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[Clefargle]

I wasn't bothered by the casting

But this is really fucked and changes the character

 

[Chumley]

Some fans can go weak over the knees over it if they like, but not me. I don't respect filmmakers for lifting scenes almost verbatim from other films; it shows a lack of originality or creativity, which is something I'm worried about with this movie.

So you're cool with Johansson in the role and the name change, right?

 

[raidenandsolid]

Should just stop with the live actions and save everyone the trouble.

 

[s_mirage]

I find this line of thinking awfully rich considering anime rips off each constantly. And that's just focusing on actual anime, when they're not ripping off Kurosawa or western films, of course.

I don't see them reusing the shelling sequence as ripping off. This film is the first western GITS production, and I don't see a problem with them paying homage to the original film, especially since they're using that and some episodes of SAC as a template for this movie.

There's homage and there's being artistically lazy. Based on the trailers, we know the opening sequence has been lifted, as has the swan dive attack sequence, as has the cloaked fight sequence. I think that's pushing it, but it goes beyond mere homage if there's more.

Anime ripping off other anime or other media doesn't make a big budget Hollywood picture ripping entire scenes any less creatively bankrupt. Though I may criticise it for its storytelling flaws, the Oshii movie was beautiful and distinct in its own way. Both visually and aurally. Yes, it used well worn genre tropes, but many of its scenes are instantly recognisable as its own, as is its soundtrack. Personally, I'd rather that the new film did its own thing: be something that people recognize as its own thing decades down the line, not let its defining scenes be virtually shot for shot rehashes of things that the first anime did, with the same soundtrack to boot.

So you're cool with Johansson in the role and the name change, right?

Thought someone might ask that. Not particularly, no. At least, not in the way it's been done, and I concede that this may seem hypocritical.

Changing characters in adaptations happens, and that can be because the filmmakers want to take a different slant on the core of the original story. In this case however, it seems pretty transparent that the casting and naming choices are down to whitewashing. There are no suitable, bankable Asian stars, or so the studios think, and that's unlikely to change unless they are actually prepared to cast young Asian talent over whitening the character. The studio know they're going to get heat over this or why else have they been so reluctant to reveal the name of the main character?

Whole new cast of characters? I'm fine with that. Using pretty much all of the existing characters except the lead mysteriously changes race to Caucasian? Yeah, that doesn't look so good.

 

[Spladam]

Some fans can go weak over the knees over it if they like, but not me. I don't respect filmmakers for lifting scenes almost verbatim from other films; it shows a lack of originality or creativity, which is something I'm worried about with this movie.

They're doing it as an homage to the original, and it's hardly "almost verbatim". There seems to be a lot of originally shot and created scenes from the trailer.

Edit: Should they not have kept any of the scenes from the original? That's crazy.

 

[platakul]

As the bard said, a rose by any other name would be confusing and hard to look at

 

[Polari]

I do feel like this movie is going to be a massive flop. The original and the PSX game were both sick though. Derrick May on dat soundtrack.

 

[UrbanRats]

I don't see how they could have pulled off ScarJo having a Japanese first and last name. The whitewashing was already done, they can't just pretend she's Japanese.

They should have just referred to her as Major like she's a female Master Chief.

Yes they can, it's a robot body she's in.

The whitewash is done anyway, but canonically speaking they could've kept the western body with the Japanese name just fine.

 

[gaugebozo]

So that's the catch. That's what Hollywood execs had issue with. Lol so funny.

Reminds me of that thread a few days ago about the worst studio notes. http://neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1346724

 

[Mulgrok]

I am hoping for an entertaining film that is successful and paves the way for more faithful adaptations of foreign works. The more americans are exposed to stuff outside their culture norms the more foreign films will succeed.

 

[s_mirage]

They're doing it as an homage to the original, and it's hardly "almost verbatim". There seems to be a lot of originally shot and created scenes from the trailer.

Edit: Should they not have kept any of the scenes from the original? That's crazy.

I'd argue that it's about as close as you can get while avoiding the nudity present in the original.

Look, all I'm saying is (in a rather verbose way, I'll admit) that I want this movie to be good. I want it to stand on its own and not just be a pale imitation of the anime. Closely recreating scenes just worries me, and I hope that what we've seen is just fan service and that's all there is.

 

[Audioboxer]

As someone who just recently finished stand alone complex and loved it, this movie has me on suicide watch. I've seen the original movies, SAC, as I've just said, and I'll be watching the solid state society movie shortly. Not too keen on Arise and The New Movie, but I guess I'll watch them.

This movie though, I can just see it being a car crash. The series and universe has seen enough reboots lol.

In saying all that, I'll probably see this movie and fully judge when the credits roll.

