Ghost in the Shell Preview Review

Last night I got the chance to check out 15 minutes of scenes and footage from Ghost in the Shell, the live-action adaptation of the manga/anime/films starring Scarlett Johansson. Paramount hosted us in their IMAX VIP theater in downtown Toronto at Yonge and Dundas, welcoming us to the event with props from the film (the geisha robot head), concept art, and beautiful posters up for grabs (said poster is pictured to the right).

I’m going to say right off the bat here that this piece will not speak to the white-washing controversy surrounding the film. We’ve written up articles leading up to the release of the film and my stance is by the sides of those trying to fight Hollywood’s desire to erase the visibility of other races. Ok, I spoke to it, but that’s it. The rest of the piece is about the footage that I got to see.

The scenes that were chosen for the event last night’s event didn’t give us much of the story. They showed us a little bit of Major’s (Scarlett Johansson) creation from human to synthetic human hybrid, but no context to why that was happening. This scene was very reminiscent to some of the scenes that you may have seen in the first season of HBO’s Westworld that showed us how the AI’s were brought to life. Juliette Binoche had a minor role in the footage as Major’s doctor, who seemingly has a bigger stake in what happens to her than what they let on.

Prior to Binoche joining the scene and while we were still in the “making of” sequence for the synthetic body that would house Major’s brain, I have to admit that it all felt a little bit hyper-fanboyed up. By that I mean that while this scene was genuinely neat to watch, some of it felt like an excuse to show a “naked” Scarlett Johansson for as long as possible. She’s not really naked, per se, but rather her synthetic form’s naked body but still. It’s not over the top, but definitely came off (to me) as a bit of a lingering gaze.

The effects are fantastic, like really and truly fantastic. If I go to see the film in theaters, it’ll absolutely be to watch how things play out from that perspective. There’s one scene where Major’s brain and the synthetic body she’s being paired with are connecting (literally) and I was floored by how incredible it looked. Ghost in the Shell will have stunning visuals that are worth seeing on the big screen, if nothing else winds up being substantially sound.

The next scene that they allowed us a look at was one that we’ve seen in the trailers (the trailer is below) where there’s a dinner happening and some sort of assassination plays out. Paramount is obviously very happy with this scene and it’s been the forefront of all the marketing so far for Ghost in the Shell. There are beautiful robot geisha’s that turn into deadly robot spider assassins and I gotta say, they look really cool. The robots aren’t CGI and were actually created, which I think was an excellent move for the film. Well, specifically the masks were actual robot masks, not just makeup or special effects (check out this cool article about them and Adam Savage from Mythbusters).

The scene, again as you’ve seen in the trailers, show some sort of assassination attempt at the dinner of some SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT PEOPLE, including a man who is a part of the corporation that made Major into the weapon that she is. Section 9, the elite team of badasses led by Major, are onsite and move in to thwart the attempt. The action, as you can imagine, is pretty cool. It’s mostly a really fantastic action sequence to watch but part of it felt too CGIed where the characters (ie. Major) are moving too fluidly, if that makes sense. Major is meant to be more than a human, she’s a hybrid soldier so it adds up with the story that her movements would feel different but something about it just felt a tad uncanny valley to me.

We didn’t get too much more of the film. We got a better look at Pilou Asbæk as Batou and we also glimpsed Future Tokyo a bit more fully, complete with giant holographic ads and other such things that await us in a sophisticated technologically advanced world.

Honestly, outside of my thoughts on the individual scenes themselves, I didn’t get a really an impression of the film that I could fully form an opinion on. To do so would be hasty and without anything of real substance to go on. What I can say is, again, the film had stunning visuals. Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of the character felt a bit stiff at times, but I’m not sure if that speaks to her acting or the direction she was given, but again, I had mere glimpses at her in the film so I’ll leave it at that. She kicked ass in the action sequences, but that was to be expected after years of her playing Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow in the Marvel movies.

Ghost in the Shell will be in theaters later this month on March 31.