Forum - View topicREVIEW: Ghost in the Shell (2017)
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Edge of Tomorrow. Yes technically it is from a manga not an actual anime but for the sake of argument I feel it still is applicable since most would lump live action versions of either into the same category. It made roughly 370mil worldwide and had a budget of roughly 178mil. So roughly just under a 100mil total worldwide profit. It made roughly 100mil of the total gross in the US. So while the US numbers alone wouldn't have made the movie profitable I would still say 100mil for a movie based on an anime/manga playing here in the US is a movie that "did well". We'll have to wait until Monday to see what GITS does for it's opening weekend here. |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5836 Location: Virginia, United States |
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I think anyone that reads Science Fiction, knows that name. Good catch Key. As to the rest of the forum, leave it to anime fans to be ruthless and bloody when it comes to this movie. I googled reviews for the movie, expecting to see doom written there. There are some good reviews out there for this movie. Don't let this forum be your sole indicator of whether or not this movie deserves to be seen. The opinion here is warped by us anime fans. Last edited by TarsTarkas on Sun Apr 02, 2017 7:17 am; edited 1 time in total |
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HdE
Posts: 50 |
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I saw the film last night. Was pleasantly surprised.
I'm not going to say too much about it here, because I want to compose my thoughts and get them packaged into a Youtube review. But I can say it was a competently made movie. Not a brilliant movie, but not a bad movie. That said, there's a lot in there that I can see die hard fans of the series will rightly criticise. The direction taken with the series iconic lead character feels wrong headed, making her feel weaker and more vulnerable than she has any right to. But Scarlett Johannsson does admirably well with the material she's given. Amid all the cries of whitewashing (which are REALLY aggravating me on the grounds that they evidence negligent research in a lot of instances - seriously, in the context of this franchise and this film particularly, its not the issue some parties are claiming it to be) I think it's easy to overlook the fact that there are some great character moments. Takeshi Kitano is fantastic, and gets one of the movie's best tough guy moments. Yes, that SHOULD feel odd coming from Aramaki, but it works. Likewise, I loved Pilou Asbaek's Batou. There's a lot of re-purposing going on in this movie, and a lot of trimming down of the things that made Ghost in the Shell such a big stink back in the day. But it manages to stand as its own entity, I think. If it's any indication, I enjoyed it, and I'm practically as rabid a GITS fan as you'll find. I'd watch it again, put it that way. And if the movie somehow managed to turn into a Hollywood franchise, I'd not have a problem with that. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15310 |
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Psycho: EoT's based on a novel, and the manga's just the cash-in.
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ChibiKangaroo
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Just saw the movie. It wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, but those who have called it "shallow" are absolutely correct.
My first thought when I left the theater was that there was no consistent "flow" to the narrative. There were a lot of cuts or breaks in the story when we moved from one scene to the next. It didn't feel natural. Instead, it felt like someone had created a bunch of disparate scenes and then stitched them together kind of like... "Thing A happened, and then somewhere else in the world, thing B happened, and then, somewhere else in the world, thing C happened." Yet, all of these things don't feel like a continuous story, they feel like set pieces that are being connected together post hac. Second thing that I didn't like was the changes to Major's back story from what we got in the anime. I think her (and Kuze's, for that matter) backstory in the anime was pretty much perfect. I don't understand why they were changed here. This version is so obviously deficient by comparison. I can only guess that the writer of the script for this movie didn't want to spend the time to develop Major's "growth" as it were from when she becomes fully cyber as a young child and over many years grows into her adult form. Also, it would have meant ditching the wholespoiler[ fake Hanka manipulation angle with the false memories and everything]. Perhaps it is easier for a wide audience to accept the "spoiler[evil military industrial complex who steals away and manipulates children]" angle rather than the nuanced story of loss of innocence, acceptance, and love that occurred in the anime with Kusanagi and Kuze. I think they could have stayed faithful to the anime though and it would have worked. People are smarter than Hollywood producers think we are. I was fine with ScarJo being the Major when I walked into the movie. Upon walking out, I wasn't so sure anymore. I do think she kind of looks like Kusanagi. She is also a big action star so I felt confident she could pull off the physical and fighting aspects of the