Film reviews: Ghost In The Shell and other releases – Herald Scotland

THERE are ghosts haunting the release of this ambitious science fiction film. Firstly, the source material, the acclaimed manga comic books and anime films, whose fans no doubt will be pouring over this live-action adaptation, eager to find fault. And theres been the controversy over the whitewashing casting of Scarlett Johansson as the lead character.

Dust away the obfuscation (and its no more than that) and what we have is a sci-fi that faithfully draws upon the imagery of those Japanese sources, but also fits into the tradition of Blade Runner, Total Recall and The Fifth Element films that created near-future metropolises that are at once fantastical and familiar. Theres also an unavoidable dash of Robocop, in the main character of a law enforcement officer who is almost all machine.

In this future, people are routinely enhanced with cybernetic body parts. But when a young woman is saved from a car crash, shes taken a step further, with just her brain housed in a machine her mind the ghost inside the shell. In fact, its obvious that the car crash has just been made up, by the evil corporation that is trying to develop a new breed of soldier. Major, as shes known, is the first.

A year later she is the prime asset in an anti-terrorist unit, able to leap off buildings, become invisible and generally out-jump and out-fight everyone around her. But shes also suffering, perfectly cognisant of her condition as barely human. As a cyber-terrorist, Kuze (Michael Carmen Pitt), starts killing a specific group of scientists, Majors concerns come into sharper focus.

With Snow White And The Huntsman, Brit director Rupert Sanders showed no lack of visual panache. Here hes marshalled his designers and special effects teams towards an aesthetic that seems largely faithful to that of the original aesthetic of the manga and anime, albeit with a live-action muscularity. Some scenes, such as Majors creation and a chase sequence through the city, are simply gorgeous.

Sanders also had the good sense to cast top-notch actors to add depth to the comic-book characters, including Danish actor Pilou Asbk (the spin doctor from TVs Borgen) as Majors sidekick Batou, the great Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano as their boss and Juliette Binoche as the scientist who created her shell.

As for the star, shes actually very well cast. In fact, theres no actor today who so consistently portrays otherness. Johansson was superb as the malign alien in the Glasgow-set Under The Skin, the voice of a romantic operating system in Her, and a woman whose evolution is sped up in Lucy. For an actress who came to fame playing the sweetly ordinary (Lost In Translation) she really can turn on the mysterious, ethereal and just plain strange.

Here she conveys Majors artificiality along with a neglected humanity desperately trying to reassert itself. And thanks to her Avengers outings, she happens to do kick-ass action rather well.

Despite its scale and ambition, the film isnt revolutionary or heart-stopping. It takes a while to adjust to its dense visual style (it will repay repeat viewings) and two-dimensional plotting. But slowly it exerts a hold, not least because the theme the loss of identity, of humanity as we become more and more technologically advanced seems desperately relevant.

Kuzes mode of cyber-hacking is a case in point he hacks peoples brains. And it seems terribly believable, that sooner or later were going to be uploading, downloading directly in and out of our minds, losing ourselves in the mix.

Also released ...

Free Fire (15)

America in the 1970s. Two groups of men and a woman enter a warehouse to conduct an arms deal. Everyone is on edge. And when two henchmen start taking shots at each other, all hell breaks loose. Director Ben Wheatley follows his adaptation of JG Ballards dystopian satire High-Rise with a very different proposition, one that doesnt bother with themes or subtext just one, film-length shoot-out. Its a novel, if risky idea, with a humorous script and a game cast, which includes Cillian Murphy and Bree Larson.

Graduation (15)

With his landmark film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, Romanian director Cristian Mungui charted the grimness of the Ceau?escu regime. His latest suggests that his country is still mired in day-to-day corruption. After a doctors daughter is attacked on the day of her final exams, he is concerned that she wont get the grades needed for university. Egged on by his self-serving, back-scratching environment, he takes steps to ensure she does. But will he get away with it?

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Film reviews: Ghost In The Shell and other releases - Herald Scotland