Ghost in the Shell (2017) Review Thread
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NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
So is this a Power Rangers all over again where the film is better than reviewed would have you believe?
That Death Note trailer looked quite good, I'm a fan of the director and at least two actors are gonna be great.
So yeah.
But Ghost in the Shell. Hopefully I can at least enjoy the visuals of it. Will also use it as an excuse to show some friends Stand Alone Complex.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
I still wouldn't mind seeing this, personally. I'm not a huge fan of the original film anyway, I thought it was overrated back when I saw it years and years ago. I'm actually watching the SAC series now and I like it better than the original movie but I'm not in love with it.
Inferno313
Banned
Meh, it's right about what I'd say a 50% typically is. It's of a similar level in quality to Man of Steel or Tron Legacy, for example.
formasymphonic
Member
I was going to say something along these lines. Lucy was trash, I won't sugar coat that. But it was original Trash. It's one thing to make something from scratch that falls flat, and another to have an existing highly critically acclaimed franchise that you have mined... and still have that fall flat.
Like most of that work has been done for you, so it's "worse" if it doesn't deliver.
On a side note: When the dust has had time to settle, I'm interested in seeing how many people enjoyed/accepted this movie yet don't like ARISE.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Arise is just not appealing to look at. I fell asleep watching Borders.
UnemployedVillain
Member
If you looked at my earlier posts I actually compared this to Arise, in that both aren't terrible adaptations and do well presenting the world, but have completely boring/uncompelling stories. I gave this a slight edge for being live action and looking really good. Arise had my least favorite designs of any of the adaptations. Some character straight up looked ugly for no reason
Laieon
Member
As someone who has never watched any Ghost in the Shell before tonight, I agree with it being on par with Tron Legacy. I think it's quite a bit better than Man of Steel though.
It was also just really pretty to look at.
formasymphonic
Member
Yes I already saw your posts. But as I said though, when the dust has had time to settle.
Long story short I'm interested in the trends in how the film is being received by people with different levels of familiarity / opinions on the franchise overall. As I see it now:
- the most positive reception is from people who are either completely unfamiliar with GitS at all, haven't seen the 1995 movie or any SAC, or haven't seen any in several years.
- those with the most negative reception to it are the ones more familiar with the other incarnations of franchise and it's themes/characters etc.
- there are those who are familiar with the franchise but are responding to the film well by focusing on aspects of it, or willing to overlook "abc" for "xyz" reason.
- the ones I can't get a full read on yet are those who disliked or liked ARISE for various reasons and what that might mean for how they feel about the live action movie, so I'm planning to keep an eye out for a little while to see if there are more views points for people on both sides of that.
This of course, doesn't speak for everyone but you get what I mean. I just find the trends interesting and will keep a look out for a few I haven't got a handle on yet (this was was my general point).
Vincent Grayson
Member
Saw it last night. I can't say I was impressed.
While it was great to see big budget cyberpunk happening on the big screen, there's way too many scenes that look very close to the original anime movie, while failing to capture the spirit.
I can totally see someone with no knowledge of GitS enjoying it as a mid-tier sci-fi movie, as there's nothing really egregiously bad about it though. There's some shitty dialogue in a few scenes that just falls flat, but otherwise it's mostly fine.
While it was great to see big budget cyberpunk happening on the big screen, there's way too many scenes that look very close to the original anime movie, while failing to capture the spirit.
I can totally see someone with no knowledge of GitS enjoying it as a mid-tier sci-fi movie, as there's nothing really egregiously bad about it though. There's some shitty dialogue in a few scenes that just falls flat, but otherwise it's mostly fine.
Dr.Horrible
Member
Just got out of a showing, was not a fan. I'm not sure if it was the source material or the execution of it. It's been a while since I've seen the anime(which I recall liking) and I've never read the manga.
Edit - is the anime readily available for streaming somewhere? I'd be curious to compare the two now.
Edit - is the anime readily available for streaming somewhere? I'd be curious to compare the two now.
I recently found out that the blu-ray I have is the 2.0 version which wholesale replaces scenes with bad CGI and throws orange filters on everything.
I dunno if the original is in circulation so you might have to acquire it "the old fashioned way".
radios shipping overview
Member
The original is in print on Blu-Ray, but the Anchor Bay release has dubtitles (i.e. subtitles based on the English dub), if that bothers you.
I preordered a Japanese rerelease out next month that has proper subtitles and supposedly better video quality.
ElBoxyBrown
Banned
Dr.Horrible
Member
Thanks, ordered.
Masterspeed
Member
Just got back from seeing it, the cinema was empty, me and my gf were the only ones actually there for the whole film.
Anyway, I walked into it expecting what most did, after being a fan or the Anime movie since I was a tween and watching it... A little too much than I should of, I expected it to be shitty.
It... Turned out amazing to me, I actually loved it a lot, a lot more than I ever expected to and I'm really happy with the casting choice of every single person too. Would watch again and will buy it on Bluray when it's out.
Anyway, I walked into it expecting what most did, after being a fan or the Anime movie since I was a tween and watching it... A little too much than I should of, I expected it to be shitty.
It... Turned out amazing to me, I actually loved it a lot, a lot more than I ever expected to and I'm really happy with the casting choice of every single person too. Would watch again and will buy it on Bluray when it's out.
Monocle
Member
Depends on how much you value imaginative visuals, great art design, and intriguing sci-fi concepts. I appreciate those things quite a bit. On those levels the movie was satisfying.
wesleyshark
Banned
Going tonight at 7pm. Stoked.