role. I think she did a good job with those things. However, her dialogue felt nothing like Kusanagi's in the anime. Part of this was probably the bad writing. However, her delivery was also off. When I was watching the previews, I was worried because it seemed like the previews were going too far in making Major seem weak and confused. This is not the Kusanagi we know, particularly in the anime. Kusanagi is very strong and confident. She knows how powerful she is and is rarely in a vulnerable position. She speaks very confidently and commands respect from her team. Unfortunately my fears were confirmed by this movie, because she is treated more as a kind of "child" here than in the anime. ScarJo spends much of the movie trying to capture that childlike naivete and I don't think she has it in her, but again half of that is the bad script trying to force that characterization on the Major and half is ScarJo just not really being able to pull it off. As others have mentioned, I didn't like how Section 9 was treated. They did exist solely as "backup" here, and often times they were indicated to not be all that effective backup since they always tended to show up after most if not all of the key action was over. This wasn't the case in the anime. In the anime, Kusanagi usually operates with Section 9 as a team and they each play their part to complete the mission. The whole thing with Aramaki speaking in just Japanese and everyone else speaking English made no sense and should not have been done. Lastly, I think they should have spent a little time discussing the philosophical issues involved with people becoming more cybernetic. The anime had several episodes where it was actually debated among the characters but this movie sort of just leaves it for the audience to come up with on their own. The problem there is that most of the audience is probably not familiar with the discussion and haven't thought of it in advance of coming to the movie, so it's not likely that they would immediately catch on to that while being hit with all of the action and then having their attention focused on Major's backstory. All in all, I thought it was an OK movie, but certainly not anywhere close to the level of the anime. I can say that I was entertained to some extent, but also severely disappointed. I think the grade of C is appropriate. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4378 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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well that i didn't know. hell i would be the casual anime fan wouldnt have never though that Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow was adapted from a manga. though you do have a point. while i hope the movie does well , considering that shirow himself haven't commented on the movie or its casting, not to mention of the current record that hollywood movies that are adapted from anime or manga series is very laughably bad, this dont bode really well at all. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar Posts: 16935 |
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Going from my own experience I'd wager most "science fiction fans" under the age of 30, definitely more under the age of 25, actually don't know him or the book I'm sure we're all thinking of. Again just from my own experience but I have yet to have 1 friend, coworker, or group mate in any of my Good Reads groups know him. I've even suggest Neuromancer as book of the month reads and had many say they've never heard of it. Which simply made me frown and shake my head. |
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chaccide
Posts: 295 |
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You need a better group of reading buddies  ; also, underestimating the readers here, though I can see where modding us would lead you to do that.
Everyone in my library's sff reading group knew him except for the lady whose idea of sff was vampire romances (she joined because she wanted to expand her knowledge of the genre and she's been a delight). The group ranges from a 16 year old manga/sf fan to a 70s-something ex-minister. We chose not to read the book because it's been dissected so many times. I mean, the book is taught in colleges all over the place as a post-modern masterpiece, though the literati's claim upon the book rather irks me. It's one of those science fiction/genre books that it's 'okay' to be seen reading, like a Dick or LeGuin novel. My experience is that anyone who knows books is going to know who Gibson is. Just texted my boss, who reads a lot but I've never hear him mention sf. I asked him if he knew who William Gibson was. He responded "The cyberpunk guy?" |
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Batousp
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Could not agree more. I also found notable they scraped her hacker background, but somehow I believe it made part of the pack of screenwritting for it. Precise qualification of Oshi's adaptation, and tryied very had to be respectful to it. No doubt in my mind. I hope this is a good step towards better quality adaptations to manga/anime that we all embranced so passionately. Really hope. It is an important step indeed. Last edited by Batousp on Sun Apr 02, 2017 7:31 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TymersRealm
Posts: 93 |
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Personally, I would of rated the story about a B- myself...