 

[Ether_Snake]

Change the name, fine.

But don't feed us bullshit while you do it.

"I don't think it was just a Japanese story"

Funny how the only clear "Japanese" visual we have seen from the movie so far is robo-geishas, couldn't be more on the nose.

 

[old manatee]

I'm not supporting this crap, just like Dr. Strange. Is there any group that Hollywood dumps on more than Asians right now? From now on if a movie has a whitewashed role I'm going to wait to watch that shit on cable no matter how interested I am otherwise.

 

[Budi]

Winter Soldier is solid, I'll give you that.

True. And points for using a gif from actual great film. Still going to see this too though.

 

[CadetMahoney]

At this point Hollywood is trolling and laughing behind closed doors.

 

[Agent_ShortBus]

Who is this movie for?

Not for me but I'm too big of a GITS fan to not watch it day 1. I'm not too excited and expect to be crap so I can't be let down more then I already have at least I hope so. 😂

 

[Anung]

Sorry but this clip alone should be enough to earn a ton of goodwill

Lifting scenes is easy though. Snyder lifted scenes from watchman basically panel to screen but everything in-between that was uneven as hell.

 

[Hero Prinny]

whats really odd about this movie is that it looks like the trailers show you the entire damn movie. I've never seen the original anime but i saw what i assume is the final trailer during Logan and I'm sitting there like... why would i watch this, i know the whole movie now...

 

[Moonkid]

I always assumed they'd call her The Major or something entirely different when Johansson was attached. And after the latest trailer that shows the story direction they're taking her, it seems par for the course moreso.

 

[sonicmj1]

This entire movie is why I don't trust anyone in Hollywood to adapt Akira.

I still think you could do something really cool with transplanting Akira to America and making the Tetsuo/Kaneda characters (who would have different names) minorities and/or immigrants. Speak to the same themes of youth, government oppression, and power that animated the original work in a culturally unique way. Use the property to say something fresh. But getting that film made goes back to the same "Who is this for?" question.

Hollywood wants movies tied to existing properties because they have a built-in audience with some investment, and they'll capture the curiosity of people peripherally familiar with the original work that may never have experienced it themselves. If you stray too far from the original material, the superfans will turn on you. But if you stick too close to it, you might (in the eyes of the beancounters) shut out new audiences. Nobody's funding these things for the art of it.

I'm not sure if GitS's compromises will be worth it in the end. It seems like it might wind up a mix of slavish homage spiced up with Hollywood sci-fi action cliches, something that satisfies neither fans nor newcomers. But I'm hoping it'll at least be watchable.

 

[Stinkles]

Who is this movie for?

Welcome to the town that licensed Battleships to make an alien invasion movie for teens.

 

[BlackGoku03]

Good Lord Jesus.


They're making this really fucking hard to give them my money.

First the cast a white person for a Japanese/Asian role. Ok...

Then they make it so "she's the first of her kind" and changes her character to be more unsure of herself.

Then they change her name?

 

[UrbanRats]

Sorry but this clip alone should be enough to earn a ton of goodwill

I hate this shit.
How about you create your own version of the material, and actually add something, instead of aping what has already been done? Part of the blame surely rests on nerdom and its obsession for the "source material" mantra, but still, it makes this come off as a lifeless adaptation because they didn't have any other ideas.
Oshii's movie, compared to the manga, have a completely different take and tone, which is why they're so good.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Who is this movie for?

Sumner Redstone

 

[erawsd]

The name change actually makes sense. As shitty as the whitewashing is, Scarlett Johanson as "Motoko Kusanagi" would be really fuckin stupid and even more offensive since they'd also expect us to pretend shes Asian.

 

[SapphiCine]

I hate this shit.
How about you create your own version of the material, and actually add something, instead of aping what has already been done? Part of the blame surely rests on nerdom and its obsession for the "source material" mantra, but still, it makes this come off as a lifeless adaptation because they didn't have any other ideas.
Oshii's movie, compared to the manga, have a completely different take and tone, which is why they're so good.

From their perspective, they might think they are paying respectful homage to Oshii's film. Only they don't realize that well has been dry for a long time.

 

[JCG]

I think it's a fair move. Despite the obvious visual homages and so on, it's not going to be the same as the anime/manga so changing the name of the character also reflects that the material is free to do its own thing with her. Provided the results are good, that is.

 

[firelogic]

The teaser suggests switching bodies isn't such an easy thing.

I'm no expert on GitS but hasn't Motoko changed shells numerous times? She doesn't change in the movies/series more than once but it's in her backstory isn't it? That this body isn't the only one she's had and she's had so many that she doesn't even remember what she looked like before? We don't even know if she was originally a man or woman since she's had so many bodies. And can a ghost have a gender?

