Five thoughts about the new movie:
1: I didn't know much about the controversy going into the movie. I knew people didn't like that Johansson as the lead, but from what I gathered ahead of time, it felt like it was mostly nerds/losers online complaining that she didn't look exactly like the anime drawings, or similarly to the early backlash Fassbender got for playing Jobs because he didn't look anything like him in real life. After now seeing the movie and reading about the controversy, I know that's not accurate. That said, I really liked her performance, which was a hair too professional and mechanical, and I felt it fit in well with the story. I really think Johansson's best asset as an actress is her body, and she really put it to use in there posture and walk and mannerisms. In fact, I liked almost the entire cast, and I appreciated that it was diverse. A small nitpick, I wish Binoche was older considering her character in the film, and I just can't stand Michael Pitt as an actor, so he bothered me. If there's one major criticism I have with the cast, it is that I wish I saw more of the team and ancillary characters.
2: Not being familiar to the source material, I wonder if my complaints stem from it or this version. This movie felt stuffed. There's way too much going on at all times that left little breathing room and introspection from the characters. That, and its themes, even back in the mid 90s, really aren't that avant-garde so I wish it did a little more in that respect. Now knowing and reading more about the controversy regarding the casting, I understand the complaints, but I kind of like the twist in this movie regarding Johansson's character and felt it added/muddied some of the philosophical questions. Or, maybe I'm giving the director and writers too much credit. One of the things I hate about anime film that I've seen is that they over-explain their themes, and I'd guess that comes through in this movie with the GHOST of her human self is trapped in the SHELL of a robot; a lot of that in the movie felt clunky.
3: I really liked the production of the movie. From the score to the designs, I felt like everything worked (for the most part... the ending "boss battle" looked bad, as did some of the CGI body work). It felt like someone took the bombast of The Fifth Element and tried to make it believable. Heck, I loved that the head of the group spoke Japanese and they had fun with the translations/subtitles. Edit: I'll add a bit to this since I've read a little more response and someone said the film is very Japanese (minus Johansson). I disagree. This felt like a conglomerate, multinational futurescape to me. There's a French woman, an American, a Japanese boss, vague Europeans (doing "American" accents) and others. It reminded me somewhat of Big Hero Six's setting, except less so. And, unless I missed something, the movie didn't say where it took place, and the names of businesses and companies are somewhat of a hodgepodge; again, like The Fifth Element.
4: I'm tired of prolonged action scenes in movies. I recently watched Captain America: Civil War for the first time and I got so bored during the long airport battle. Same goes for the two major set-pieces in Logan that go on and on without much nuance or evolution. It's frustrating that so many of these types of movie feel the need to have good guy and bad guy punch for thirty minutes without any cleverness or thoughtfulness. I appreciated greatly that this movie's fight scenes were brief, and even though the last sequence is a mess visually and qualitatively, I'm glad it didn't go on and on and on.
5: I understand that fans of the original would probably never be satisfied with this movie, but all I can say is that since I mildly enjoyed it (a great way to spend a dreary overcast morning), I'm thinking of looking up the original anime film, and that's something I would not be thinking of before I saw this.