UnemployedVillain
Member
Ehh, the original ideas the movie introduced, as in not adapted from the existing stories, were much less compelling than your average SAC standalone episode and not really what I'd consider intriguing.
lightskintwin
Banned
I see Grace from Beyond The Trailer called the film straight up racist. She said it was as if the White family from Jordan Peele's Get Out decided to adapt Ghost in the Shell as a movie. LOL
radios shipping overview
Member
The hottest of takes
That shit killed me. I laughed for a good 5 minutes after she said that. She fucking annihilated this movie.
Jus got out of the theater - loved it.
I've seen the original many times and was fairly sceptical when they annonunced the movie, but it delivered exactly what I wanted from it.
The movie is fantastic visually, i would even call it stunning in places. Some scenes were ripped straight from the anime and looked as great. I thought Johansson was really good, like most of the cast. She had that weird not entirely human movement down to science.
I was surprised about how much I've got into the story. It was pretty generic, yes, but done really competently.
It's a Hollywood version of gits, and yeah it's been shallowed a bit and made easier for mass consumption, but I loved it regardless.
I've seen the original many times and was fairly sceptical when they annonunced the movie, but it delivered exactly what I wanted from it.
The movie is fantastic visually, i would even call it stunning in places. Some scenes were ripped straight from the anime and looked as great. I thought Johansson was really good, like most of the cast. She had that weird not entirely human movement down to science.
I was surprised about how much I've got into the story. It was pretty generic, yes, but done really competently.
It's a Hollywood version of gits, and yeah it's been shallowed a bit and made easier for mass consumption, but I loved it regardless.
wesleyshark
Banned
That's awesome to hear. ScarJo was a great pick from all that I've been hearing.
She either hasn't seen the movie, or she has no idea what she is talking about. Now whether or not you think Major should have been played by an Asian/Japanes actress is debatable. But just looking at casting list, they have done a great job making it multi-racial. Also, with the current zeitgeist it makes sense the team has multiple nationalities.
lightskintwin
Banned
Yes, a professional movie reviewer didn't see the movie she was reviewing in her movie review.
Zoe
Member
She's talking about the fact that the Major is literally
a Japanese woman forced into a white body.
Meh she was just playing wooden acting, guess she fits to major kinda but she was so bad me thinks.
I think movie only nailed good costume design , rest was pretty bad even CGI.
minusman2029
Neo Member
Yea and she's definitely not alone in this view. Here are the guys from the Double Toasted reviews with their take:
https://youtu.be/hhnpYhs01Dc?t=1181
It's being discussed on the Double Toasted thread but just thought I'd share it here too. What a mess of a plot twist.
Shouta
Member
The plot twist is kind of amusing but not because the angle those reviewers are going in on. It's the fact that
, as far as I can remember, it's all white people doing bad shit in the film in regards to the cybernization stuff. All of the major scientists were white and the CEO of Hanka was white too. It makes the entire plot twist a little more interesting in that respect, heh.
It is getting dogpiled, not because it is anime (or not enough), but because it is shallow. With the source material there are are number of films they could have made.
Couldn't disagree more. The costume looks (and always has looked I suppose) kind of ridiculous. The CGI and art direction however were easily the best thing about the film, as good maybe even better than the original. The environments are stunning. Plots a mess though
Grace Randolph has a long history of not viewing the things she's talking about. There was small controversy a few years ago with her doing reviews of comic books based on the solicitation description rather than the books themselves (no reference in reviews to twists, artist changes, etc).
She's a good presenter but she cuts corners a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if she did to get her "hot take" on Ghost in The Shell out there today.
Lights and Waves
Member
The irony in your post is that you are the one who hasn't seen the movie, and you have no idea what she's referencing to when she says the movie is racist. The movie has a ridiculous plot twist that is both racist and insulting.
I agree with Grace's review. Pretty much exactly how I felt about the film.
Remember Ghostbusters? It was the same thing
lightskintwin
Banned
Did you watch her review of this film where she goes in detail in her critique?
Any evidence she didn't watch this film?
Lights and Waves
Member
...lol, please tell me this is sarcasm.
Literally every piece of art or entertainment ever created is political in some way, shape, or form.
Inferno313
Banned
They are. Stop this.
cartographer
Member
to everyone i guess.art design was ridiculous gits was never had these kind of stupid ass holograms and stuff. No good imaginary shots and some fighting animations were straight out of video game(when she jumps in spider battle ,reminded me hobbit3 legolas scene)
lightskintwin
Banned
Damn, it sounds like you got money invested in this film. Hope it atleast breaks even for you.
No seriously, have you guys claiming she didnt see the movie actually seen the movie yourselves? Because her comment is spot fucking on and easy to understand considering the twist in the film.
I mean, its 100% easy to understand why she would say that. Completely understandable. Y'all come off as having a vendetta against her personally; especially since she isn't the only reviewer that made said connection.
Lmao
Whompa02
Member
Looks like I woke up some people.
When you have to bring up Whitewashing in a review, you know you're ignoring the actual film.
If the movie sucks, then so be it. The whitewashing argument is a completely different subject matter. Should not dictate how you analyze the actual film.
SOME are...
When you have to bring up Whitewashing in a review, you know you're ignoring the actual film.
If the movie sucks, then so be it. The whitewashing argument is a completely different subject matter. Should not dictate how you analyze the actual film.
SOME are...
The film literally makes whitewashing part of its plot.
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