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Film Review

Ghost In The Shell (Paramount Pictures) [Movie Review]

Regardless of whether you are a bigger fan of the film’s source material, or you don’t buy Johansson as Major, the aesthetic landscape of the story is simply stunning.

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In this age of endless reboots, it is a rare treat for audiences to see something they have NOT seen before. Once Hollywood got their hands on the rights to the highly regarded and widely loved cult comic book series Ghost In The Shell, it’s no surprise that it immediately got the red carpet treatment.

Ghost In The Shell takes place in a future where humans are given mechanical enhancements to lengthen their lifespan and increase their abilities to achieve things they would’ve otherwise only imagined. Naturally, the world needs mechanically enhanced law enforcement to keep society from plunging into chaos. That’s where Major (Scarlett Johansson) comes in. Major is the first being to have a body that’s entirely robotic with a human brain implanted inside.

Once a dark rogue force begins hacking into people’s minds and destroying people who work for the corporation that created Major, she must embark on a mission to stop them. Once Major begins having “glitches” that she thinks might be memories that she can’t process, she begins questioning the nature of her identity.

Are her memories real? Is she who really who she believes she is programmed to be? Is she really a positive force in society, or simply an agent of evil and corporate greed?

Regardless of whether you are a bigger fan of the film’s source material, or you don’t buy Johansson as Major, the aesthetic landscape of the story is simply stunning. The film touches on a lot of interesting themes that run deep in regards to our current lives in modern society. It asks questions about the impact technology is having on humanity, the nature of memories, the existential meaning of choice, free will and emotion. If the story concept doesn’t blow your mind, the action scenes definitely will!

Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han, Juliette Binoche
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: March 31, 2017 (United States)
Run Time: 106 minutes

Check out a Ghost In The Shell official movie trailer

After graduating with a degree in Media Studies and Journalism from the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto, ON, Alex has been covering pop culture events since 2009. He has covered major festivals like Osheaga, North by North East, Edgefest, and Heavy T.O and interviewed members of the Foo Fighters and Carlos Santana (who featured the interview in his memoir) and more. Alex has also spoken with filmmakers like writer/director Shane Black (Iron Man 3), writer George Pelecanos (The Wire, The Deuce), feature film directors, actors, stunt coordinators and more. His passion for film lead him to write original screenplays and even made the Second Round of the Austin Film Festival in 2019. He loves movies, music, reading, writing, and festivals of all kinds while he works on his next feature film spec script.

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