Ghost in the Shell (2017) (Scarlett Johansson)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

A lot of friends have seen it and they are mostly very hard core anime fans. And the response has been pretty positive.
Just need to treated as a it is, a US version.

If it was poor they wouldn't hold back on criticism.

I'm going to IMAX it tomorrow.

It depends on what kind of anime fans they are - the original film is actually quite boring but very introspective. The anime is very political and complex and is actually more action orientated and is a different animal,and the fansubs actually tended to show more of the actual background than the DVDs of the series I have. Once you start to see the background of the anime and how it ties in the post WW2 Japanese psyche it really is impressive. You would not get that from watching the DVDs especially with the English voice over. Even one of the first episodes is not in the arc and it really only hits home in the last few seconds when the Major utters a few words.

The thing is I don't thing the film will be as subtle - it needs to sell itself to people who are not fans. Films made for fans don't do well - Serenity and Watchman barely broke even at the box office.

 

[sneakysnail]

snip

rant much? at no point did i say your opinion wasn't valid but you seem to think people have no right to disagree with it. fake exaggerated example 1 " i enjoyed the transformers movies" example 2 "i enjoyed the transformer movies, best films of all time 10/10" one of those you can argue against, one you cant.
As for me not watching it, well why would I? even when you try to defend it you admit it doesn't have the depth of the original and is dumbed down. so why would i watch it? because it has shiny CGI? Pass. I frankly hate hollywood remakes so if it's not bringing anything new to the table why as a fan of the original would i watch? yeah maybe it's meant for a new audience but that doesn't mean it had to be dumbed down. and dont get me started on your rating system. 8.5 is cult classic territory for me. "not an 8.5 but gave it an 8.5 for enjoyment"?? i got freaky with the misses when watching 50 shades, had a great time, movie was still 3/10. it's either an 8.5 or not, cant be 2 things

 

[Raymond Lin]

rant much? at no point did i say your opinion wasn't valid but you seem to think people have no right to disagree with it. fake exaggerated example 1 " i enjoyed the transformers movies" example 2 "i enjoyed the transformer movies, best films of all time 10/10" one of those you can argue against, one you cant.
As for me not watching it, well why would I? even when you try to defend it you admit it doesn't have the depth of the original and is dumbed down. so why would i watch it? because it has shiny CGI? Pass. I frankly hate hollywood remakes so if it's not bringing anything new to the table why as a fan of the original would i watch? yeah maybe it's meant for a new audience but that doesn't mean it had to be dumbed down. and dont get me started on your rating system. 8.5 is cult classic territory for me. "not an 8.5 but gave it an 8.5 for enjoyment"?? i got freaky with the misses when watching 50 shades, had a great time, movie was still 3/10. it's either an 8.5 or not, cant be 2 things

First, scoring is dumb anyway.

Your score of 8.5 = cult classic is not what I call a cult classic. I have never thought about what cult classic score is. It could be a 1/10 and still be cult classic.

As for getting 8.5/10 for enjoyment? I totally enjoyed watching Coyote Ugly, but it's a terrible movie. I would give that 7/10. It's like a 2/10 movie but I would give it 7/10 because that was my time. and I have a 7/10 enjoyment in movie time when I watched it.

But like I said, scores are stupid. Like when you watch a movie and it is so bad you give it 0/10. Then years later you watch another really bad movie and you say "the is even worse than that one"....what do you do then? give it -3 out of 10? I give it a number purely out of the "thing" the forum do, people take it way too seriously and way literally it seems.

I have no problem with people disagree with my opinion, but I have a problem saying "are you serious?" as if their opinion is somehow superior to mine. I welcome debates in the intricacies of how they arrived at their score, but a blanket statement implying i am wrong to like the movie seems like some kind of high horse don't you think?

Watch the movie, come back and explain what section you have a problem with, why it is a problem and what they did well and what was average.

Don't "I am not watching this because I don't agree with your rating."

You haven't even seen the movie, what grounds do you have to even JUDGE the movie? Really? I don't get it, is this what we do now?

 

[Sasahara]

It depends on what kind of anime fans they are - the original film is actually quite boring but very introspective. The anime is very political and complex and is actually more action orientated and is a different animal,and the fansubs actually tended to show more of the actual background than the DVDs of the series I have. Once you start to see the background of the anime and how it ties in the post WW2 Japanese psyche it really is impressive. You would not get that from watching the DVDs especially with the English voice over. Even one of the first episodes is not in the arc and it really only hits home in the last few seconds when the Major utters a few words.

The thing is I don't thing the film will be as subtle - it needs to sell itself to people who are not fans. Films made for fans don't do well - Serenity and Watchman barely broke even at the box office.

I would say it's highly probable they have seen the original anime films and probably the TV series.

I've see the films and the first 2 SAC TV Series (Fansub) when they first came out. I like the anime film, I wouldn't say it was boring, just slowly paced. It is a Mamoru Oshii film, I like Oshii, but his films are not everyone's cup of tea.
But I'm not expecting any of the depth of story of the Manga or Anime Series from this. Probably won't have a basset hound cameo either. ;_;

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would say it's highly probable they have seen the original anime films and probably the TV series.

I've see the films and the first 2 SAC TV Series (Fansub) when they first came out. I like the film, I wouldn't say it was boring, just slowly paced. It is a Mamoru Oshii film, I like Oshii, but his films are not everyone's cup of tea.
But I'm not expecting any of the depth of story of the Manga or Anime Series from this. Probably won't have a basset hound cameo. ;_;

I enjoyed both but you need patience with the original just like watching the full release of Das Boot(not the film). Also I expect no Tachikomas too.

