Ghost in the Shell (4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital)

I'm giving this five stars, because I really enjoyed it, but I don't think it's the most amazing movie I've ever seen. It's a solid sci fi experience - beautifully performed and super stylish. I watched the original anime ages ago, at some point in the 90s I imagine. I was just starting to get into anime back then, and this was one of the few things they brought over to the US that you could rent without going to a special store to find. I'm pretty sure I got it at Blockbuster or something like that, that was how "mainstream" it was at the time. I remember being a little confused by the story. Anime, in some ways, can be a little like Shakespeare. It seems mind boggling at first, but if you read enough of it, you start to get the rythym of the language and it becomes easier to understand the quirks. Anime can be like this - often with strange and off the wall things never being explained, weird twists and concepts. It's got a lot of conventions you just get used to that are used like shorthand, for instance things like sweatdrops and the like. Ghost in the Shell doesn't have that stuff, but it's a dense story that requires some mental unpacking to get the full gist. Maybe I've just seen enough anime now I don't have the same problem I used to, but I found this movie spelled out the plot fairly clearly. The main character is mostly synthetic, except she has a human brain. It's set in a world where people augment their bodies to work more efficiently. One of my favorite images from the anime that stuck with me was the finger tips that opened and each had additional fingers for typing. It's a little redundant an augment when you can just jack your mind into a computer, but it was a fun visual nonetheless. The main character is a kind of detective - this is a simplification of her job, but I don't want to get too much into the plot - and she's trying to discover who is murdering people and stealing info from their brains. Doing so leads her to some deeper discoveries. The movie is relatively faithful to the anime. I know a lot of guff was given about the idea of "white washing," but to me anyway, anime characters are never inherently Japanese, or Korean, or from wherever the book is written. Unless it's part of their backstory, their characterization is more important than their race for me. If race is important to their character, I'd prefer the race remain the author's intent. But if it's used like hair or eye color, as mere description, I'm less concerned - which is why I don't tend to care when it's changed in either direction - black spider-man, white Motoko - if their race didn't really matter that much in the original media, I don't see why it matters much in any other representation of it. Knowing that's my opinion, you'll understand why I don't dock the movie points for this. I'm judging it strictly on its own merits. On that front, it was well acted. Everyone in it did a great job. Scarlet was really great as a kind of synthetic character who slowly comes into her emotions. She was strong and powerful. In a movie where so much depends on the main character getting you into their skin, she did a good job making me empathize with her story. The supporting characters were well fleshed out, considering they didn't get much screen time. I believed her partner cared about her, and they shared a bond, even though he didn't have many scenes with her. Anime, particularly sci fi anime, often has over the top visual style. It would be one of the hardest aspects to translate to a live action film. This move does that in spades. The city sequences are almost too arresting. I felt like I needed to watch the movie more than once just so I could actually see everything that was going on. The action stuff was well done, many scenes frame-by-frame faithful reproductions of the anime. It's pretty clear a lot of time and effort was put into making this a faithful adaptation when it came to visual style. If you enjoy science fiction visual spectacles like The Fifth Element and Blade Runner, this should be right up your alley. The story is pretty good. I don't think you'll be surprised by the ending, but if you're a sci-fi fan, it should feel fairly satisfying. I'd recommend it to people who like action sci-fi movies.

