Will Ghost In The Shell Be Any Good?

24th January 2017

By Martí Dols Roca.

We’re only two months away from the release of the new Ghost in The Shell and most likely friends and foes of the epic animation classic will be ready to shoot their ammo at this Scarlett Johansson starred remake.

Which by itself is, as far as old school anime fans are concerned, a statement of intent from the director or, probably, from the producers. In spite of debating whether making real-life adaptations of animation movies is or is not a smart move (normally it’s not), casting Woody Allen’s muse as Motoko Kusanagi, the Section 9 agent chasing the Puppet Master, seems like a rather adventurous decision. However, considering Margot Robbie was the first option of this Paramount and DreamWorks co-production, maybe Scarlett’s presence isn’t that bad after all.

In any case, Johansson’s being the lead role is one of the most commented upon things in the upcoming release for obvious reasons: one could arguably say that this choice completely kills the appeal of the sober, serene and cyber-looking protagonist of the old movie, which is, spoiler alert, a crucial part in the development and understanding of the plot, once Motoko and the Puppet Master finally become fused. That having been said, and from the other side of the argument, it could also be claimed that without a big name on the front page, this ambitious remake would have never been possible to fund. So there’s that.

The other issue that has been touched, from the scarce information the audience has been able to collect, i.e. what they’ve seen in the trailer, is the aesthetics. And now the Simpsons Comic Book Guy attitude towards anything new changes to a very simple phrase: “it looks freaking amazing”. And why’s that? Well, that is mainly due to the fact that in this particular aspect, the producers and creators of the remake have tried their best to respect the original product; judging by the trailer, quite successfully. This way, the visual spectacle the 1995 movie was (because let’s face it, it was a nice story, but what made it great was the whole package) seems to be well-preserved and kind of exported to real-life action through using the same shots and framings.

One way or another, Ghost in the Shell (2017) will be one of the few things to look forward to in this early 2017.

Now that a big percentage of new big commercial movies are remakes, second parts, prequels and sequels of old-time classics, let’s keep calm, sit down and be ready for long pint-watered discussions.

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