I went to see the trending Ghost in the Shell last week, and must say that it is one of the few visual thrillers that can make me take a retrospect after viewing. IMDB rates it 6.9 right now and critics lash on it, projecting a weak box office and even news had it that The Media Action Network for Asian Americans condemns it being “white-washed” for choosing Scarlett Johansson to play a Japanese heroine as in the original anime. Yet from my very personal perspective I would rate it an 8 for that fact it did a paragon job converting a 1995 anime into a 2017 fantasy movie.
First off, the trailer is excellent. Having been fed this trailer (see below) countless times in the theater, my appetite was opened up wide. After first glance, it seems a bit bombastic, but after seeing the full show you start to realize the trailer captures the most amazing part of the whole movie. I would be desperate just to figure out what’s inside these creepy horrendous Geisha and why Scarlett Johansson would jump off from a skyscraper with nothing on (though that’s not true apparently if you take a second look; anyway it’s a PG-13).
Throughout the movie, the audience is shown an exotic future world, but not some future world we are tired of seeing in other Hollywood productions. The birth of the heroine, or Major, is aesthetically impeccable. If you haven’t seen it yet, picture in your mind how do you present a scene in which a human body immersed in white liquid paint morphs into a synthetic flesh-bodied woman, and compare it with how the movie treats it, you will be impressed. Characters’ costume is also very relevant. Just take a look at the following three pictures how Scarlett Johansson normally looks, how she looks in the movie, and how her character compares with one presented by the original anime. After all we all knew Japanese anime does not usually draw people in Asian styles right?
If we temporarily put aside the dispute of whether this movie is white-washed, we find an excellent cosmetic work. Who can turn a blonde that’s full of western style facial expressions into an Oriental style, introspective, vigilant, also incredibly attractive police commander better than this movie? In my mind, quite contrary to some critics’ view that the movie screws up remaking a much-loved classic anime, Ghost in the Shell artistically proves how imagination and innovation can remake memories into high-resolution ones that fits our new era’s taste.