Here's the thing about this movie...being what it is and being what it is not I can only say at the end of the day, I still love it. I'm a huge fan of Ghost in the Shell, the original animated work from 1995. I've been an anime fan for some 20 years or so and have seen thousands of anime. I haven't read any reviews, but I imagine most of the self proclaimed fans of gits are crying about this movie, because I know anime fans, and they will gripe and complain about something like this endlessly. For me however, I prefer to see things from outside the 'otaku' box and simply appreciate these types of things for what they do give us. For me, seeing this epic animated film come to life in live action was thrilling. I got goose bumps. My jaw dropped. My eyes were glued to the screen. Really! They did so well with a lot of the effects that it was mind-blowing, and while I am easily amused, I am not easily impressed. A film like this was simply NOT POSSIBLE in unanimated form 20 years ago when we first got gits! That this movie exists is amazing! It's not perfect, not by a long shot, and honestly I could nit-pick it to death. I could nit-pick the acting, some of the cg, some of the story and a lot of other things about this being such a fan of the original. I really could, but I'm not that kind of a fan. I appreciate and love this for what it is, not for what it is not. My only really big gripe I have is the utter lack of Kenji Kawai musical score that made the animated film so unbelievably epic. The power of the original was not only in the story, the action, the technology barriers it explored, but in the power of the music. The original musical score, the scenes of the thriving cyber-metropolis with the haunting choir singing was what really made the original film. They should have kept the music. In fact, this movie had a lot of scenes that were just...quiet and that part, I didn't like. However, I really enjoyed the extra depth of the story, that we got more of the back story of Motoko. I wasn't a big fan of her being "Mara" until she figured out she was Motoko, that kind of fixed her being "Mara." I would have kept her name, but I understand how they put it into the story. I feel that the essence of the message was conveyed much more easily; there was a lot less that was left to interpretation in the story this way, and that was in some ways quite refreshing. I still remember the first time I saw ghost in the shell and in the late 90s and the concepts were a lot harder to understand than they are now in the world we live in which is not as far from Motoko's world. It should be epic, but at the end of the day the thing is, we aren't still living in 1995, the time in which these ideas were so completely mind-blowing to us. In 2017 this feels more like the future around the corner than the far-off future. The music that gave so much power to the feeling of the original is missing. However...the movie is amazing. It's mind-blowing. See it with fresh eyes as much as possible. Imagine if you were seeing it without having seen the original animated movie. Or love how they brought to life so much that made the original so amazing. The action scenes, her invisibility, Batou's eyes, it was there! It was amazing! Could they have done it better? Absolutely. But it is what it is and I still love it for what it is. Comparisons and staying true to the animation be damned, it's still brilliant for what it is.

Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 movie adaptation of an Anime film starring Scarlett Johansson. The movie is set in the near future in which humans are able to make cybernetic improvements to their bodies to give them better strength, vision, intelligence, etc. Basically, the more money a person has, the more that person can improve themself. The cybernetics can be hacked, which also makes the people who have them targets of cyber terrorists. Johansson stars as Mira Killian, a survivor of a terrorist attack whose body was damaged beyond repair, so her consciousness has been integrated into an artificial body called a "shell". She is a major in a counter-terrorism police force, and as the movie goes along, she uncovers a larger conspiracy after her team thwarts an attack on a business conference. For those who get the 4k set, the UHD disc just includes the movie and the handful of extras are on the second, regular blu-ray, disc. The A/V quality of the UHD disc is very good. The video transfer is not quite reference quality, but unless you are a major A/V wonk that nitpicks the video quality to death, it is not likely to bother you. The extras on the regular blu-ray include a half-hour-long making-of documentary, a featurette on Section 9, the counter-terrorism unit that Mira is a part of, and a featurette on the philosophy behind the story. So, if you like watching the bonus features, all totaled, you get just under an hour of material. The movie is good, but not great. It does tell a decent story, has a lot of action, and even tries to explain away why Johansson's character is not Japanese. I think Johansson did a good job in the lead role, and as a stand-alone action movie, it is entertaining. So, if you are a fan of the dystopian future genre, this is a good one to check out.

7-6-17 First viewing was splendid. A feast for eyes in every frame. I came to the experience without knowing the story except the tidbits from the trailer. I can see endless sequels for this genre -- probably they can keep Scarlett from aging forever with CGI. I'll buy the next one. I expect my 2nd viewing within the week. Tons of details to see for the 1st time the 2nd time. And, sorry, but yeah, I'm a fanboy of Scarlett, so, nope, don't want to diss this artwork for anything. And won't, er, I hope. 2nd viewings can surprise ya. If you don't already love this film from seeing the trailer, see the film anyway. It transcends itself. 7-7-17 2nd viewing next day. Probably a tad too soon, but so many details now came to the fore after the story lost its grip on me. Next viewing should be some time from now to forget stuff. Yeah, I'm a writer and I used the word "stuff." Sue me. 7-12-17 3rd viewing. Charmed still I am. Fanboy here....sigh. But as the film's main allures fade, the details yet kept my mind in that universe. I really appreciated the amount of tender care the work gives to each element -- not speeding through any of the moments -- this film has been tended like a Bonsai tree. 7-20-17 4th viewing in such a short time span that a great many flaws finally came to the fore. Not tellin'. Itty bitty stuff if the likes of me only now notes them. But it's a bit sad to see some of the misses in an otherwise splendid piece. I'll watch again if only because: SJ. What a showcasing of her face, voice and bod. A feast for fanboys. All my positivity aside, I wish to note, in these reviews of mine, that my personal philosophy about the nature of existence concludes that brain programming and artificial devices are a far more advanced science than the tech-level that the rest of the film displays......that or impossible. I believe the human body -- all of it -- comprises the necessary equipment to provide the heart and soul those delicate and subtle experiences with which a clarity about entirety may be derived. Only a mechanical robot with the "range" of a human nervous system can be said to be "as conscious as a human being." How that might be, is beyond today's science's imagination, though it might indeed be possible -- given nanotech and quantum A.I. etc. Then, such a being, as Major, can be seen as fully human if all of the human processes are somehow materially duplicated -- otherwise she's a brain in a jar and any person living today would go nutz in a few days under such stress. Case studies of persons who were blind at birth but later given sight as adults had a terrible time trying to adjust. Google it. Imagine having all the mind's traditional inputs be from instrumentalities instead of organs? Suddenly to see, feel, hear, smell, taste for the first time in a new way. Maybe a saint could handle that process. Maybe. And so, I warn all viewers of today's philosophical constructs being constantly iterated in today's films -- always promoting that the body is as if something "The State" owns, provides, addicts one to, etc. This is a big spiritual no-no. Our bodies are more important, whole and conscious of self, than any of the parts of them. We must attune to all of our inputs -- no hint of rejection of what are the "conditions of the moment" -- in order to be sane. Keeping the constantly evolving "person" resonant with "what is" is a huge daily task, and the adding to anything to that mix is, well, part of the mix, and if the person isn't ready for a new recipe for what the mind is cooking up, trouble can be severe. Take care of your minds as they take care of your hearts -- the world has toxins of every ilk.

