Ghost in the Shell

Who the fuck is Rupert Sanders and why does such an artless routine artist get 150 million, solid actors and a good composer to make a boring, hopelessly unimaginative, sterile shithole full of darkened shots, uninteresting plot and logical lapses? You could do such wonders with all the glitter and jingle of those fluffy big city visuals! The inspiration from Cloud Atlas and Blade Runner is quite obvious, but completely wasted. After this disappointment, at least we know for sure that we don't want this contrived void as a sequel to Blade Runner! (2017-04-01)

A more personal and therefore bolder version of what was seen in the Japanese vision. I don't need a secretive philosophy at all costs, although it hypnotized me many times in the animated Ghost in the Shell. It fascinates me with its inaccessibility, but precisely because it never lets me completely in, it still forces me to be too polite and reserved towards it. On the other hand, Mira gradually allows me to reach through all of its layers, and I am happy to meet her halfway. Action symphony and fatal conceptual crossroads have finally found each other at their very best. (2017-07-08)

The entire time I was watching, I was thinking that I’ve waited a long time for proper cyber orgies like these. But I’ve realized that apart from gorgeous animations, perfectly edited and rendered city of the future and amazing music, it’s extremely important for a movie to have a soul. And that soul is, amongst other things, created by the actors themselves. But this time, they didn’t exactly manage to do that. Pilou Asbæk and Takeshi Kitano have absolutely amazing roles, but Scarlett Johansson is so awfully stiff that the entire movie ends up being stiff. A shame. (2017-10-01)

I was intrigued by the cast, which made me excited to see the film, but I was actually disappointed. There were a few interesting moments now and then, which is not enough for 107 minutes, so it ended up being average to below average. I liked Takeshi Kitano, who kept reminding me of a koala bear. But the special effects gave the whole film a cheap plastic feel to it, like a kind of action PVC theater. It's a shame because the theme had decent potential. 3*- (2017-08-27)

I assume that hardcore fans of the original will be grumbling, and sci-fi enthusiasts won't be completely thrilled either, but I can’t say that Ghost in the Shell is a dud. Though I wouldn't consider it a good film even by mistake, either. It looks great, the passages through the city full of giant holograms are beautiful, the makeup artists and the overall production designers did a great job, and that's probably the main reason to go to the cinema. Unfortunately, the rest is weaker. Scarlett Johansson stares weirdly and looks terribly serious most of the time, without any sex appeal or charm. The action is more average than interesting, and although it doesn't offend, I can't remember a single scene that I would want to see again a few hours after the screening. The main problem, however, lies in the woefully transparent and uninteresting plot, which is B-movie level and embarrassingly predictable. Overall, we have a visually attractive world, but with fairly boring characters doing not very entertaining things, and you'll always know what will happen fifteen minutes in advance. I didn't get bored, but I wouldn't go again even by mistake. (2017-05-15)