Despite an uninspiring marketing campaign, this is actually a surprisingly good sci-fi thriller, which combines now-familiar themes about the blurred line between man and machine, with a visual style that is unlike any live-action film I’ve seen in years.

Premise: In the not too distant future, the brain of a fatally wounded victim from a terrorist attack is implanted into a fully cybernetic body (or “shell”) by Hanka Robotics, creating the first of its kind. Loaned to the governmental counter-terrorism unit Section 9 by Hanka, Major (Scarlett Johansson) sets out to hunt down the cyber-terrorist known as Kuze, while also hiding the fact that she is beginning to suffer from recurring perceptual “glitches”.

Verdict:

First things first, I’ll be totally up front about the fact that I haven’t read the Ghost in the Shell manga comic series from 1989, or seen the 1995 anime film version, and so I’m not going to spend half my review saying that this American live-action remake isn’t as good as the original versions. Instead, I’m just going to judge this film on its own merits - and on that basis, I found it far better than I was expecting.

Focusing on the positives, one of the best things about this live-action version of Ghost in the Shell is how impressively realised the future civilization is. For my money, the unnamed Japanese city in this film is up there with the cities from Blade Runner and The Fifth Element in terms of futuristic cityscapes that feel like genuine, lived-in cities of the future (with everything from slums to skyscraper penthouses), rather than simply computer generated background images. The scenes that were filmed on location on the streets of Hong Kong are a perfect blend of the real and the imagined, as the actual locations have been seamlessly augmented with photo-realistic CGI, so that it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. A very fitting metaphor for the themes of the film itself.

“…the characters have an otherworldly, almost fairy tale quality…”

The society of the unnamed city is also a fascinating cultural melting pot. On the one hand, there is an undeniable seam of Japanese culture that runs through everything from the architecture to the cuisine, and the enigmatic head of Section 9, Aramaki (played by "Beat" Takeshi Kitano), speaks only in Japanese. That said, it appears that all of the non-Japanese-speaking characters still understand him (which may itself be a by-product of cybernetic enhancements), and the film has a large contingent of non-Japanese characters, such as Batou (played by Pilou Asbæk from Denmark), Dr Ouelet (played by Juliette Binoche from France), Cutter (played by Peter Ferdinando from the UK), Togusa (played by Chin Han from Singapore) and of course Major herself, played by Scarlett Johansson. Cynically, you could say that this international and ethnically diverse cast was brought in to help with marketing the film outside of Japan, but even if that is partially true, the eclectic cast gives the city (and the film) an intriguingly multicultural feel, and the fact that the Westerners are often referred to as “refugees” also adds an interesting spin to the futuristic world.

The other aspect of the futuristic society which is realised with some stunning CGI work (and presumably some prosthetics as well) is the culture’s obsession with cybernetic implants and enhancements. While Major may be the first fully artificial lifeform (baring her organic brain), the rest of the society has embraced cybernetic enhancement to the extent that there’s barely a character that hasn’t been augmented in some way, be it subtly (with ports in the back of the neck allowing direct interface with computers, or with implants in the brain allowing a technological form of telepathic communication) or more obviously with cybernetic eyes, jaws and limbs. The overall effect is to give the characters an otherworldly, almost fairy tale quality.

“…visually speaking, ‘Ghost in the Shell’ took my breath away…”

This is just one aspect of the flawless production design work that has gone to make this film one of the most grounded and tangible future worlds I’ve seen since District 9. Whether it’s the design of the futuristic-but-recognisable vehicles and firearms, or the creepy geisha-bots (played by Rila Fukushima), the film creates an atmosphere where, despite the fact that the film is obviously very CGI-heavy, you still feel like you could reach out and touch the props or go out and visit the locations. In that respect, it’s amazing how far the melding of practical effects and VFX has come since the “soulless” green screen work in films like the Star Wars prequels.

And it has to be said that visually speaking, Ghost in the Shell took my breath away. For starters, it has some top notch VFX in terms of the CGI for for things like Major’s robotic shell, her “thermoptic” camouflage suit, the design of Kuze himself (played with suitable verve by Michael Carmen Pitt) and the holographic advertisements that adorn every surface and free space in the city. But as well as that, the film is shot beautifully (and this is the one area where I think I do need to give credit to the original versions, as I understand that many of the most visually stunning shots of the film are taken directly from the manga and anime versions). So many shots linger in the mind’s eye long after the film finishes, from the surreal dreamscapes inside the mind of an AI, to the neon drenched cityscape vistas.

“…the plot may not feel as ground-breaking as it did 30 years ago, but there’s still plenty to enjoy…”

If there’s one weak spot in the film, it’s the plot – but even that is perhaps not nearly as weak as you may have heard. The film suffers from the fact that it is based on a manga comic series that is nearly thirty-years-old, so what was an inventive and cutting edge exploration of the divide between man and machine then, may feel rather over-familiar three decades later. What’s worth bearing in mind is that if you think Ghost in the Shell is following in the footsteps of other sci-fi thrillers you have seen which questioned what it means to be human in an increasingly computer-based and cybernetic world, chances are those other sci-fi thrillers were themselves inspired by the original Ghost in the Shell. That said, while the plot does contain familiar themes and motifs, it also contained a handful of twists that I did not necessarily see coming.

Johansson herself is excellent in the lead role, playing Major as someone who is clearly not comfortable in her own (artificial) skin; for all her gymnastic abilities and fight training, Major moves with a detectable awkwardness when not in combat, as if the “shell” doesn’t quite fit the “ghost” inside. Overall, while the plot may not feel nearly as ground-breaking as it did thirty years ago, there’s still plenty to enjoy as the story unfolds, especially given that this is certainly one of the most visually stunning films of recent years.