9 is no longer a law enforcement arm of the Japanese government but now basically Japan's answer to Blackwater, and for some ungodly reason Togusa is being played by an actor who is in his late 40s when he's supposed to be more than a decade younger with a young wife and child. Like those both suck but I could have cast those aside but the above item? What the fuck?
 

Dalisclock

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So, from what I've read, it looks like they took the 95 movie, appended part of the Plot Arc from SAC and the anti-hero/anti-villain Kuze from 2nd Gig and invented yet another origin story for the Major that apparently seemed a lot more clever in the writers brain then it actually was, creating a big mess of everything.

Gotcha. Don't need to bother with it.
 

MetalheroDamien

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Mar 25, 2010
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Gordon_4 said:
I made peace with the idea of ScarJo as the Major, indeed I felt the direction they took of her being a Japanese woman who was placed in a cybernetic body was consistent with in-universe behaviour there was something I heard about in a few reviews - spoilers below:

That rather than it being a voluntary procedure as (I presume) it was in the movie and Stand Alone Complex due a severe accident to receive a new body in exchange for service in Section 9 for the Japanese government, here it is the result of illegal experimentation on her as a runaway

What the fuck is that nonsense?

I mean I had other minor complaints like that Section 9 is no longer a law enforcement arm of the Japanese government but now basically Japan's answer to Blackwater, and for some ungodly reason Togusa is being played by an actor who is in his late 40s when he's supposed to be more than a decade younger with a young wife and child. Like those both suck but I could have cast those aside but the above item? What the fuck?
Having seen it, I think Section 9 is still at least a semi-government agency, given that Aramaki has fairly easy access to the Prime Minister of the country, and during the Geisha sequence, everyone (Except the Major) are wearing police vests.
 

gorfias

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Can't agree with most of this thread or the review.

I had fun at this. It had an adult tone to it, was a hoot to look at; just so much to recommend it.

I can understand a major problem with it: it came out 22 years ago and ideas it offered have since been ripped off a million times over. It was an original that no longer feels original.

But judge the movie you saw: I haven't seen an anime turned into a movie that felt so evocative of the genre before in my life.

It bogged some in the final act and the visuals stopped being mind blowing but so much else worked.

I am a bit worried for ScarJo. I understand she was acting the part but have to wonder if she can put more personality in her performances. Closest I've seen is a tiny bit of humor in Cap. movies. As it is, the funnest performance in the movie for me was Pilou Asbaek as Batou. Fun character well done. She let him steal the show.

But at this point: Hope Akira is not far behind this release. Too much fun.
 

Erttheking

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Veldie said:
Burnouts3s3 said:
Okay, let's address the elephant in the room. How do you all feel about the white washing aspect of the movie?

Especially when

it's revealed that Mira Killian, the main character in the movie, is revealed to be Motoko Kusanagi, who was originally of Japanese descent, killed in a raid and implanted into a Caucasian woman's body?
oh get over it already. Only people who don't understand the franchise think that and the creator gave the thumbs up at her casting choice. If your bothered by it so much then don't watch it and stop looking for petty fights on behalf of other people who don't give a fuck.
Asking a honest question about a controversial move is picking a fight? Pot...kettle.
 

Thaluikhain

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Jiub said:
Wait, you mean this is a real movie? I thought it was a joke based on the trailers. Who the hell would actually WANT to see this stupid movie? Of course it's terrible.

Thaluikhain said:
I guess the scandal was him having sex with Kirsten Stewart?
Somebody had sex with Kristen Stewart, like, on purpose? There is no amount of alcohol in the world that can get you a pass on that one. I bet his wiener fell off after, and that's why he makes shitty movies.

Just gross all around; not like I needed another reason not to see this movie....
I think she was also still supposed to be having sex with RPatt instead, cause they needed to be like their characters from Twilight.

Personally, I don't see what's so wrong with her, except for being in Twilight, bad acting and doing that thing where she's always got her mouth slightly open. And a few iffy statements to the media, IIRC.
 

Pinky's Brain

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Burnouts3s3 said:
Especially when

it's revealed that Mira Killian, the main character in the movie, is revealed to be Motoko Kusanagi, who was originally of Japanese descent, killed in a raid and implanted into a Caucasian woman's body?
Since it's a prototype I think it can be excused, not like Japanese people don't have a habit of using Caucasian features.
 

KissingSunlight

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I have always felt movies like this(A movie that is a remake or adapted from a popular series that a majority of people are not familiar with.) should have two reviewers. One, who is a fan or at least familiar with the original source of the material, and someone else who have never seen or read the previous materials that the new movie is based on. I am someone who haven't seen any Ghost In The Shell movies, manga, or anime series. I really like this movie. It looked great. The story was straight-forward without being over-simplistic. The acting was really good. Scarlett Johansson had a challenging role of portraying emotion while still being a robot. She was really limited physically. Yet, she was able to pull it off.

To all the detractors out there, which version of Ghost In The Shell I should check out to truly the deeper and more complex version of this movie?
 

Pyrian

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KissingSunlight said:
Scarlett Johansson had a challenging role of portraying emotion while still being a robot.
I'm not quite sure that came out the way you wanted it to come out. XD
 

KissingSunlight

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Pyrian said:
KissingSunlight said:
Scarlett Johansson had a challenging role of portraying emotion while still being a robot.
I'm not quite sure that came out the way you wanted it to come out. XD
Point taken. However, I still stand by that sentence. It does make sense, in the context, that I was referring to her portraying a robot in this movie.