Home Video Catch Up: LIVE BY NIGHT

In many respects, Live By Night feels like a good movie struggling to become a great movie. Although it doesn't the achieve greatness or much in the way of cinematic depth, Ben Affleck still delivers a solidly entertaining gangster flick and its such a shame that it was rejected so heavily by critics and audiences.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like this movie quite a bit and I'd give it a modest recommendation when all is said and done. With that said, one can't truly appreciate the good, or even great, things about a film without acknowledging (or, better yet, seeking to improve) its flaws. And, without a doubt, the two biggest problems with this movie are pacing and story beats. While the majority of the film moves along at a rather well-balanced clip, the first act does feel like its in a bit too much of a hurry to get to the meatier parts of the story proper. Also, certain characters do have a tendency to exit the movie for noticeable stretches of time. Well, that and there are some parts of the story that felt like they should've been fleshed out more. Granted, this could be that the studio wanted a shorter running time* and a lot of scenes were left on the cutting room floor; but, until someone involved actually sheds some light on it, I guess we may never know if this was the case or not.

Still, those glaring flaws don't prevent it from being a pretty entertaining ride. The performances are great. The direction is borderline masterful (at this point, that's to be expected from Ben Affleck). The dialogue is snappy and I'll probably be quoting a few lines from this sometime down the road. But, what really deserves special mention is the film's cinematography. Look, I get that I tend to drone on and on about how pretty a film looks;  but, I'm sorry, guys. I'm just a sucker for a well-composed shot. And, quite frankly, Live By Night is absolutely chock-full of remarkable, expertly framed images.

Overall, while I do think this film would greatly benefit from an extended cut (and a 4K Blu-Ray release, major hint for Warner Brothers), Live By Night has too many good things about it to call outright bad.

LIVE BY NIGHT gets a...
NICE JOB, MAN! out of TEN

*It should be noted that important scenes getting cut for the theatrical release of any movie is a fairly common practice.

FREE FIRE Review

I'll admit upfront that I'm not all that familiar with the collective filmography of one Ben Wheatley; yet, upon a cursory glance of his body of work, I can say that he's certainly an interesting figure in the world of independent cinema. If nothing else, Free Fire is exactly the kind of starting point one would need to kind of get how demented and truly out there this guy is as a filmmaker (which is, in and of itself, kind of weird considering how the movie itself isn't particularly bizarre)

The basic pitch is pretty simple. Its a late night in the 1970s and a bunch of criminals are in a warehouse for a gun deal. Before long, things go sour and the rest of the movie is basically a feature length shootout. So, yeah. This isn't especially deep material; but, there is a such thing as beauty in simplicity and Wheatley delivers on the thrills that premise and title promise. Besides, I haven't seen a movie this funny in such a dark way in a long time.

Of course, the cast has some fun turns that I'd be remissed to leave out of any discussion about this movie. Brie Larson*, Jack Reynor, and Cillian Murphy provide good work as the only three characters in the movie that could be considered level-headed in any capacity. Armie Hammer gets quite a few chuckles with his laidback, completely serious demeanor. But, really Sharlto Copley ends up stealing almost every scene he's in as the guy selling the merchandise. On one hand, he's easily one of the film's slimier characters. On the other hand, he seems to be one of the few characters in the movie that seems to have an actual soul. Its performances like this that remind me why I get excited when he shows up in a flick. Plus, Sam Riley is astoundingly slimy and Michael Smiley is always a hoot in stuff like this.

Do I have complaints? Sure. Despite the action being consistently entertaining for the most part, there are numerous small points were things seemed to slow down too much. Granted, part of this can be blamed on how energetic the editing in the trailer was; but, personally, I think its because of how infrequently the music is used. Maybe, there's some underlying point about how pathetic these people are for descending into senseless mayhem so easily (to be fair, that wouldn't be surprising given how this director's last film was an adaptation of one of J.G. Ballard's more scathingly satirical novels**). That having been said, this could just be me reading too much into the most basic of cinematic subtexts; besides, people are here to see funny people shooting each other and the film delivers on that front in spades.


Ultimately, Free Fire is still a ridiculously entertaining, unabashedly crass exercise in gallows humor and a gleeful bit of ultra-violence. If this is playing near you, I'd definitely encourage you to give it a look. Although its certainly for an acquired taste, chances are good that you're not going to see anything else quite like this in your local multiplex at the moment.

