"Ghost in the Shell" is a science fiction movie is set in "near future." Scarlett Johansson plays a human, who is capable of being the perfect soldier by cyber-enhancing herself. She is supposed to counter most treacherous criminals in the world. Based on a 1995 Japanese sci-fi epic, the movie is director Rupert Sanders' brilliant presentation.
The "Ghost in the Shell" makers have given a cloudy look to the future. Major, Johansson's character, aims to track Kuze, played by Michael Carmen Pitt. Kuze is a skilled hacker who is at war with scientists. He ghost-hacks other bodies to sabotage Hanka's line of artificial intelligence. Johansson's casting for Major has been controversial because of her ethnicity. There was a storm on social media about the American attempt to "whitewash" the Japanese character.
An online petition earlier asked Dreamworks to reconsider casting the Hollywood actress. The petition, which asked the producers to cast actors "who are truer to the cast of the original film," had more than 100,000 signatures. However, it failed to reach its 110,000 goals and fell short just by less than 5,000 signs. Not only Japanese people but Asian Americans outside of Japan also could not believe when Johansson was announced as the lead
The final version of the movie, however, proves that there is hardly any actress who could pull off what Scarlett has done in the movie. Cinematographer Jess Hall has done a brilliant job with his team to create a future world. However, according to Variety's Guy Lodge, composers Lorne Balfe and Clint Mansell refer a lot to the original theme created by Kenji Kawai. Jan Roelfs' production design and Kurt and Bart's wardrobe work with great sync to create the exclusive look of "Ghost in the Shell."
The movie has got overall positive reviews from critics. It gets 6.8/10 on IMDb, 3/5 on Den of Geek and 64% on Metacritic.
