Quick Thoughts on the Disappointing Live Action "Ghost in the Shell"

Unfortunately, the live-action adaptation of the Ghost in the Shell manga and anime is disappointing and a huge missed opportunity. The movie, directed by Rupert Sanders (who also made the mediocre at best Snow White and the Hunstman) looks great and presents a cool futuristic world filled with giant holograms and neon lights. This only keeps you entertained for about 30 minutes and the neat visuals can't carry the movie on their own or make up for the many glaring flaws.

The 2017 version is not nearly as deep and philosophical as the original anime from 1995, which was comparatively subtle when put next to the heavy-handed remake. There's plenty of clumsy expository dialogue including on-the-nose bits like "You have no idea how alone that makes me feel" from the main character. Equally clunky is the introductory text at the very beginning that could have easily been left out.

Even the action scenes are only passable and are never that memorable or anything we haven't seen before.

There are some solid actors in the cast including Scarlett Johansson, Juliette Binoche, and Takeshi Kitano, and while none of them are bad, they don't have much to work with and seem to be phoning it in.

For a movie about soul, it has little.

I'm a bit worried that this may become a thing like video game adaptations where live action versions of anime can never quite hit the mark as both are difficult mediums to adapt into big-budget Hollywood movies.