Ghost in the Shell (Rupert Sanders, 2017)

Making an American live-action film based on popular Japanese manga or anime is never a good starting point, with the inevitable whitewashing of the characters the least of the problems, and giving petite Scarlett Johansson once again the power to slice her way through hordes of adversaries makes the heart sink too. In these aspects, Ghost in the Shell does not disappoint: it is just as poor than those factors might lead you to believe, with adolescent computer-game philosophising on the nature of identity as she attempts, with her brain stuck inside a robot body, to make sense of her purpose. The plot is a composite of any number of sci-fi dystopias where an evil corporation weaponises its vulnerable victims, the cybersphere has to be visualised in the standard ludicrously graphic ways and the city has to have a 'lawless zone' for the underclass, of course. The torrents of action and FX are impressive, but this is no real virtue since it has become a baseline for the genre by now. The most horrifying (and original) amongst all the violence turns out to be the proliferation of animated holographic advertising everywhere, even taller than the towering skyline.

4/10