Ghost in the Shell: Highly Stylized Future

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In the year 2029, the world has been widely interconnected with technology and humans are no exception until a master hacker by the name of Puppet Master threatens their life by robbing their minds of memories. Sounds like a very dystopian future but then again, we are after all much closer to that year than when this movie was made. Mamoru Oshii’s groundbreaking sci-fi anime inspired many movies, one of which is a movie about a special one that had to choose between a red pill and a blue pill.

More than 20 years later, a Hollywood remake starring Scarlett Johannson is now screening in cinemas as of this writing. For now though, let’s take a step back and see how well the original stands out. The Americanized version can wait for now.

Ghost in the Shell mainly revolves around the vulnerability of artificial intelligence and the people or cyborgs that relies on this form of AI to survive. The main character here is Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cyborg, just like most of her counterparts running an intelligence operation.

The movie is incredibly violent for first few minutes into the movie as a villain is brutally shot by the Major. The animation is done quite beautifully here too, and this movie is definitely filled with so many R-rated scenes you would not want to show this to young ones.

For a movie set in the future by the minds of its creators more than 20 years ago, the world it is set in obviously seems far off from today but the technology in it is still relevant. And with another 12 years into 2029, who knows if cyborgs will live among us? But do give this movie a watch, even if you are not interested in anime.

Ghost in the Shell (1995) - 4/5

Directed by: Mamoru Oshii

Duration: 111 minutes

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