Ghost in the Shell (2017 film)
Jun. 13th, 2025 08:58 pmCatching up on film reviews
Wiser heads than me have written about how weird, wrong and bad it is to have Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi, so I shan't be writing about that.
The thing that freaked me out was how things that the Major did in the animated film version became things that happened to her in this.
Obviously it's not a shot for shot remake but there's several scenes that are blocked to look and play out in really similar ways.
The example I'm going to use is from towards the end, so there's slight spoilers.
In the big end fight, in the animated film, already injured and knowing that interfacing with the wild killer robot guards will do her further damage, the Major chooses to plug herself in to solve the mystery.
In the equivalent scene in the live-action film, the robot plugs the Major into itself.
It's not the only example, but it's probably the clearest because of how similarly the two scenes are shot.
It gives the film (and the Major) a very different vibe than in the animated version, and I do not approve.
Batou is my favourite, but if Batou isn't my favourite in any version, that's probably a signal that I'm trying to tell you I've been kidnapped and am being held against my will.
Wiser heads than me have written about how weird, wrong and bad it is to have Scarlett Johansson as Major Kusanagi, so I shan't be writing about that.
The thing that freaked me out was how things that the Major did in the animated film version became things that happened to her in this.
Obviously it's not a shot for shot remake but there's several scenes that are blocked to look and play out in really similar ways.
The example I'm going to use is from towards the end, so there's slight spoilers.
In the big end fight, in the animated film, already injured and knowing that interfacing with the wild killer robot guards will do her further damage, the Major chooses to plug herself in to solve the mystery.
In the equivalent scene in the live-action film, the robot plugs the Major into itself.
It's not the only example, but it's probably the clearest because of how similarly the two scenes are shot.
It gives the film (and the Major) a very different vibe than in the animated version, and I do not approve.
Batou is my favourite, but if Batou isn't my favourite in any version, that's probably a signal that I'm trying to tell you I've been kidnapped and am being held against my will.