A Lot Of Flash In A Gross, Inhuman World: Ghost In The Shell (A Layman's Review Of The Film!)

The Good: Beautifully-directed, Moments of theme, Last quarter of the film
The Bad: Mediocre acting, Characters who are tough to empathize with, Packed and distracting setting with little emotional connection, Erratic plot development
The Basics: Ghost In The Shell creates a vivid setting, but invests far less on compelling plot and character development, making it a very tough sell for science fiction fans.


I have quite a few genre interests, but the truth is that anime has never been one of my interests. Anime and Cyberpunk have just never had the spark that makes me want to invest completely in the mediums and genres. Despite that, today I decided to watch Ghost In The Shell. When Ghost In The Shell was released many fans of the original anime were offended by the fact that Scarlett Johansson was cast in the lead role of Major. Having no attachment to the source material, that did not bother me.

It is worth noting that going into Ghost In The Shell, I had no prior knowledge of the film's universe, story or characters. As such, this is an ideal review for laypeople who want to know about the movie without an endless series of comparisons to the anime.

In the future, Hanka Robotics is building a military operative with a human brain in a synthetic body - a distinct upgrade from the typical human who is simply augmented by cybernetic technology. Major awakens from a drowning during a terrorist attack inside a synthetic body. Hanka's CEO, Cutter, tells Major's doctor - Ouelet - that he wants Major to join Section 9 and return to work. A year later, Major monitors a Hanka Robotics executive's meeting with the President of the African Federation when the meeting is attacked and everyone she is surveilling is killed. Major's synthetic body is damaged in the process and she returns to the Department Of Defense the next day for a briefing. Osmond was not the only Hanka executive killed the day before and Major and her partner, Batao, go to see Ouelet. Ouelet believes that Major's hallucinations are past sensory data that is processing and she tries to alleviate Major's concerns while she repairs Major's damaged arm. To try to find out where Kuze, the assassin, is, Major volunteers to hack into the murderous geishabot that killed Osmond.

Major is externally hacked during her connection to the geisha, but she completes the process certain she knows where Kuze is. Major and Batao go to a nightclub Kuze is supposed to be at, but they fall into a trap which results in Batao losing his eyes. After Batao is enhanced with new eyes, Dr. Dahlin is killed and Major discovers that the assassin is targeting scientists who worked on a secret project, 2571. The only member of that team still alive is Ouelet and an attempt is made on her life that Major and Batao are able to stop. Section 9 captures the would-be killer and Major finds out Kuze's location from him before he kills himself. Following the next lead, Major learns the truth about Kuze, who was an earlier iteration of the project that created Major. Learning the truths about the project and her own existence leaves Major with an existential crisis and she become targeted by Hanka security.

Ghost In The Shell is a very typical action-adventure conspiracy thriller where the real twist is simply the setting. Every machine in the world is vulnerable to hacking and it seems that Kuze has developed technology that allows humans to be hacked. As a result, everything in Ghost In The Shell is very dirty and carries an undertone of danger to it. The world of Ghost In The Shell is grungy and very uninviting; it is a setting it is hard to imagine living, breathing, humans in.

That said, director Rupert Sanders does an excellent job of creating a very packed setting. Throughout the city of Ghost In The Shell there are massive holograms and there are all sorts of people and droids moving about. Ghost In The Shell is a visually-packed film and Sanders does a decent job of fleshing out the setting to make the dark, filthy world seem very distinct. For all my problems with Ghost In The Shell, the film is beautifully-shot and well-directed.

Despite the technical accomplishments, Ghost In The Shell is so off-putting that it is tough to invest in. The film allows Scarlett Johansson to play completely stiff and passionless and the reason for her ability to act in that fashion only becomes evident in the film's very late portions. That, sadly, is one of the real issues with Ghost In The Shell; an objective viewer will sit through the first three-quarters of the film wondering just why a human brain in an inorganic body would result in such a forced, stiff performance.