FREE FIRE gets a...
HEY, THAT'S PRETTY GOOD out of TEN

*Incidentally, this is the second movie I've seen this year that stars Brie Larson and uses Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through The Jungle". (The first one is Kong: Skull Island).
**That movie is High Rise, in case you were wondering.

Bits n' Pieces Of Cinema News (04/19/2017)

Hey! Would you look at that? I'm introducing yet another new (possibly occasional) series of posts. Here, I'm going to talk about small news snippets that are worth discussing, even if they won't fill an entire piece. With that out of the way, let's get the ball rolling.


Being the guy who still hasn't made an outright bad movie in his entire career (if you don't believe me, look at his filmography -> click here), Guillermo del Toro is always a filmmaker to pay attention to. Seeing how his latest movie involves shenanigans involving a fishman set against the Cold War, I shouldn't have to explain why that's the case. The cast includes some really heavy-hitters like Michael Shannon, Octavia Spencer and del Toro regular Doug Jones. Definitely keep your eyes peeled for when this hits theaters, come December 8th.


So, we finally know what's going to be on Awesome Mix Volume 2. That's nifty! Like the last movie, it looks like James Gunn has assembled another eclectic concoction of classic tracks. My only gripe is that apparently that there was going to be another David Bowie song this time; sadly, the scene it was featured in was left on the cutting room floor. Still, that's a pretty minor nitpick and any has Electric Light Orchestra on it has to be worth something.


One of Marvel's upcoming flicks finally has a director (or directors, in this instance). The duo behind Mississippi Grind and Half Nelson are apparently helming this one. Granted, those are two movies I regretfully haven't seen yet; that said, considering how strong Marvel's creative confidence is and that the two aforementioned films have a relatively respectable reputation, I think I can safely say that this project is in good hands.


Blind Al's coming back for Deadpool 2. Nothing else to say other than she was one of the funniest things about the first Deadpool and I'm happy to hear she's returning for the sequel.

That's all I got for now. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves about my routine ruminations.

Home Video Catch Up: ROGUE ONE

If nothing else, we finally have a thoroughly good, occasionally great, Star Wars prequel now. Initially. when I saw it in theaters and to a certain extent afterwards, I thought that Rogue One was in the top five best Star Wars movies. Now, having had time to reflect on my initial thoughts and to rewatch the film on Blu-Ray, my opinion on the film has somewhat soured; that having been said, I will concede that Rogue One is still an exceptionally entertaining film that's only a few inches away from greatness.

Before I get to gushing over all the stuff I like about this movie, let me point out some of this film's biggest weak points. Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor make for two staggeringly bland leads. Come to think, none of the characters are well-developed to be described as three-dimensional. Forest Whitaker's voice is jarring and kind of laughable at times. The CGI used to bring back Grand Moff Tarkin is, while very impressive, perhaps TOO realistic (it's the whole "uncanny valley" effect once again). Finally, the first half of the film really drags the pacing down.

With all of that out of the way, Rogue One isn't without its redeeming qualities. Even the characters they're portraying aren't especially deep, the cast turns in some rather fine work. Personally, Alan Tudyk's gleefully sardonic work as K2SO and Donnie Yen's sheer awesomeness were my favorites out of the bunch. It should also be noted that Ben Mendelsohn makes for a great villain. And while the first half really does make the film feel longer than it actually is, the finally battle sequence is one of the best moments in the entire Star Wars franchise. Speaking of which, I must give credit where credit is due (considering that this movie gives the world what might be the best Darth Vader moment ever)*. Michael Giacchino once again proves why he's one of the best composers working nowadays with a rousing score (even if I still wish that the producers didn't scrap Alexandre Desplat's allegedly more unique compositions). Plus, it's all beautifully shot (it looks even better than Episode VII).

In the end, I do think that The Force Awakens is a better film overall; but, that isn't to say that Rogue One (I still refuse to call it "A Star Wars Story") is not worth your time. It's a good enough movie in the Star Wars saga that just a few strokes away from greatness.

ROGUE ONE gets a...
HEY, THAT'S PRETTY GOOD out of 10

*If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch this.

Trailers! Trailers! Trailers! #4

Well, it's that time again! Let's see this week's new trailers

THE BAD BATCH

Oh yeah, I've been looking forward to this one for a while now simply because it's a movie about cannibals that has Jim Carrey as a hermit and Keanu Reeves as a cult leader. Call me crazy but I think this one looks like a real winner. The cinematography looks appealing and I'm more than intrigued to see what twisted directions this goes.

