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Ghost in the Shell Movie Review

Ghost in the Shell is a 1995 neo-noir thriller anime film directed by Mamoru Oshii. It is one of the most overrated anime movies that I’ve seen.

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“Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you“

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A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master. Obviously, the themes that this movie explores are excellent and very important for our society. It is pretty much the Japanese version of ‘The Matrix’, but better, though I find both to be highly overrated.

Memory alteration, self-aware A.I. and the idea that human DNA is itself a program were powerfully explored here. These are crucial SF ideas and it was great seeing them explored in a major anime movie that signaled the arrival of anime onto the Western markets.

My issue lies in the overly preachy dialogue. Often times, the movie would resort to these overlong speeches about technology that negatively impacted the pace of the picture. For a flick that is only eighty minutes long, it felt longer, which is a major problem for me.

An even bigger issue is the characterization, which is almost non-existent. The villain is underdeveloped, most of the side characters are very forgettable and the female protagonist to me felt too slim. This type of role and story needed a much better developed, stronger overall character, but she simply isn’t that.

I also had a big issue with the movie sexualizing her for needless reasons. It felt gratuitous and obviously intended for male teenage audiences. This paradoxical portrayal of this all-powerful and very sexy, nude female made the film itself suffer from identity crisis.

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Ghost in the Shell also features too much action, though some set pieces are thrilling. The highlight is definitely one of the first fights that happens on water. This entire fight was gorgeously executed and instantly iconic. I wish the rest of the film was as memorable as this bit clearly was. The animation is fantastic, very detailed and polished. The score is also pretty good. But the lack of soul in a movie that is all about humanity was highly bothersome to me.

Ghost in the Shell is one of the most overrated anime movies of all time. While I did appreciate the polished animation, some cool action scenes and important themes that explore A.I. and humanity, the movie’s dialogue can become overly preachy at times while the characterization is very mediocre. For this type of smart SF neo-noir premise, the script simply needed to have been stronger and the pacing should have been better.

My Rating – 3