As a result, for the bulk of Ghost In The Shell, I found myself more bored than I was intrigued or even entertained. When a viewer sits more amused by how incredibly well Takeshi Kitano fills a niche that Martin Sheen would occupy in an American film than by the plot and characters, there is something seriously lacking in the film. In the case of Ghost In The Shell it is the characters.

Ultimately, Ghost In The Shell is about a woman who has no idea who she is . . . because she has no clue that her identity is not her own. Films with amnesiac characters can be pulled off exceptionally well - Dark City (reviewed here!) leaps instantly to mind - but Ghost In The Shell goes far too long before revealing that Major is not who she thinks she is and it does not satisfactorily explore the speed at which her programming degrades. It seems like Major knows who she is for so long, is told something different and then is rather suddenly not a law enforcement operative at all.

Despite not being overly grabbed by the characters or the pretty generic scientific/government conspiracy plot, Ghost In The Shell executes well the cautionary tale that fans of the original Star Trek will find both enjoyable and familiar; technology is a tool, not our friend. Gene Roddenberry's stories were often obsessively focused on the idea that dependence upon technology will ultimately undermine humanity and that humanity risks becoming enslaved by it. Ghost In The Shell gets around to making a very compelling argument that identity and humanity are dangerously close to becoming lost to corporations whose primary concerns are profit and development. Unfortunately, but the time it does, it is hard to actually care.

For other works with cyborgs and replicants, please check out my reviews of:
Blade Runner
Android Cop
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

3/10

For other movie reviews, please check out my Film Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Everything Fans Were Hoping For, Snow White And The Huntsman Is A Surreal Fantasy Adventure!

The Good: Decent effects, Generally good acting
The Bad: Predictable plot, Light on character motivations, Editing
The Basics: Visually impressive, Snow White And The Huntsman gives Kristen Stewart a bona fide action role that beefs up her acting chops!


Right now, I feel bad for Kristen Stewart. Yes, as unlikely as it might seem, I feel bad for Kristen Stewart. Stewart, who skyrocketed to fame as the protagonist in Twilight and its sequels (reviewed here!), is facing the end of her first major franchise with the impending release of Breaking Dawn, Part 2. So, Stewart is doing what a savvy actress her age ought to be doing, which is to find the next big thing for herself. Snow White And The Huntsman was never going to be a franchise for Kristen Stewart, but it was a particularly shrewd way for the young actress to try to retain her Twilight audience. But, from the promos for Snow White And The Huntsman, one might think that Kristen Stewart’s role in the movie was incidental (the latest t.v. spots and trailers do not include any of her lines). Given how much Snow White And The Huntsman Stewart dominates, it’s almost enough to make one feel sorry for her the way she is not being highlighted in the ramp up to the film’s release.

Snow White And The Huntsman is enough to make cinephiles forget all about Mirror Mirror (reviewed here!) earlier this year. Bearing a far closer resemblance to Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland (reviewed here!) – without the Burton quirky sense of humor - Snow White And The Huntsman is a directoral triumph for Rupert Sanders. Snow White And The Huntsman might simply be the retelling and reworking of the classic fairy tale story, but Sanders and writers John Lee Hancock, Evan Daugherty, and Hossein Amini manage to make it feel surprisingly fresh without feeling cheap. Instead, Snow White And The Huntsman delivers a classic hero (or heroine) story with a sensibility likely to please anyone who loves fantasy films.

Ravenna is the evil Queen who dispatches the King as part of her quest to gain supreme power over the kingdom and over her own immortality. Insecure in her power, she uses dark magic to retain her youthful appearance by eliminating every beautiful young woman in the realm who could threaten her. But, she learns that Snow White is destined to overthrow her and has the power within her to usurp her position on the throne and break the magic that keeps her young. Unwilling to risk that, Ravenna’s creepy brother William captures the girl and prepares her for execution. Snow White escapes to the enchanted forest where she lays low.

