It is the year 2029. Technology has advanced so far that cyborgs are commonplace. In addition, human brains can connect to the internet directly.

Major Motoko Kusanagi is an officer in Section 9, an elite, secretive police division that deals with special operations, including counter terrorism and cyber crime. She is currently on the trail of the Puppet Master, a cyber-criminal who hacks into the brains of cyborgs in order to obtain information and to commit other crimes.

Japanese with English Subtitles.

Ghost in the Shell 25th Anniversary Screening at Dendy Cinemas Coorparoo
Thursday 17 December
10:00AM
4:30PM
6:30PM
8:30PM

Friday 18 December
10:00AM
4:30PM
6:30PM
8:30PM

To enter this great competition simply fill out the form below. Please note – these tickets are for specific screenings at Dendy Cinema Coorparoo and can not be exchanged or refunded. The winners will need to be available for their nominated screening and will be notified by email.

Ghost in the Shell Competition

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Competition will be drawn December 14, winners will be notified by email.

More a prequel to Oshii’s film than a remake, the story relates the origins of Major Motoko Kusanagi (Scarlett Johansson) and also a little bit of her partner, Batou (Pilou Asbæk). The film riffs heavily off Oshii by lifting sequences directly from his film (hence why, on the surface, this appears to be a remake) and recreates them in the live action format – a relatively easy task with our contemporary special effects technology. It’s interesting to see how Sanders has applied these familiar scenes and remoulded their context to fit the new narrative. The result is very effective and nostalgic at the same time. There’s also a nod to Oshii’s 2001 film, Avalon, and his love of basset hounds (a staple in all his films) that is a nice touch for fans.

The film follows a Frankenstein-style story with the villain, Kuze (Michael Pitt), attacking his creator, the Hanka Robotic Corporation. Kuze is an earlier and unsuccessful version of the Major and he’s none too impressed that Hanka threw him on the scrap heap to die and he retaliates by hacking into heavily augmented humans (ghost hacking) to exact his revenge. As a member of the government anti-terrorist division, Section 9, the Major and her colleagues are tasked with stopping him. Along the way, Kuze educates Kusanagi on some uncomfortable truths about their shared origins.

The production has been the subject of accusations of whitewashing since the casting of Scarlett Johanson in the lead role. There is a general case to be made with the ‘whitewashing’ of characters in Hollywood films but the case for the prosecution is weak here. The question of whether ethnicity even applies to cybernetic bodies was implicitly raised in Oshii’s film and it follows in this one. The film also makes a specific point about Section 9 being a multi-ethnic organisation so a Caucasian Kusanagi is by no means out of place. The film also points out that Kusanagi’s prior living body was Japanese even though her cybernetic body clearly isn’t. Again implicitly questioning whether ethnicity is even a valid concept in this new world order. A greater test of whitewashing will be the forthcoming Akira film that is unmistakably set in Tokyo with Japanese characters. We’ll see how Hollywood handles that.

Ghost In The Shell is experiencing a bumpy ride at the box office but I think history will judge it more kindly than the present. To be sure it lacks the philosophical depth and narrative complexity of Oshii’s prior film but it still has an interesting story that questions the value of human versus synthetic life.

Stuart Jamieson
www.facebook.com/GhostInTheShellAU

Scarlett Johansson inhabits the role of Major with a fitting mechanical nonchalance that gets progressively more human as the story unfolds. Having said that, the depth of almost all the characters in this version are condensed to a fairly basic level. The film feels very Hollywood and the film’s makers could have shown a bit more trust that the modern audience can digest and enjoy more complex narratives.

Touching on universal truths and the themes of what makes an entity human is explored but not in great depth. Themes like the deadening of the human spirit with the encroachment of rampant technology does underline a lot of the film’s action and look but the script has been substantially simplified to keep the forward momentum intact.

This view of the future is a grim one and the level of avarice underlines the dark motives that become exposed in the light as the story proceeds. As a stand alone adventure it works well, connected to the larger world of the source material, it might disappoint the rabid fan.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/GhostInTheShellAU

Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, “GHOST IN THE SHELL” follows Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic’s advancements in cyber technology.

Staring Scarlett Johansson, Beat Takeshi Kitano, Juliette Binoche, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Kaori Momoi,Chin Han, Danusia Samal, Lasarus Ratuere, Yutaka Izumihara,  Tuwanda Manyimo – in cinemas MARCH  30 2017

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