Just finished watching this version of The Ghost In The Shell. It was an overall very good movie with a few problems for me. I've got all the Ghost In The Shell Series and movies and this movie did a really good job of moving the anime series and movies to live action overall. When you start out watching the movie, you have something of a problem accepting the character of the Major as she herself doesn't know who she is. That sort of throws you a curve right off the bat and you find yourself wondering what else was changed. By the time you get to the end, The Major is back and is who we all remember but even a bit better as she has more motivation now and knows who she is and where she going. (Better then the first anime I must say.) There some things I wish they would stop messing with however. First, let's settle on one background story about where she came from. In the first series it isn't even touched on very much. In the second series, she was a survivor of a plane crash. In the Arise Series, she was the unborn survivor of a car crash. I understand the idea of updating the character's background but enough is enough. Settle on one and leave it alone! In this movie, she ends up being a test subject and having a mother and it seems to me it's time to stop changing backgrounds over and over again. This back ground works very well, and adds a very human touch to her. That said, by the end of this film, the character IS alive and IS the Major which is what you want. Also she has become the character that we all recognize as Motoko Kusangi and she is believable as such. (Also I might add it was sort of refreshing to see Chief Aramaki get into the action a bit.) In fact, although all the action scenes are great, it's the very last few minutes of the movie, after the villain is defeated, that rams home the point that she's back. Also the music is not bad but at the start of the run ups at the end of the movie , someone really needs a big pat on the back for the first theme that is played. It is very characteristic of a theme from the second Ghost Of The Shell movie. Whoever came up with that idea hit it out of the ball park! This movie is a very fine addition to the Ghost In the Shell movies and should be in very ones collection!