And so, Ravenna employs the Huntsman to find and kill Snow White. It does not take long for the Huntsman to track Snow White down in the Dark Forest. Realizing the Queen has betrayed him, the Huntsman switches sides and leads Snow White to safety. With the help of Snow White’s dwarven companions, the Huntsman befriends and trains Snow White. Fighting for the soul of the kingdom, Snow White and her companions overcome magical beings and human adversaries to confront the Queen and retake the kingdom.

Snow White And The Huntsman is a big, special effects-driven film that manages to tell an intriguing story in a mature way. Unlike many other incarnations of the Snow White story, Snow White And The Huntsman is dark. Ravenna is appropriately tyrannical (if a little monolithic) and the story takes a decidedly action-adventure turn to make Snow White a compelling female protagonist. For all the complaints about both fairy tales and the Twilight Saga’s interpretation of female protagonists, in Snow White And The Huntsman Snow White is an empowered, powerful warrior. Snow White And The Huntsman is the story of Snow White becoming that woman. Sure, she could use the help of several men to get in the door, but when it comes down to it, she is the one who must stand against the evil queen.

And more than the special effects – which are magnificent and frequently trippy – it is the acting that sells the viewer on Snow White And The Huntsman. While the characters of Raveena and the Huntsman are pretty monolithic, Snow White And The Huntsman’s director, Rupert Sanders, utilizes his cast very well. Chris Hemsworth manages to play the Huntsman as a strong individual without simply retreading his interpretation of Thor. In fact, one of the few likable character aspects of Hemsworth’s Huntsman in Snow White And The Huntsman is that the character is cautious and smart. Moreover, Sanders does not capitalize on Hemworth’s looks. In Snow White And The Huntsman, Chris Hemsworth is sweaty and dirty and he looks like a guy who is used to being out in the woods. And Hemsworth pulls it off (even if he doesn’t keep to one distinct accent for his lines).

Charlize Theron, who is looking to have a pretty awesome two weeks whatwith Snow White And The Huntsman and Prometheus (reviewed here!)making their debuts back to back, does what she can with the somewhat monolithic character of Raveena. Like many fairy tales, Snow White And The Huntsman does not provide the viewer with a truly satisfying reason as to why the antagonist wants absolute power. Her insecurity is fairly well-documented, but Raveena’s passion to stay alive and beautiful is not terribly compelling. Theron does what she can with the role, though more often than not, she makes Raveena an icy despot, as opposed to a character with more depth or apparent cunning.

It truly is Kristen Stewart who steals the show from Snow White And The Huntsman. Despite the big special effects in the film, it is Stewart who manages to deliver a performance that proves her actually worthy of the role. Absent is the stumbling uncertainty of Bella Swan (though there are moments when Stewart has to play Snow White as confused or hurt). When Snow White is trained to be a leader, Stewart takes the role and works it. The idea of Kristen Stewart with authority or gravitas in a role will never be put in doubt again once audiences take in Snow White And The Huntsman! Stewart is able to level a steely glare that works and there is something about the way she sets her jaw that defines determination exceptionally well.

Unfortunately, upon the second viewing, one of the aspects of Snow White And The Huntsman that failed to wow me was the editing. The film possesses far too many rough cuts between scenes, which unfortunately undermines some of the wonderful special effects. The result is a series of abrupt transitions that pulls the viewer out of the film.

Ultimately, Snow White And The Huntsman is an engaging action adventure movie and it satisfies the adult/twentysomething desire to re-experience fairy tales in a more adult context. Not for young children, Snow White And The Huntsman is a visual treat that is a surprisingly direct, uncomplicated story that capitalizes well on the current fascination in pop culture with fairy tales.

For other films with Chris Hemsworth, please check out my reviews of:
The Avengers
The Cabin In The Woods
Thor
Star Trek

7/10

For other film reviews, be sure to check out my Movie Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the films I have reviewed!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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