REVIEW: Ghost in the Shell

Normally I wouldn't write a review in the traditional sense for something but yesterday I had the privilege of seeing an advanced screening for the new Ghost in the Shell movie ahead of it's official premiere on the 31st.  Because of that I feel like I'm obligated to write a formal review for it.  To begin this comes from the perspective of someone who has not watched any of the original Ghost in the Shell anime, be that the TV series or movies, and as such means this movie was viewed with a clean slate in my eyes.

Ghost in the Shell takes place in the far future where mechanical enhancements to the human body have become common place around the world.  The story follows Major (played by Scarlett Johansson), who's brain was transplanted to a fully mechanized body after a terrorist attack left her original body in a near death state.  Major is then enlisted in a government anti-terrorism division where she hunts down a wanted cyber-terrorist by the name of Kuzé.  The first of her kind, Ghost in the Shell wastes no time in using Major to to push forward the usual themes of human vs. machine prominent in android driven media.  Major questioning her own humanity and existence is to be expected but it's the fact that Ghost in the Shell doesn't really push the envelope in any way beyond that expectation that hurts it.  The plot follows a fairly standard structure that can be anticipated from beginning to end and doesn't give anything for the viewer to really think on.

The predictable story is certainly not helped by the subpar acting of Johansson.  While trying to put forth a serious demeanor her expression came across as confused instead, almost as if she was in a daze the entire time.  This was compounded with the Johansson's stiff speech that sounded as if she was reading straight from a script rather than the flippant, non-nonchalant Major that seemed to have been the aim.  While it was clear that Major was supposed to be rather lacking in the emotion department there is a difference between acting without emotions and acting a character without emotions, and Johansson was the former.

Fortunately, Johansson's shortcomings were somewhat made up for by some solid performances from the supporting cast.  Pilou Asbaek as Batou was a particular standout.  Unlike Major, Batou's aloof personality shined through Asbaek's snappy delivery of lines and movements.  His actions outside of fighting were purposeful yet also carried a hint of lethargy that complemented his character well.   Takeshi Kitano made up for the rather uninteresting character of Aramaki by executing certain key scenes and lines with finesse that got the viewer riled up.

What failed to get the viewer appropriately riled up, however, were the action sequences.  While not necessarily bad they weren't particularly engaging either.  Each fight was rather one-sided and didn't carry a sense of risk or urgency.  Over-reliance on slow motion and over-exaggerated hit reactions resulted in each strike feeling like a dull thud rather than a resounding blow that one would expect from mechanically enhanced humans.  Nonetheless, the fights did serve their purpose of breaking up the story sequences and were enjoyable enough as to not be unwelcome when they did come.

Regardless of the characters' portrayals and combat prowess, one thing that can be said is that Paramount Pictures has crafted a rather fitting world for them to reside in.  The technopolis setting brims with hologram advertisements and is filled with pedestrians with variety of visually interesting mechanical enhancements.  Special effects involving said enhancements were particularly impressive with body parts coming on and off as easily as puzzle pieces or muscle sinew being overlaid on Major with a gel like substance.  Light filtering through mesh gratings and reflecting off of all manner of metallic surfaces dazzles the eyes and the hustle and bustle make the city come alive.  It all carries a dirty and greasy vibe which perfectly conveys the feeling of technology pervading all aspects of society.

Ghost in the Shell is the very definition of a safe movie.  It sticks to well established methods in order to appeal to a more general audience but lost any potential to be memorable in the process.  A lackluster story, flat protagonist, and merely serviceable action sequences won't be making any waves but very little about the feature can be legitimately labeled as "bad".  By the time the credits rolled I felt next to nothing.  I didn't feel disappointed.  I didn't feel like I had wasted my time.  It almost felt as if I had just sat in a seat and spaced out for two hours.  Ghost in the Shell is a forgettable experience that simply fails to leave any sort of lasting impression, good or bad.