I went in to this movie after hearing from both sides of people who have both loved and hated the movie. Since there are more than a few people that loved the original, but still think this is a good movie, I tried my hardest to go into this with a decent amount of hope for the movie, that it may be able to do things in it's own way, but still be as good and engaging as the original. I finished the movie annoyed and disappointed. I felt patronized and treated like a child through most of the film. Hollywood really did lobotomize Ghost in the Shell. The story has been gutted from the original nuanced plot and replaced with a generic plot that beats you over the head with the point. The characters are also poorly defined with almost no nuance to them. The actors are fine, though even if I think they dont understand what defines the characters in the original film. The biggest strength of the film is the visuals. They mostly nailed how the Ghost in the Shell universe would likely look like. On to spoiler territory (for both the original movie, and this remake). So, the whole Scar-Jo debacle is stupid. She does fine for her role, even if her character is completely different than the original Motoko Kusanagi. A good actor is a good actor. Judge the merits of the film for what they are. The original film was about the idea of one's self. The idea of being a "human", vs "a consciousness". It touches on some very uncomfortable ideas, like memories being just information, what makes you unique, and trans-humanism. The new film does not really touch on all of that. It deals more heavily with free will in society and corporate power, along with hamfistedly being a cautionary anti-corporate story. Now, the original movie was subtle with how it presented each character, with their backstories having a ton to do with how each of the characters interact with each other. As an example, Motoko in the original is Motoko from the outset (and in the other works in this universe, you learn that she was one of the first people with a fully cybernetic body due to unfortunate circumstances, and has a history with most of the other people in Section 9). In the new version, Motoko is not Motoko, she was a run-away called Motoko until they wiped her memory and used her as the first completely successful fully cybernetic body person. They cram her into Section 9 as a way to show how badass a fully cybernetic person can be. "The Major" has basically nothing to do with Motoko. "The Major" shows up as part of Section 9 literally weeks before the "beginning of the story" and has no history with any of the characters due to the complete tossing of her backstory. The "New Major" is not a complicated character, just a blank slate. She is a badass only because of her fully cybernetic body in the new movie, the original made her out to be a badass because of her experience, since she is NOT the only fully cybernetic person (in the other works from the universe it is made clear that there are many other "special ops" groups with plenty of full-cybernetic people in them, as Batou comes from the army and is heavily enhanced himself). There are many plot points and character interactions that are carried over from the original, but are completely jarring and nonsensical due to the fact that they tossed out the back-story to basically every character because of their complete tossing of the Major's back story and nuanced interactions with the characters. One that stood out to me as one of the most nonsensical plot points is when Batou finds The Major diving in the bay. Batou and The Major have NO HISTORY prior to a couple weeks ago, but he "knows where to find her". What? I guess Batou is telepathic? In the original, it is hinted upon that The Major and Batou have a long history together, and that he finds her diving since that is what she does to clear her mind/try to feel more human, Batou knows about her diving trips from before. The movie also assumes you have seen the original movie, and presents some of the characters without any establishing scenes. Togusa in the new version also is never properly fleshed out. The original movie makes it clear that Togusa is the newbie to Section 9, and comes from regular civilian law enforcement, and that The Major specifically chose him due to his preference against augmentations, as a person she can trust. He makes it clear that he is the more analogue take on things, and prefers to use revolvers when everyone else uses automatics, even saying that he just loves his Unica. Due to the way they completely tossed the character of The Major, in the new version, Togusa has been with Section 9 longer than The Major... what? They also only give him a couple lines, and never actually have him interact with anyone. He does carry his signature Unica, but there is no explanation as to why, and he never uses it. The entire cast of characters in general is a mess due to their decision to completely toss the backstory that every character leans on. The story is also completely tossed and dumbed down. The original story was about finding a truly sentient AI as the result of a chasing down a terrorist hacker. The AI created the whole mess to get itself out of the confines that the government had it in, and wants to obtain a human perspective by mixing consciousnesses with The Major. The new movie is a bog-standard "evil mega corporation that does horrific immoral human experiments needs to be stopped". The corporation puts The Major in Section 9, as an example of their ability to create a military-grade cybernetic person, then in the process of trying to use Section 9 to clean up their messes from their experiments, The Major finds out the truth and takes down the evil CEO. The original presents it's implications, and leaves you hanging to ponder them. The new movie makes up your mind for you. As an example, the arc where the hacked sanitation worker gets tracked down and eventually arrested. The original sets up the situation, making it out to be a normal day, but one of the workers is being coerced into helping a terrorist for money. The whole iconic chase and fight scene in the water happens, the terrorist is captured, and then it hits you with the realization in the interrogation room. The terrorist had their mind hacked, and memories replaced, all to give him the true motivation of trying to do something to make money for his non-existent kid's future. It ends the arc by telling you that the erased memories are unable to be recovered, and The Major and Batou bring up the question of "do your memories make you who you are?". The new movie tosses all of that "deep nonsense". The sanitation workers are straight hacked mid-route and completely taken over, they have no real will. They add the pointless scene of an attempted assassination of a pointless character that was added to try to give the audience a poorly cobbled together emotional attachment. The fight scene happens (I feel like they didnt understand what made the original movie's fight in the water so memorizing), and then they have a weird "futuristic" jail cell, where the remaining terrorist is held, where the terrorist is half under the control of the hacker. They clumsily bring up the fact that the person's memory was overwritten and cant come back, and it ends with the sanitation worker hanging himself... What? Why? I guess the writer thinks that all of the viewers cant be left with any questions, you are too dumb to think about complicated things. It is fine if they wanted to be different from the original movie. But, what they did is only half rip everything out, so you have a bunch of loose-ends, they then decided to spend almost no effort on creating the new stuff while jamming it in, expecting everything to fit properly. In the end, the new movie isnt "bad", but it isn't "good". The only thing that stood out to me in any way, was the visuals. The way they portrayed the futuristic cyberpunk world was great, but having an interesting world, and impressive visuals, does not make a good movie by themselves.

