Kôkaku Kidôtai (Ghost in the Shell) (1995)

Seen: On dvd on our big screen/projector set-up, rented from the Tisch Library at Tufts.
89/100 on the Sci-Fi List.

Anime and science-fiction fan that I am, I'm not sure how I missed out on the influential world of Ghost in the Shell for so long. Set in a futuristic Hong Kong in which many people have had computer chip brain implants and others full-on cyborgian body modifications, the film adaptation of Masamune Shirow's manga is a complex science-fiction mystery. Major Motoko Kusanagi is a skilled secret agent in a deadly robot body hunting an elusive hacker known only as the Puppet Master. As she goes deeper into a worldwide political and technological plot, she begins to question her own humanity as a brain inside a fabricated shell.

Combining fast-paced and exciting action sequences with convoluted political maneuvering, Ghost in the Shell is an interesting but somewhat self-indulgent film that admittedly lost me a few times. But I always found my way back thanks to the strength of the Major and her partner Batou as characters. I found their conversations about the existence of a soul and how one can survive inside man-made constructs very interesting, and the climactic confrontation with a sentient hacking program is as tragic as it is eerie. Plus the Major is just an all-around badass. She goes through a suiting/arming-up routine like 5 times, it's fantastic.

Unfortunately, a lot of the more compelling ideas in this film are wrapped up in a confusing over-arching plot that I didn't get much out of. World governments, the future, politicians, corrupt officials... problems? Something to that effect. And some crazy technology. I feel like I never had a clear idea of the context of this future, as the focus was more on the action and characters. Of course this is a feature of many science fiction films set in the future, and considering I enjoyed the rest of the film I can't be too hard on it. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention, also.

The animation is slick and really well paced, offering a slew of well-edited chase sequences and a big mecha shoot-out set amidst crumbling stone. The character and tech design are a bit dated, but that's all part of the charm of watching a futuristic movie from any decade before the one I'm currently living through. I have to say it, though: Do we really need all the nudity? I mean, normally I'm totally pro-naked people but it's weirder when it's all just one hot robot lady being drawn a million times over frame by frame presumably by overworked male animators. And notice how the Major has to get naked to go into invisible cloak mode, but the guy she's chasing doesn't. I'm not going to get into a discussion of the male gaze here but come on, she's constantly stripping- it's just off-putting and really quite unnecessary. Also unfair to viewers who like dudes since none of them lose their clothes. Equal-opportunity eye-candy, you guys, that's all we want.

4/5

Pair This Movie With: I think it'd be a nice double feature with the Cowboy Bebop movie, especially if you want more anime. Or I read that the Wachowskis were inspired by Ghost in the Shell while making The Matrix, so that's an option.