DETROIT

Hey! Kathryn Bigelow made another movie. In my book, that's usually a thing to keep one's eyes peeled for. And, boy, does this movie look intense. I'm not sure if the whole shaky cam aesthetic clicks together with the rather accurate looking recreation of late-1960s America; but, its certainly interesting and I'm curious to see how it all plays out.

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT

Is this going to be any good? Probably not, seeing that the Michael Bay Transformers movies have garnered a well-deserved reputation as the worst modern blockbuster cinema has to offer. That said, this trailer does look pretty cool and it looks like The Last Knight might bring something new to the table from a plot perspective. Of course, there's also other cool stuff like more robot dinosaurs and what looks like Optimus Prime gone bad. Overall, color me cautiously optimistic for this one. While I won't be surprised if this ends up being a stinker, I'll be happy if this ends up being the first good movie in this series since 2007.

That's all for this round. Tune in again when I ramble on about... something else.

Home Video Catch Up: DOCTOR STRANGE

Doctor Strange is hands-down Marvel's best-looking film (and no, I'm not just saying that because Captain America: Civil War came out within the same timeframe and that looked about as drab as a comic book filtered through concrete). It's color palette is often and put into effectively great. To put it simply, this film deserves to be seen on the best screen possible, be it either in an IMAX theater or on an HD television that resides in a humble living room. Plus, the effects are so good, Oscar gold is practically gift-wrapped for them (sadly, The Jungle Book snatched that prize from this, but, oh well). Seriously, a lot of this movie's visuals look like the filmmakers pulled through the back catalogs of Steve Dikto's* original comic art, trippy rock album covers from the seventies & eighties, tons of surrealist artists (M.C. Escher and Salvador Dali, in particular) and even cult classics like Altered States & Enter The Void.

Besides the beautifully psychedelic visuals, Doctor Strange works for a lot of the same reasons many other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe work. The main characters are well-developed & likable and the action sequences are fun & inventive (that one is especially true in this film's case). Aside from the excellent effects, I was also pleasantly surprised by what this film does better than some of the other entries in the MCU. For example, Michael Giacchino's score is easily the most distinct, memorable score in the whole franchise (a lot of that is mainly seen, or rather heard, in the film's main theme). 

Of course, the cast also turns in some great work. Benedict Cumberbatch exceeds as Stephen Strange for much the same reason that Bruce Campbell succeeds in Army of Darkness (i.e. both actors pull off making their characters cocky but undeniably charismatic). Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Benedict Wong are all fantastic in their supporting roles (their characters and the mythology that surrounds them are, quite simply, some of the MCU's most interesting facets to date). Mads Mikkelsen brings a decent amount of gravitas to what is otherwise a typically one-note villain. Sadly, while Rachel McAdams' performance is perfectly serviceable, it does kind of feel like the script left her character as an afterthought rather than someone who's been fully realized. Still, that's a pretty minor gripe and it doesn't effect the movie as a whole.

Overall, Doctor Strange is easily in my Top Five Favorite Marvel Movies** and the mind-blowing visuals alone make the film worth at least one viewing.

DOCTOR STRANGE gets a...

BADASS out of 10

 

*For those who don't know, Steve Ditko is the artist who co-created Doctor Strange with Stan Lee

**I may do a piece about that very topic in the near future. So, keep your eyes peeled. ;)

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Gets A Really Great First Trailer

There's even a pretty nifty looking poster to boot.

Like many of you, I've been itching to get a look at Star Wars: The Last Jedi for quite some time. And, this first trailer didn't disappoint in the slightest.

Of course, there are too many awesome bits to dissect in one, intentionally easy-to-digest post; that said, that won't stop me from quickly discussing the stuff I like in particular. Like how ominous and cryptic Luke's dialogue is (that line at the end of the trailer alone gave me chills). That, above everything else, stood out to me... well, that and this shot at the end.

Fantastic!

Which isn't to say that I was unimpressed by the glimpses of the space battles and the character stuff that wasn't the dynamic between Luke & Rey. In fact, that couldn't be farther from the truth. The action looks undoubtedly thrilling and I'm especially curious to see what directions this movie's going to take Kylo Ren as a character (largely, considering this shot of his mask left in ruins).

Overall, this is a very concise, well-edited trailer that reveals just enough to garner specualtion/hype; yet, not too much to where anything is potentially spoiled. So, basically, it's a modern Star Wars trailer. Hopefully, The Last Jedi will raise the already high bar that Force Awakens and Rogue One set not too long ago. Given what we've already seen here, it looks like that'll be the case. Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits theaters December 15th.

