Ghost in the Shell : Thoughts on the recently released footage

Back in 1996 I saw one of (which can be argued) the greatest anime films to come out since Akira. That film is Ghost in the Shell, which later spawned an animated series and more feature films. Some might not know that it was originally a manga created by famed artist, Masamune Shirow, which ran in Young Magazine from 1989 to 1990. Shirow went on to do a second manga series that ran from 1991 to 1997. The series went on to do not only animated films but tv series and a video game.

Now nothing is worse than hearing that an anime, especially one as loved as Ghost in the Shell, was rumored to be made in to a live action film. Once it was announced back in 2008 by Dreamworks, that they and Steven Speilberg had acquired the rights to make a live action adaptation of the original manga series. You could immediately hear the collective screams of anime fans everywhere. From there the film was stuck in production limbo much like Akira, Cowboy Bebop and Battle Angel Alita(which thankfully never happened).

While over the years rumors ran rampant about casting that included Margot Robbie and then ultimately Scarlett Johansson who would end up in the iconic role of Major Kusanagi. Amongst casting rumors there were multiple changes in the production team as well. When the project was announced, Jamie Moss(Street Kings) was set to write but later Laeta Kalogridis(Alexander, Shutter Island) would replace Moss as the writer. Then when Rupert Sanders was announced as the director (Snow White and the Huntsman), The Hoax writer, William Wheeler was slated to write the screen play. So in total there have been 3 writers, but it has been written that Wheeler said there were six or seven writers. Ultimately in the end Jonathan Herman and Jamie Moss were given credit for the screenplay.

In February of 2016 the film began shooting now that it had its screenplay, director and full cast. Only recently did we get to see our first look at the film in a series of very, very short teasers. Now after watching the teasers, one notably showing famed Japanese actor, Takeshi Kitano, playing Daisuke Aramaki the head of Section 9. That was pretty cool considering he is one of my favorite actors to come out of Japan. What is sad is that the other trailers failed to get me excited for the film, now I am not jumping on the hate train, but I want the film to do right by the source material and not turn it into some shell of its former self (pun purposely intended there). Yes, Scarlett Johansson has the look for the most part, more than just the hair but she does resemble to Major a little. Again, these quick little teasers don’t really give the feel of Ghost in the Shell or make me think it’s Ghost in the Shell until the end when the logo pops on the screen, which does look exactly like the original. Ghost in the Shell is a cyber punk adventure that is an insane mind-bending trip, I hope that as the film nears it’s release date of March 31,2017, that we see more of what Dreamworks and Rupert Sanders have in store for us. As we have all seen with other live action films based on cartoons *cough*Avatar*cough* that even with a strong source material, you can churn out a horribly basterdized version of the original material. I hope that Dreamworks, Sanders and the writers took note of movies past.

Here are the five short clips: