Discuss Ghost in the Shell
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"script addressed to children, mature and philosophical themes gone"
posted by lindewellSTAFFMOD on March 26, 2017 at 5:56 PM
I checked out imdb user reviews and just as expected the filmmakers have put all their energy into capturing the visuals and dismissed the soul of GITS. Here's the review:
The cinematography its truly remarkable, it somehow reproduce the atmosphere of the original anime, the decaying, depressing, dark megalopolis is correctly reproduced here (despite the giant weird advertisements that are spread around, that doesn't really make any sense, and didn't appear in the anime, what are they trying to sell?), the costumes, robots, and the general look and feel of the characters are quite satisfying and solid. The music is not bad at all, includes some of the original score and it work towards creating a dense and dark environment. The acting is standard, not bad at all. The script is.... ohhh boy, let me breath... to use nice words, the script seems to be written addressed to children or to very 'slow' people. All the rich complexity, all the mature and philosophical themes, all the sides of the story that the original material let out to be imagined by the viewer, all that is gone here. Here you can find a bland, generic script, that explain a generic origin story, that never tries to get into the philosophical or ethical implications of human body enhancements or AI. Where the characters are one-sided, good vs bad people. We are use to that over-simplification of a movie plot, since we sadly live in a world conquered by the 'marvel'/'batman' method of making a movie, where the plot should be simple and thin, the characters shouldn't have any grays and the action should be convoluted and confusing, full of minions to destroy for the sake of fill 100 minutes (well at least this adaptation has correct action scenes, that are easy to follow and most of the time are not annoying). To wrap up, a correct movie, that shines in the visual and action sides, but has a forgettable script and characters. It will probably perform good in the box office, and that worries me because what could come next, it will be really sad to see how they reduce Akira, Jin-roh, Evangelion or Cowboy bebbop to a generic action blockbuster without any of the things that made those stories great.
Reply by alphazoom
on March 26, 2017 at 9:07 PM
The 3D was a waste of time as well... If you do see it, don't bother in 3D. Cinemablend had Kong 3D review all wrong. It wasn't a great 3D film either but it even had more 3D than the trailer of the GITS. The trailer literally showed no 3D... was a real waste. Now... Guardians / Galazy 2 looked just as great as the first one did in 3D going by the trailer. Just absolute insane separation.
Reply by tom99
on March 30, 2017 at 5:46 AM
the great wall....of text
Reply by TheTenth
on March 30, 2017 at 10:55 AM
I really regreted the "touch" Masamune Shirow gave to his futuristic universe (Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed), where technology both serves the humans but also enslaves them and puts them in danger. It allowed deep stories where humans are guilty of most things, terrorism, murder ... but technology is not the answer to make the world better. This is totally absent from the movie. Also, In the original manga, Major Kusanagi is part of a team, not just Batou, and the relationship with the team is important too, to keep a human "spirit" to the 99% robot Kusanagi.
Reply by shiftnumlock
on March 30, 2017 at 3:20 PM
Can anyone comment on the soundtrack? I'm hearing the script is shallow and inaccurate to the manga/anime. Dumbed down and white washed seems to be a Hollywood norm. Hate to see it happen to a beloved franchise.
Reply by lindewell
on March 30, 2017 at 5:04 PM
Watch this review, they adressed the soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRgaSHbAk4Y
Reply by FilmFan1983
on April 1, 2017 at 3:26 AM
I wish people would stop posting their reviews on IMDb.
The movie was good enough. Haven't seen the original anime and not sure I want to even now. All the best visual moments were captured in the trailer.
Reply by lindewell
on April 1, 2017 at 8:08 AM
LOL, you can as well bury your head in the sand and give your money to studio directly. Shill.
Reply by FilmFan1983
on April 1, 2017 at 12:40 PM
That's odd. I'm a shill because I liked the movie enough to give it a casual recommendation? I think the movie is fine, and probably better for someone not too familiar with the source material.
Reply by lindewell
on April 1, 2017 at 1:43 PM
No, you're a shill because you wish user couldn't post their reviews on imdb. Only professional reviewers who can be bribed one way or another would post reviews then. The studios wet dream. Shill.
Reply by Ahstaroth
on April 1, 2017 at 2:09 PM
My guess is he doesn't want IMDB getting any more free content. I don't want them too either. IMDB is dead to me.
Reply by lindewell
on April 1, 2017 at 2:43 PM
Nah I think he just doesn't want to hear about bad reviews for his blockbusters
Reply by skribb
on April 1, 2017 at 3:19 PM
holy crap its lindewell
Reply by FilmFan1983
on April 1, 2017 at 3:30 PM
Exactly! There are better alternatives to IMDb that have user reviews. We should try to make sites like this one better so there are fewer reasons to go to IMDb.
Reply by lindewell
on April 2, 2017 at 8:46 AM
I don't TMDB's interface, apparently they're not going to change it. It lack something, it's not comfortable for viewing and weird layouts. Why do I have to scroll down to find the discussion button? At the begiunning it next the other icons and they removed it and force you to scroll down...
Reply by Jacinto Cupboard
on May 6, 2017 at 10:37 AM
I'm not reading the OP with its wall of quoted text but addressing the notion in the thread title.
I've seen all the Ghost iterations, right from day one all those years ago. If you think this is mature philosophy then you need to grow up. Maybe visit your local library.
What Ghost is, is a wonderful, glorious, beautiful mess. It has never made a lick of sense. It self contradicts, it is inconsistent, and the continuity is all over the map. Is it an interesting starting point for exploring themes of identity? Sure. But if you are looking for enlightenment from a cartoon come blockbuster movie, then you might be proving something about how contemporary culture is dumbing people down.
It's entertainment. Quirky, trippy, visually beautiful entertainment. Don't ruin it for yourself, and others, by crucifying it with ridiculous expectations.
While I'm here, I think this live action version fits in nicely with the 'franchise'. Certainly it does a lot to restore and reset the 'franchise' after some of the later anime additions which were often poorly animated and had generally crappy storylines.
Fact is they were mining the life out of it for years. Anyone who thinks this film corrupts the legacy of the original film clearly hasn't spent much time with the franchise overall.