For starters, I don't watch as much anime because sometimes either it is not advertised properly or the material does not hook me as much but I have seen some fantastic anime films such as Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and The Wind Rises. I did not watch the original anime film to prepare for this movie so I don't want to be criticized too heavily because I did not have the same connection or there are things I stepped over that I was confused about. The movie is unlike the original Blade Runner, visually spectacular but the narrative is not straight forward or confusing. But the difference is that I watch Blade Runner, both the original and final cuts, multiple times to fully understand the story and emotional depth and view the fantastic effects. With this movie, I gaze and scan at the visual artistry and also think that Scarlett Johansson was awesome, the pacing is slow and the narrative was flat in the end. However, it is unfavorably straight forward compared to Blade Runner, meaning I would not mind not rewatching it again because it was mainly boring.
The movie is set in the future which humans have been upgraded to androids thanks to cybernetic upgrades from a company called Hanka Robotics, a tech corporate company on the verge of developing a new cyborg capable of using a human brain to function. A woman, Mira Killan (Scarlett Johansson), is being taken into Hanka after an accident and her brain is being transported onto a cybernetic body with agility and greater strength. She is being put onto Sector 9, an anti-terrorism team and is known as "The Major".
The Major receives her orders from Section 9 Chief Aramki (Takeshi Kitano) and works with Batou (Pilou Absaek) and Ladriya (Danusia Samal). They are on the roof listening on a meeting between a Hanka representative and an African Ambassador. All of a sudden, several geisha-bots are being hacked and they start to attack people in the room, prompting The Major to defy the chief's order and getting into action. Before one geisha-bot dies, she says, "Commit to the will of Hanka and be destroyed." They learn that the geisha-bots were hacked by a mysterious force. The Major meets with Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche) as she takes care of the Major as she suffers hallucinations as she is having trouble remembering her past, only with glimpses. But, the doctor dismisses them as glitches. So, after she is being repaired, they start investigating who is behind the hacking.
Boy, it was visually dazzling to glimpse at on the big screen. However, the plot is meandering, confusing and trite that it really slows down the movie and it become sleep-inducing at times that I wanted the movie to propel to the next level. There is also a subplot involving the Major's past that seemed more intriguing and emotionally driven than the action part. If the filmmakers and screenwriters had the action and both storylines involving the investigation and the Major's familial past on the level of the visual effects, then, this remake would be something special. It is a bit frustrating that sci-fi movies or futuristic action movies are more focused on its software than it does on the story. Writers and directors should not rely solely on the visual artists because they know that it will be great but they need to surpass their own expectations, sometimes.
Scarlett Johannson is quite as compelling an action star in today's era that we follow her around in any storyline or in any movie. Even though she is great in The Avengers universe, her last action movie was Lucy and even though she was great in it, the movie was incomprehensible and a mess. Her performance is the same and quite compelling but the movie was a visual display but the story was a drag.
Now, there were accusations of whitewashing in this movie and to back that up, the original director of the anime film, Mamoru Oshii said, "The Major is a cyborg and her current body (the character's) are not her original name and body, so there is no basis that an Asian actress must portray her." And, I do agree with him that artistic expression should be free from politics because I have to confess, that I am starting to get sick of politics getting in the way of entertainment. Nowadays, it is starting to become a requirement as to who to cast and why to cast in a role because to suit the political standards. What happened to creativity and then supporting it with vital and appropriate casting that the casting directors and also directors see while having a visual of the actor/actress suiting the character? Studios need to take some risks sometimes and not create a political stance. And, also, people need to calm down on the political triteness and maybe research what they are trying to do.
Director Rupert Sanders has also made Snow White and the Huntsman, which was visually gorgeous but also a slog. And, this is the same. Even though are fine performances from Johansson, Michael Pitt, Takeshi Kitano and Michael Pitt, it seemed that at times they looked lost. There is some muddled direction in both their performances and also inhabiting into the world that the story gets shuffled down into the pit and then the audience including myself will get frustrated in the experience, leaving us cold in the end. In a familiar and artificial universe, the movie, unfortunately, felt artificial and the experience becomes hollow as a shell.
**1/2
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