I have to admit, my expectations for this film were lower than average, having heard all of the negative press. I saw it in 3D IMAX at the theater on opening weekend, and social media had so destroyed the hype for this film that there were all of 10 people in the audience. I was shocked at how much I loved this film. It pulled me in and won me over. Scarlett Johansson is perfectly cast in the lead role, and carries this movie with all of the existential angst that she is meant to. I would compare this movie to Blade Runner, it's that good. I saw BR in the theater as a kid, and was similarly blown away by it. But likewise, BR received a lot of negative press for being misunderstood by the critics. I'm not sure that this film will be able to recover from all of the negativity heaped on it, but it deserves to. It's a real shame, because the end of the film attempts to set up for a sequel. But that sequel is never going to happen. If I may address some of the criticisms of this film: * "Whitewashing" of the lead character - The characters in the original story are multicultural. Johansson's character is wearing a "shell"; even though she was born Japanese, she's not supposed to be identifiable. Nowhere in the manga or the animated film is it stated that the character has to have a Japanese shell. * It's not close enough to the source - Well, the anime isn't the original version, anyway. If you were wanting a shot-for-shot remake of the anime, go watch the anime. The original version is the manga book, and the anime takes great liberties from the manga. * "Yeah, but the anime!" - What works in a Japanese anime isn't going to work in a live-action production. But if I may make another comparison, the Marvel films take a LOT of liberties with the characters and the universe, in order to make comic book films that work in live action. This film clearly establishes its own voice and its own universe, and does it quite well.

This is a terrific film especially in how it follows the original anime so closely. Scarlett does a truly admirable job portraying The Major. Funnily enough the actress felt uncomfortable playing the role in a bodysuit (if you know the anime you’ll know what her option was) but rose to the challenge and totally duxed it. There are a few changes from the anime, such as with the fate of the doctor; but in general it’s pretty faithful. The mixed languages are retained; I think more down to each actor’s real preference than due to any attempts at globalist multiculturalism. The river scenes in the boat were cool. The captured bin man was depicted well. The psycho antagonist seemed more sympathetic than in the anime; but this is a key plot element and the outcome depends on what the viewer thinks of him. I would love to see a live-action continuation through the ‘Laughing Man’ series and beyond; but that’ll be down to Scarlett’s decision for who else could play this role so well?

I really cannot fathom why this film is so derided. As a fan of the original anime, I came to this expecting to be disappointed—I was amazed to find just how wrong I was. A superbly crafted movie that carves out its own identity and ideas, without tarnishing or diminishing its source material. Scarlett Johanson gives a powerful, emotionally nuanced performance as Major, The rest of the cast is, likewise, excellent. My third viewing of the film was on my new home cinema setup: 5:1 surround with a Pioneer VSX-934 receiver, viewed on an Epson TW5650 projector. Honestly, a SUPERB all round movie experience. The attention to detail in the city environments is simply incredible, with wonderfully immersive use of 3D. The 3D Blu Ray is beautifully crisp, clear, and smooth—wonderful contrasts, depth of colour, and the sound quality is first rate. This version comes with the 3D Blu Ray and a Standard Blu Ray version, along with an UltraViolet code. Currently sitting at £3.52, it’s an absolute bargain, and frankly, deserves far more praise than it currently receives. As an all round package, this easily merits 5 stars for me. Anyone who enjoys well realised Sci-Fi in the vein of Blade Runner, Westworld, or futuristic anime owes it to themselves to check this film out. Future cult classic.

Great D.V.D. of movie, good sound.

loved the movie very much would recommend it to anyone glad i purchased it.

Con Ghost In The Shell ha habido cierta controversia, por un lado la gente que habla de que es una buena película de acción sin más, y por otro que si el anime original está mejor, bla, bla, bla... Lo cierto es que me parece bastante fiel al anime, pero con un ritmo más acorde a lo que es y Scarlett Johansson me parece una buena elección, bastante fiel al estilo de la major en el anime. Me pillé esta edición para tenerla en 3D ya que cada vez es más difícil encontrar ese tipo de pelis y bueno, para algo me compré la tele. En cuanto a las característias: -Edición iTunes: nada, de ahí no te vas a poder bajar nada porque el voucher ya está caducado (cosa que no entiendo, ¿estas cosas son sólo válidas si te compras le peli en el primer año de vida de esta? -Edición 2D: en castellano -Edición 3D: en castellano

100 % OK Goede verzending en besteld item beantwoorde volledig aan de beschrijving van de verkoper ( uiterst tevreden ) :-):-):-)