Otherwise, I found the film a good film to add to the GtiS franchise as a whole. I personally never had a issue with Scarlett Johansson as the Major and given her casting, I knew what kind of acting range I'd see. I honestly wasn't disappointed. To me, I saw a lot of shout-outs to both theatrical films, both SAC seasons, and even the mangas. But I'll mention something my GF (who saw GitS with me) commented on: She saw more Blade Runner than anything else out of this film. She also thoroughly enjoyed it. Granted her experience with the franchise is seeing bits and pieces of SAC 2nd Gig as it aired during one of it's various running on Toonami, but she wasn't overly critical on most elements. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Apparently the movie is performing fairly poorly. This doesn't surprise me now as when I went to see the movie on Saturday night, the theater was nearly empty. (I actually got my parents to go to this movie. They generally enjoyed it, having no knowledge of GitS or much anime at all really.) Aside from myself, mom and dad, there were approximately 5 other people in the theater. Granted, we went to a 10:20 showing, but still it was Saturday night. If things were really popping it would have at least been half full.
I think the producers kind of shot themselves in the foot to some degree with how they decided to do this thing. They probably thought that if they tried to play too much to the anime fanbase, the general audience wouldn't show up. However, they didn't anticipate that the critics would actually do their homework and educate themselves about GitS. Most reviews I have seen have indicated that most critics are doing their homework, and as a result, they understand the problems that fans of the series have complained about. Thus, the movie has been getting poor reviews, and I think that had a drag on the general audience. Solid reviews can pump up a movie's opening numbers. Just look at Zootopia. I don't think anyone anticipated it would do as well as it did, but get 100% on the Tomato meter for a few weeks and people can't help but see what all the buzz is about. I think here, the negative reviews are having the opposite effect. |
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Kikaioh
 Posts: 1205 Location: Antarctica |
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Just wanted to chime in to say that I've watched the movie, and enjoyed it! I was pleasantly surprised that it was so competently made --- it felt like a modern day movie, but steeped in the sensibilities of the overall franchise. The story moved at a solid clip, the characters were all likable, and it was a pleasant surprise that they gave as much screentime to Section 9 that they did. A very complete package of a film from start to finish.
Though I don't think it's anywhere near as iconic or thoughtful as the original Oshii film, I would say it's about as entertaining as the original manga, as well as SAC and Arise. Batou really killed it in the movie, and Aramaki was pretty cool too. And Scarlett Johansson, all controversy aside, really did a great job as the Major, and really held her own in the role much better than I was expecting. Personally, I would give the movie a solid B+, and it's a shame to think that this might be the only film we'd get out of the franchise, because I'd love to see more entries in this version of the universe. |
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HdE
Posts: 50 |
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I don't see Hollywood franchising this movie into a series, sadly. It's just too challenging a set up to sell to the masses, even in its streamlined form. Which would be a shame, really. It's easy to find chatter online about what this movie does wrong, but it also does a lot of good stuff that isn't getting much acknowledgement. (I'm just waiting for the typical internet rebuttal now of 'No! You're wrong! Everything about this film is terrible! EVERYTHING!') On a different level, though, the film is doing some good things. I've heard from few folks I know who I'm pretty sure aren't anime fans who went to see it and loved it. Heck, even my neighboours were telling me they saw it and enjoyed it. I've had a few requests from people to borrow my SAC box sets as well. That's not gonna happen, so instead I've encouraged interested parties to buy the DVDs. When they hear it's a 50 episode show, they agree it's a better idea. So, that's kind of neat. If the movie prompts a few folks to look deeper into GITS or anime in a wider sense, and that's the only mark the film ever leaves, that'll be something. That said, if I got to see another live action movie with Scarlett Johannsson, Pilou Asbaek and Takeshi Kitano playing these characters again, I'd be a happy man. They all did really well with their parts, despite some iffy characterisation. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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That seems a fair assessment. Perhaps it was underestimated how the fact that Oshii's film was technically a western co-production had engendered a greater exposure—and thus a broader respect—amongst established critical circles than other anime franchises. In view of this, there was always going to be a balancing act to perform between attracting positive reviews and ensuring accessibility to newcomers. Unless the Chinese market proves otherwise, the scales simply failed to reach the needed equilibrium here. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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I guess the only thing good about this film is production. I'm not really into Scarlet Johansson because I think she's becoming overrated as an actress. Sometimes I feel that she's really cast more for looks than what she can actually do. It's like Mila Jovavitch a decade ago. You have one aspect of being polarizing for certain roles, but if you put them in other roles they can't really act. Maybe she was okay for GITS. But sometimes she comes off too bland a character in roles I've seen her in.
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