 

[Efour]

Going to see it tonight with zero expectations.
Love sci-fi, hate tentacle porn manga. I know this is one of the better ones so have a little faith.

 

[Glanza]

Just got back from watching, enjoyed it visually it looked well apart from a few rare cases towards the end. It's not a direct copy of the anime by any means and the way they kept throwing the term ghost at you was really over the top.

Shame they didn't use any of the original soundtrack apart from the credits.

 

[Werewolf]

I watched it last night and even my brother and nephew who aren't great anime fans liked it.

The story was a little weak (but then it had to appeal to a wider audience and only had a much more limited time to tell it than SAC), ,but visually it was probably the best looking 3d film I've seen, largely because it wasn't reliant on the "in your face" 3d set pieces, but rather the level of detail in so many shots.
It matched the anime/films quite closely in visual feel, and I wouldn't be surprised if they actually used some of the story board/key illustrations as a basis for i, in terms of the story it seemed to be pulling bits in from the whole of GITS rather than one specific version.
I was sat there watching it and almost nodding to myself as I recognised the references to the established stories and art.

I liked it enough that I pre-ordered the steelbook the moment I got home, and will be starting an SAC rewatch this week, I'd also go and see any sequel as I suspect now they've got the introduction over with they could do a lot more in a second film, in the same way that most of the marvel films had weaker introduction stories

As Glanza and a few others have said there were some weak points visually where it felt like the cd/cgi didn't quite mesh (but there was only one sequence where it stood out).

Spoiler: spoiler for near the end

The bit where the Major is fighting the Fushikoma and does the running/jumping up the ramps/walls, it looked quite off and out of place comsidering how well everything else had been done, I think they may have used the same people for that who did a similar scene in one of the Marvel films that also felt off.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I can forgive them for that one visual let down because the rest of the movie is so strong. Although perhaps that made it stand out even more but it was merely like half a second.

 

[pecnarf]

well I enjoy the film very much and can see myself buying the 3d blu-ray when it come out. plus if they do a sequel I would you go see it.

well I pre-order the 3d steelbox of ghost in the shell little while ago as it up on zavvi for £24.99

 

[Efour]

Not bad.
I really love the visuals. It's deffro got me wanting to watch more sci-fi stuff. I might even ask for recommendations on manga films.

I see why they complian about white washing. I did laugh out loud at one scene near the end, highlighting it.

Sequels?? I couldn't give a toss. I don't think it would be that interesting.

Overall though i prefer Robocop.

 

[Sasahara]

Saw it on Saturday.

Decent enough. A little light weight on the story line, but that was expected. And a big jump to conclusion that really wouldn't happen without some clairvoyant skills.

Never got the white washing business. Motoko Kusanagi never looked Japanese in any of the official manga, anime or games.
To be fair Scarlett wouldn't have been my choice, (but she did ok), but not due to her looks, but accent. I think a non regional British accent would have been better.

More importantly

Spoiler: Spolier

It had basset hound cameos!

 

[Smeghead]

Just saw it. I really don't believe it deserves the hate it's been getting. I can't say whether or not it did a good job being faithful to the manga/anime film, because I was never super into them and can't remember the anime film too much. Yes, there were some changes I did notice. I don't remember Major being emotional in the slightest, so making her more emotional and sentimental in this did betray her character a bit. Obviously the story was made more about her rather than the bigger picture. I suspect they were worried western audiences wouldn't take to a movie where the protagonist is literally like a robot with little emotion and has little to empathise with, which is why they took this route.

But the world they built was great, and you could tell there was at least a semblance of respect to the anime movie with the way they included several iconic scenes and nods to the anime movie. When you have films like Dragonball Evolution and Transformers who have absolutely no respect for the source material whatsoever, I would hardly put this in the same class as them.

 

[v0n]

The problem of this movie is niche-of-a-niche targeting. It's too washed/changed to offer anything to original Manga fans (who never asked for it anyway). It was marketed too much as an R-rated "look Johansson is like - naked, but not naked" flick to appeal to female audience. So that leaves its core target audience at what - lonely men that don't care about manga, or story but want to see Johansson running about and fist fighting in a naked-but-not-naked bodysuit?

 

[413x]

The fact she is a terrible actress, and if you are purely basing her on looks then shes hardly special there either compared to some of the people available in hollywood.

Lucy was enough to put me off of her in any kind of lead role.

Totally agree

 

[krooton]

Shame they didn't use any of the original soundtrack apart from the credits.

Which for me was a highlight, much preffered the "let's copy Stranger Things" approach to the music

But then I really didn't enjoy the original film, so make of that what you will.

This was slightly more enjoyable, but still pretty meh.

Visuals were delicious, and it was nice seeing nods to the film (and some backstory to Batu's eyes), but it is probably the first film I have ever seen where the action sequences were dull. Even bad films can be fun with good action (Pacific Rim anyone?), but the ones in this were a snorefest.

5/10, would not watch again.

 

[Scotty123]

Saw this last night, enjoyed it very much so. Some of the similar scenes from the cartoon were a nice addition.

 

[dl8860]

Gets an 8/10 from me. Feel like that's a bit generous, mainly because as other have said, the story didn't feel that well fleshed. But it was a really enjoyable watch otherwise, and felt really polished (in a good way).

 

[dowie]

The fact she is a terrible actress, and if you are purely basing her on looks then shes hardly special there either compared to some of the people available in hollywood.

Lucy was enough to put me off of her in any kind of lead role.

Lucy was a crap film in general, I don't think her acting was at fault there, you can't polish a turd.

 

[Gerard]

Lucy was a crap film in general, I don't think her acting was at fault there, you can't polish a ****.

Indeed you can