Ghost in the Shell
6/10
OK   

What Makes it Great: White Album 2

White Album 2 is something special.  It's a 10/10 that exhibits a mastery of human emotions, story telling, and cinematography not seen in other anime .  Normally I would pick out a specific aspect of an anime or game to discuss but in White Album 2's case there is just so much that goes into making it memorable that it would be an injustice to focus on just one part of it.  That's why this piece is going to be more general in nature compared to my previous ones as it will be taking a look at the show in a more all-encompassing manner.  I'm also breaking my tradition of avoiding important spoilers this time around since it would be impossible for me to get across the weight the series carries without going into specific plot details.  If you care about spoilers, turn back now, take my word to watch White Album 2 (White Album 1 is an individual story and not relevant to White Album 2), then come back when you're done.

To start to understand what makes White Album 2 tick one first has to look at the tsundere character archetype.  Many anime fans can easily recognize a tsundere type character by their harsh outer demeanor that hides a caring and kindhearted nature underneath.  Kazusa Touma is a textbook example of a tsundere.  She was very curt with protagonist Haruki and constantly feigned disinterest in his affairs.  Yet Kazusa was always looking out for Haruki and gave him a helping hand be that indirectly by urging him to evaluate his remaining time better or directly by helping him with his guitar practices.  It's very easy to be lulled into the assumption that Kazusa also followed the other established trait for a tsundere, and that was the inability to be honest with themselves about their feelings for others.  This seemed to be apparent when Kazusa gave Setsuna her blessing after her confession to Haruki in the first half of the show.  Classic tsunderes, like Taiga from Toradora or Louise from Zero no Tsukaima, refused the feelings they felt towards their respective protagonists throughout the entirety of their series.  It would be logical to conclude that Kazusa would follow a similar pattern.  The viewer was made painfully aware that this was not the case in the closing act, however, and it's that previous misconception on the viewer's part that makes the gut punch hurt all the more.

It's All on You

It's now been just over a week since the Nintendo Switch launched with the much anticipated title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  It doesn't take much research to find just how ground-breaking this adventure is.  While Metacritic scores should never be used as the end-all-be-all metric, a critic score of 98% from 78 reviews is practically unheard of for a game in this day and age. BotW has also broken the record for most perfect scores from critics, dethroning the previous holders being Super Mario Galaxy and The Last of Us.  If you want a comprehensive review of the game you can refer to any one of those articles.  As usual, though, I want to zoom in on a particular aspect of the game.  The crux of what makes BotW tick and how it redefines the open-world genre as we know it, and that is true, realized freedom.

A common flaw of nearly all open world games is that they are checklists in disguise.  Take The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for instance. It's game structure can more or less be boiled down into a simple formula.  Arrive in a new town, find the bulletin board, take all the requests on the board, do a story quest maybe, then move onto the next town and repeat the process over again.  The quests themselves in The Witcher are detailed and involved enough to not feel too repetitive, but when the player opens the quest log and sees the veritable mountain of quests they feel they should do before moving on, it can get quite tedious.  Ubisoft games are especially guilty of checklist syndrome as their game maps are usually so cluttered with icons indicating quests, side activities, bases, and collectibles that they look like a middle schooler's stamp collection.

Phone Dilution

It's no big secret how prominent cell phones and communication have become in today's first-world societies.  They permeate every aspect of our lives and we rely on that ability to instantly get in contact with nearly anyone of our choosing to be a properly functioning member of that society.  This is all the more true for millennials like myself as by the time we were becoming self aware enough to want to communicate with others, cell phones and the internet were becoming cornerstones of life.  Even the most basic of basic flip phones only capable of calling and texting vastly opened the world of the young teenager who received it.  I don't know what life was like before everyone had a cell phones, before the internet became an integral part of everyone's lives.  I've imagined it from time to time and I've seen Hollywood depict those earlier periods of the 70's and 80's, but they've never emphasized this missing part of life quite like White Album has.

White Album takes place in 1986 and follows university student Touya Fuji who is dating the up-and-coming pop star Yuki Morikawa, or idol as they're more often referred to as in Japan.  Understandably, Yuki's schedule as a rising idol is packed to the brim with rehearsals, training, recordings and the like which leaves very little time to spend with Touya, or anyone outside the industry for that matter.  This places strain on their relationship and is exacerbated when Touya is essentially told to stay away from Yuki by her manager.  The only way for Touya to effectively communicate with Yuki is by good old fashioned land lines and White Album places these phone calls squarely in the spotlight.