Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 18, 2017

Most movie fans will recognize the name Ghost in the Shell as one of the all-time classic Anime films, as well as the larger franchise built around it (not to mention the original manga), rather than as an original property by way of its live-action adaptation. The story of combining flesh and technology in a dark Blade Runner-like future, the narrative serves as a warning sign as the potential for man and machine to meld becomes an ever more realistic proposition. The original was well ahead of its time and remains relevant today as a tight, exciting, and thought-provoking cautionary tale. The live action adaptation, in counter to the movie's very title, is little more than the shell; there's almost no soul despite the interesting, if not obviously recycled, contemplative themes. It's not entirely reliant on action and visual effects, and the themes do speak loudly and clearly, but one cannot shake the feeling that the film is little more than disposable entertainment that best leaves the thematic complexity to the original manga and classic animated film.

In the future, technology has advanced to the point that the line between man and machine has become blurred. Cybernetic implants are commonplace, allowing feats of knowledge and dexterity previously impossible to man as easy as a brief medical procedure. A young woman, Mira Killian (Scarlett Johansson), is the sole survivor of a deadly cyberterror attack that took her parents' lives. The attack may not have killed her, but it did injure her enough to make her an ideal candidate for a "life saving" transplant in which her brain was placed in a cybernetic shell. She's an unwitting pioneer, the first such transplant patient. A year passes. She's adapted to her new body and is a Major in the anti-terror group Section 9, partnered with an enhanced man named Batou (Pilou Asbæk). A routine counter terror mission places the Major on a path of discovery that will redefine everything she knows about herself, the world, and the technology around her.

Ghost in the Shell's central story of the marriage of man and machine and the consequences thereof on the individual and the larger society are more relevant today than when the original film released more than two decades ago. Then, the technological revolution was still in its infancy; twenty-plus years have changed the world, not to the point that the world is an unrecognizable and out-of-control technocracy (yet), but the story seems much more valid and plausible today. That would seem to make this the perfect time to reintroduce the story to a wider, more contemporary audience and, indeed, the film does just that, promising and delivering a tightly dressed Scarlett Johansson, awe-inspiring visual effects, and action aplenty in the process. But even as the film explores its most fundamental and complex themes to satisfaction, one cannot help but feel that much of it is drowned out by style, that for all of the movie's efforts to the contrary its superficialities come to define it more than its narrative intricacies. For a movie of this nature, that's a death sentence. That successful balance is what makes a similar move like The Matrix so compelling. Ghost in the Shell cannot compete with that depth of story and depth of action. Try as it might, it cannot consistently merge the two with any significance, and the action and style take command far more often than do the narrative drivers.

The film is nevertheless an enjoyable, though certainly flawed, experience at that raw entertainment vessel level. It introduces no real new ideas or cinematic styles, but it's a solid enough entertainer and those superficialities will largely keep the viewer engaged, even as there are times when the plot becomes a plodding morass rather than a kinetic, fast-moving narrative blitz. Action comes furiously and with some quality support details in terms of props, places, and special effects. Gun battles are enjoyably organic and the world, as dense as it may be, feels vibrant and inspired. Of course, much of it will feel very familiar to fans of the original Anime. This Ghost in the Shell painstakingly recreates a number of memorable moments and shots from the original and, at times, takes various elements of the larger series and creates an amalgamation for use in this film. It's comfortable, and familiarity with the original film will help audiences overcome this version's lack of ultra-intensive narrative study and characterization to slide by, a bit, knowing what it is trying to do while enjoying its visual richness along the way. At best, this is a compliment to the original, certainly not a replacement. It's simply asking too much of a big studio film to capture the same essence as an original classic these days. Ghost in the Shell tries remarkably hard, and often comes close, but in the end its emphasis falls in the wrong place.

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The digitally photographed and enhanced Ghost in the Shell impresses on Blu-ray. The picture reveals plenty of intimate, high quality details, particularly in facial close-ups but also futuristic attire and many of the environments around the film, whether dingy street-level locales or sweeping vistas packed with holographic signage. Image clarity is outstanding and there's not a smudgy edge to be seen. The film is inherently dark. Most scenes lack more than a sprinkling of color, most coming in a select few daytime shots, well-lit interiors, or those colorful, yet still a bit dull, holographic signs. Everything pops with sufficient depth and punch as it's meant to within the film's stylistic confines, but that blue-gray filtering, so commonplace in today's drab and dreary cinema, prevails. Black levels are tight and deep and flesh tones appear accurate to the cast and characters. Light banding appears at times, along backgrounds and across shadowy faces, but rarely does it rise to a noticeable, never mind distracting, level.

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ghost in the Shell's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is technically impressive. Only a few instances of lacking gunfire -- particularly near the beginning -- and a relative dearth of obvious overhead components really hold it down. Generally, action scenes, the track's bread-and-butter, hold strong. Gunfire does often present with impressive depth. Bullets whip and zip around the stage, impacting all over the theater and producing a quality sense of immersion into any gun battle. Heavier elements -- a monstrous machine chases down and shoots at the heroes in the third act to impressive depth, movement, and room-filling intensity -- are very strong, punctuated by an explosion near film's end that offers a hefty concussive blast and sends shrapnel and debris all over the listening area. Excursions "inside" the digital world send some powerful, engaging elements flying through the stage, in addition to various haunting effects that linger and spill from all speakers, the sides and above and everywhere in between. All of it enters the listening area with full-bodied presence and is very well imaged. A sequence around the 27-minute mark exemplifies the track's ability to produce pinpoint effects throughout the listening area. The overheads find additional engagement when alarms blare halfway through, and various dense city-level ambient effects or environmental details like seagulls or distant rolling thunder saturate the stage mildly, but convincingly. Dialogue is clear and precise with natural center placement and prioritization.

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Ghost in the Shell's Blu-ray release contains three extras. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Hard-Wired Humanity: Making Ghost in the Shell (1080p, 30:05): A quality catch-all overview that includes a discussion of the story's themes, the long process of developing the live-action project, Director Rupert Sanders' influence on the project, characters, cast and performances, visual effects, production design, and much more. The piece is very involved and detailed; fans will find it a treasure trove of background information.
• Section 9: Cyber Defenders (1080p, 11:29): A closer look at the details behind Section 9 as well as a further exploration of plot details, character design and qualities, story themes, and more.
• Man & Machine: The Ghost Philosophy (1080p, 10:36): A more detailed look at the story and what it means to contemporary viewers as a commentary on a potential future for mankind, as well as how it parallels the ever-evolving present.

Ghost in the Shell Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ghost in the Shell, in any of its forms, depicts an intriguing but dark future of human enhancement and the frightening push away from what makes humans, human, including their flaws and limitations. A movie like this that cannot merely dabble in complexity, it must immerse itself in complexity, make it a centerpiece, and it must be made more for the thought provoking elements than anything else, using its action, style, and effects only to get audiences in the door and compliment the more important matters. This version of Ghost in the Shell isn't as thematically rich or deep as it needs be, despite a strong effort in that direction, favoring well done (but in some ways tired) action and effects instead. Paramount's Blu-ray is solid, though, featuring high quality video and audio. Supplements are fine, too. Worth a watch, but rent this and buy the Anime.