105.
Ghost in the Shell
7/10
This film was going to be interesting. I have never seen the animation but I remember messing about on the computer game on the PlayStation when I was younger. From the trailer it looked like this movie was heavily reliant on its special effects and graphics, but I hope this wasn't the case.
We are set the seen of the future, a future where people have been receiving cybernetic upgrades and the top dogs to go to for such a procedure is Hanka Technology, which is on the verge of creating a new cyborg which uses a human brain to function. What the hell could go wrong?
A woman named Mira, played by Scarlett Johansson, is being taking into Hanka after an accident which isn't shown. Her brain is put into a cybernetic body, with more strength and agility. Once the process is complete, her designer, Ouelet talks to the Hanka CEO called Cutter, who wants Mira in section 9, which is an Anti-terrorism squad but the designer feels that its past her right now. Fast forward to a year later and its been a success. Mira is called 'The Major' as she stands on a roof listening in on a meeting between a Hanka representative and an African Ambassador. Receiving her orders from the section 9 Chief and working along side a team of Batou and Ladriya, she seems to work without emotion so far. In the meeting, several geisha-bots attack the people in the room and Major springs into action, against the Chief's command. Showing the first cinematic graphics on the skyscrapers and surrounding area was something but now The Major turns invisible and jumps off the roof before swinging into the room and shooting the robots as the creepily crawl up the walls to safety. One of the bots hacks into the Hanka man's neck and kills him before she can get to him to save him. As it pulls away it utters words that make you think that Hanka isn't all that it seems and then it's killed by Mira.
The team meet with the Chief to discuss the attack that happened and they learn that the bots were hacked from a mysterious source which was uttering the same phrase as the geisha-bots from earlier. Chief wants to talk to The Major by himself, to discuss about her not listening to orders and he tells her that she still has her ghost within her shell. Now we are going to learn what the title is about. The Major is seen to meet with her designer on a regular to sort out any damage from missions and as they converse, she always has a problem with remembering her actual past through any more than glimpses and flashes. Ouelet puts these down to glitches but there is something there between the two and she seems to care for her. The Major and Batou are driving about the city and she continues about her memories, telling him she can't remember her family dying whilst trying to get into the country, now she is hallucinating a burning hut. The two meet another Hanka representative who is a doctor and working on the geisha-bot from the start. The Major decides to deep dive inside the AI in order to find out more answers about the hacker. In a new kind of special effects for the movie, we seen some sort of code scene, as if watching The Matrix and The Major finds herself walking through a club with distorted images of people frightened. She is grabbed by some sort of entity and Batou is forced to pull her out where she then wakes to say that she knows where the hacker is.
The duo now head to a Yakuza nightclub with Ladriya and not long in, The Major is pulled into a room by two mean and is forced to dance on a pole whilst being handcuffed to it and being zapped by a cattle prod. The room is also blocking her signal to the rest of the team so she can't be saved. The Major then starts fighting with the men in the room in one of the best fight scenes from the move. Quick action, quick bullet dodging and intense kicking leads to a gun fight between the team and other men until they are free to find the hacker, running into a room that is a trap and the bomb goes off, injuring Major and blinding Badou. Badou needs cybernetic eyes and the Major's body continues to be repaired. Meanwhile Cutter meets with the Chief and is angry with the fact that Major done the deep dive to which the Chief warns Cutter not the threaten him because he answers to the Prime minster not Hanka. Now this is creating a new rift for the movie.
We set our first sights on the actual hacker and main antagonist of the movie as he finds the doctor who gave Mira the deep dive and rips her eyes out before ending her life. The team find her and The Major finds that she died holding a disc drive she contain Hanka names including Ouelet so she figures these are the next targets. Back on the street the hacker starts to control two truck workers who try to ram Ouelet's car off the road and although she survives they make a move to shoot her before the team arrive to shoot first and save her. Mira chases on man to a body of water until he turns invisible and fights him in a great passage of special effects, until Batou turns up to stop her so that they can question him. Interrogation starts but the man can't remember anything after the link with the hacker is severed. He was simply on his way to pick up his daughter and the Major holds up a picture of what he thinks is his daughter but turns out to be one of himself. They work out that the hacker probably planted fake memories into this guy. The hacker, who they learn is called Kuze, hacks back in and communicates through the guy and threatens section 9 before jumping up and making the man hang himself with a cable. A member traces the hack to a hidden location and the Major investigates, finding the hacker attached to a network with other cyborg bodies. Kuze explains that he was a test subject at Hanka and was called a freak and failure due to his terrible outcome. The Major notices a tattoo on his chest of a burning hut like the one she imaging earlier. Kuze carries on explain that Kanka took control of their lives instead of saving the needy.
Back at civilisation, Mira confronts Ouelet about what has been said, who explains that there were many failed attempts and Major was the first successful one but Mira appears angry even as Ouelet tried to defend herself. Once caught, Cutter order Ouelet to terminate Mira but instead, she fakes the process and gives ira an address for her to find answers for herself. Cutter is seen shooting the glass to try and get in to stop this and eventually after Mira escapes and Cutter kills the designer but frames Mira to the Chief instead.
Major follows the address to what turns out to be her old home which is still lived at by her mother. The mother gives a story of how her daughter run away and she believed she has been killed. She looks into the Major's eyes and sees something familiar. As she leaves the Chief gets in contact and updates her about Ouelet, both knowing the actual truth, they let Cutter listen in on the conversation as they plan their next move. Cutter sets his sights on the Section 9 team but most survive their attacks. Mira meets Kuze at a hideout, not believing that he isn't the bad guy in this situation. They learn his name was Hideo and they both were against the rise of cyborgs. As they reminisce about their old lives, Cutter sends a massive spider tank to start blowing shit up. It hits Kuze and damages him severely. Major jumps on board and using all her strength she tries to rip it apart. One of Cutter's snipers has now flown in on a helicopter and shoots Kuze. Both are lying on the floor facing each other and Badou recovers Major as the scene changes to Chief confronting Cutter and gets in touch with Major to ask her consent to execute Cutter. Shooting him three times in slow motion, he falls into a small pool to die.
The film ends with Major visiting her own grave and as it pans out we see her mother with her, maybe showing that she has told her mother who she really is now. The Major's voiceover begins a lesson that she's learned about knowing there will be more like her but the changes to her body don't define her, ending by leaping off the building to her next mission.
The film was an ok watch, with some amazing special effects and visions on the future but a story that felt very crammed in the small space of time that it was on. Between the fight scenes and fast paced action, it did keep me gripped in the film. I couldn't compare it to the original material though so others may not have enjoyed it. If this didn't go by the original storyline then they would have missed a trick.
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