Spoilers, bitches.
Looks like the higher the Rotten Tomatoes score
of an American movie lately, the less I like it. Doctor Strange and John Wick
2 were both in the 90s and they were terrible. No idea what the critics are
thinking. But Ghost in The Shell was
badly reviewed all across the board, even by Jeremy, so I guess my expectations
were extremely low going in. Still I ended up truly liking it. I liked it for
all the right reasons – stuff that, it seems, critics no longer bother to
comprehend or even appreciate. I doubt they as much as bothered to look into
the lore of this adaptation. No matter. As Asia Argento would put it, when her
own directorial debut was torn to bits: these are the people who think Shakespeare in Love is a great movie.
First
the bad stuff. The story/script was weak as fuck and the voiceover in the end
was cringe-worthy. Like they screened it for a bunch of random viewers and they
were like ‘whaaa? I didn’t get it!’ and the studio said: Okay, dumb it down
80%.
Now
for the stuff I liked.
I
was truly worried what they’re going to make of the villain(s), since in the
original, the PRESENCE of the villain is monumental, whereas physically he
never truly manifests, especially not as a tormented hottie who looks like an
offspring of Ultron and a derelict billboard underwear model. They went for two
– The Puppet Master and corporations, and they did it rather well half the time,
all things considered. Though the former’s motives were paltry and petty and
personal (and he can't shoot for shit), brushed away by his aggressive temperament, and highlighted by the
splendid visuals, he was ultimately just a crooked cog in the wheels of
ambitious money-makers. The corporate asshole hardly compared and was
unfortunately too cardboard-cut to be believable. In a sense he was cut of the
same cloth as Sephiroth: designed to be a super soldier for a private
organisation under government contract, but psychologically unstable.
The
role of Major was well supported by a lot of nice roles around her – the brotherly
role of Batou, a man three times her size, smart and calm; the father figure
boss played by an old but ever awesome Kitano; the mother figure scientist,
played by Binoche, and Motoko’s actual biological mother, played very briefly
but extremely memorably by the amazing Kaori Momoi. The role of Kuze, played by
Pitt, whom I never particularly cared much (maybe in The Dreamers, MAYBE), whom
I am SO writing a fuck fiction as soon as I am done with this review, was well enough
written, well played, well stripped and well lit – the way he comes in and out
of the shadows was the best bit about his performance. You can really tell they
spent a lot of effort on some bits and others, nah, not so much. The end fight?
Not so much.
Both of the two robots have such a
cool mating dance going on, which I could watch for two hours longer. (You can
tell with the editing they cut out A LOT.) The way they talk, hug, have a past,
have a future, the way they kept standing so deliciously close, as if personal
space was entirely unknown to them, as if they want to kiss but can’t remember
what kissing is for, or as a childish sense of gravity towards one another.
Even as they are dying, he crawls up to her to be close, although they could
perfectly easily communicate via the network. In a sense he is physically closer
to her than other ‘normals’ are allowed to come.
It makes me wonder how designed was
she: they seemed to need to breathe, but they could not feel, at least not
pain. Did they feel touch, pleasure? Could they GIVE pleasure? Were their
genitals included, were there nerves connected to their brains that would
enable them sexual gratification at all, just for the fun of it? Like with all
robots, the brain was in the head and not the chest, and all the time Major is
reminded she can be and act and be perceived as human, if she wants to, but she
very rarely bothers to. Half the time she is so resentful of her condition she
takes unnecessary chances.
As
for the eye candy Ms. Johansson, I do appreciate her effort to do some acting
for a change, at least to step away from her usual routine when her tremendous
looks and her deep voice do most of the acting for her. I love the way she
walks and stands in this movie – she walks like she’s retarded and she stands
leaning forth as if she was constantly thinking: is this what I’m seeing what I
am supposed to see or do others see something totally different and I’m being
weird?
I
thought her blend of a human girl vagrant-activist runaway and the perfect machine
body was surprisingly well played out. Especially in her scenes with ‘Hideo’
(Is that how that name is pronounced? Hee-deYOUh? I thought it was ‘Hiddy’o’. As
if in ‘hideous’. Ah.) and her true mom. Though the scene with the hooker is
kind of sweet, also. How many go for human contact, I wonder. With a prostitute
who considers her human body to be a disadvantage in the biz.
And
then there’s the world-building. HOLY. SHIT. How I wish to live to see it. All
of the Neuromancer, Blade Runner, Black Mirror, Immortel Ad Vitam and the
original manga shown insofar come to surface here. It’s fantastic. I loved that
world. I hope to live to see it, though of course I would neither allow the
General to ever have an implant or use one myself, I’d probably be an activist
myself. Certainly gotsta borrow from such world more. I’m sure I can come up
with a scene in Goose where a world like that would be acceptable.
And steal the villain.
PS I
have to find one of my old wigs and cut it into this mess Major pulls off. I
would so care to have a haircut like this, though unfortunately I do not have
the face for fringe.
PPS LOL.
Found it. The black one was borrowed to someone for Hallowe’en the last time and
a large plastic spider was still clipped in. As I was brushing the wig out, I
left the spider on the washing machine. Nearly killed the teenager. I forget
that normal people are not afraid of abstract existential inconsistencies as
they are of a minute insect.