 

[watershed]

What I find frustrating is every white actor who says "yes, whitewashing is a problem, but me playing this role makes total sense, trust me." Its like yes, there is a problem but I don't want to admit that I am part of the problem.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I've been assumingng they were going to go with that since the whole lost past thing.

But that would be literally white washing, why would this japanese woman want to become a white woman?

 

[Zoe]

I'm no expert on GitS but hasn't Motoko changed shells numerous times? She doesn't change in the movies/series more than once but it's in her backstory isn't it? That this body isn't the only one she's had and she's had so many that she doesn't even remember what she looked like before? We don't even know if she was originally a man or woman since she's had so many bodies. And can a ghost have a gender?

She's the first of her kind in this movie.

That's why all of those "homage" shots feel off--the context behind them is completely different.

 

[deadscreensky]

Maybe somebody already mentioned this, but it's weird to rip on this movie for copying scenes from Oshii's film which were already in the manga he was adapting in the first place. Is there some hidden rule that you can only adapt a scene once or something, then it becomes shameless copying?

(Or do many "Ghost in the Shell fans" just not actually read the actual damn work in the first place?)

I'm pulling for this movie to be good. The first film made major adaptation changes, the second film was entirely something new; I'm okay with them making all sorts of changes here. Extremely faithful film adaptations are rarely especially interesting, though I hope this new one at least adds back in a bit of the silly humor that Oshii completed castrated in his films. (Ha, that cyborg's name was Haraway, what a totally hilarious punchline that maybe 1% of the audience laughed at.)

 

[broncobuster]

What I find frustrating is every white actor who says "yes, whitewashing is a problem, but me playing this role makes total sense, trust me." Its like yes, there is a problem but I don't want to admit that I am part of the problem.

Imagine a list of actors, with the cast white actor at the top, and replacement white actors all the way down until you hit an Asian actor. Whatever number of actors you think occupies that gap is probably too low. It really sucks but actors are kinda expendable in the process.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

This entire movie is why I don't trust anyone in Hollywood to adapt Akira.

Remember when they wanted to do it with Chris Evans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

 

[MHWilliams]

Mira Killian. New name, new origin, roughly the same visual tropes.

US adaptation. Rock out, Hollywood.

 

[milkham]

I guess the live action Akira is going to be called Alex

 

[old manatee]

Remember when they wanted to do it with Chris Evans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt?

lol was Seth Rogen busy with Sausage Party?

I guess the live action Akira is going to be called Alex

 

[entremet]

Might as well go all the way.

 

[oneofthose]

good hopefully they can change the name of the movie and character designs

 

[Jotaka]

Such Frankstein movie... The visuals, location, music, the support cast are all asian... but the main character is Mira LOL

RIP motoko

 

[MWS Natural]

Who is this movie for?

White people.

 

[AndersK]

I'm like...Pilou Asbæk is a pretty cool actor, I just feel like he's done strange stuff internationally. Writing killed Euron and now he's the whitest Japanese person in a movie, ever.

This certainly LOOKS cool, but I can understand purists being skeptical so far. Some strange choices.

 

[Rumblebones]

Hope it bombs.

 

[anaron]

But that would be literally white washing, why would this japanese woman want to become a white woman?

Who said she gets a choice? Her brain is lifted into a mass produced "shell" in order to fight crime. In the original film, she looks nearly identical to the puppet master as well.

It lends itself largely to the disconnect Major feels.

 

[What did he mean by this?]

Really bodes well for Lionsgate's Naruto movie

I mean Nathan Michaels

 

[The Orz]

As Entertainment Weekly reports, original creator Mamoru Oshii seemed to believe she had the character of Motoko, not Mira.

I know it's not terribly relevant to the issue at hand, but referring to Oshii as the original creator of Ghost in the Shell is misleading. I like Oshii (his early work on Urusei Yatsura is some of my all time favorite), but wouldn't it mean more to get an opinion from Masamune Shirow?

Unless they're using "original creator" as a title...like he's not the original creator, but an original creator?

As for the American film, I'm not expecting anything more than a Hollywood spectacle, whitewash and all. Granted, I'm not really a huge fan of GitS to begin with. Now Orion...I'd be okay with a live-action Orion.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

"It's not a Japanese movie, it's an international movie!"

Fuck off.

 

[Krev]

Of course they were going to change the name, Scarlett Johansson playing someone called Motoko Kusanagi is goofy as fuck. Don't see why this is an issue.

 

[Auctopus]

Who is this movie for?

Idiots.

Huge animation/anime enthusiast and love Ghost In The Shell. I can't wait to see this adaption on opening weekend so I guess that makes me an idiot.