Trailer Source: YouTube
Poster Source: Birth.Movies.Death

So, It Looks Like They Finally Got Someone To Play Cable in DEADPOOL 2

Well, talk about a casting choice that I didn't see coming. Yes, after a few months of searching, Fox has finally found an actor to play fan-favorite Cable in the upcoming sequel to Deadpool. I'm just going to bet that half the people reading this are pretty excited hearing this while the other half don't have a clue about what I'm talking about. And, for those in the latter category, allow me to take a moment to explain a couple things.

You see that big tough guy up there with the absurdly oversized gun? THAT's Cable. Honestly, even as a comic book fan myself, I know little to nothing about this guy other that he's a cyborg from the future and that his numerous partnerships with Deadpool make them both essentially Marvel universe's equivalent to Riggs and Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon movies. I'm happy to see that they've chosen Josh Brolin (a real heavy-hitter in the acting crowd) for this role and even curious, considering that this guy's going to play Thanos (the purple guy from the end of Avengers 1 & 2) in Avengers: Infinity War around the same time this is released into theaters.

Also, this discussion of Deadpool 2 casting has gotten me thinking about one question that hangs over every sequel: will it be too much like the original? Clearly, they're going to do some sort of expanding with this new follow-up; thus, I'm only referring to structure. While I'm still disappointed that they chose someone else to play Domino* over Mary Elizabeth Winstead (seriously, how anyone has an actress with her level of talent on a casting shortlist and doesn't choose her is mind-boggling to me), the cast still seems pretty okay. The thing that has me worried about stagnation in the sequel is that they might be repeating the same dynamic and story beats that Deadpool had with Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (go watch the first movie if you're in the dark on this) in the last one.

Now, don't get me wrong. The first Deadpool was a perfectly solid superhero parody that just so happened to take place within the universe of an actual superhero franchise; however, there are still plenty of things that could be (and should be) improved in future installments. Ultimately, in spite of my tangential ram blings, this is a good bit of casting and I'm hoping the actual film is good. I mean, David Leitch (the wunderkin behind the first John Wick and Atomic Blonde) is in the director's chair. So, it has to be worth something. We'll know for sure next year.

Source -> http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/04/12/deadpool-2-josh-brolin-cast-as-cable

*For the uninitiated, that's Domino. She's an assassin and one of Deadpool's many romantic interests.

Home Video Catch Up: SPLIT

It should be noted that I, not as a critic but rather an individual human being, can't see everything in theaters. Part of this is owed to the fact that I don't have the clout to where I can be invited to press screenings, which means that I'm stuck with the mere mortals by paying ten bucks for each trip to the multiplex (well, that and I don't to blow ten greenbacks on a potential stinker). With that in mind, allow me to introduce a new occasional series of posts where I review movies that I didn't get to discuss while they were still making their rounds in theaters. I call it HOME VIDEO CATCH UP. Now, with that out of the way, let's get the ball rolling.

Boy, it's been a long time since M. Night Shyamalan made a movie that's worth watching unironically. After Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, his career seemed to take what is probably the most epic nosedive that I've ever seen, with most of his more recent films ranging from unintentionally hilarious disasters like The Happening or Lady in the Water or grating tests of endurance like After Earth or The Visit (that last one I turned off after only the first five minutes). Many people have described Split as a sort of arthouse B-movie or something of the sort. To be honest, that description is right on the money. Yeah, it's all very well shot, the score's fantastic and it's got some talented actors; but, when you think about the plot, this sounds more like material ripe for cheesy drive-in material rather than traditional studio-backed arthouse fare.

Granted, while I do agree with the majority of the Internet film community that this is a relatively solid flick and easily Shyamalan's best film in quite some time, some of his more negative quirks still pervade the proceedings. Like how the dialogue, while elegantly worded, doesn't sound like stuff normal people would say. There are some plot elements that (while I won't mention them by name for fear of spoilers) feel tone-deaf and contextually unsuitable. And, sometimes, it just feels awkward and uncomfortable (and not in the way its supposed to feel). But, with all of that said, Split still supplies its fair share of popcorn thrills.

James McAvoy absolutely shines in his role (or rather roles). This kind of role is difficult to pull off without making an actor look like the most foolish person in the room. Yet, McAvoy to lend gravitas to his portrayal of a man with multiple personalities who at one point dresses up as a woman and acts like a nine-year-old. Any actor with that level of skill to make something like this believable (or, at least, not cringeworthy) has to be commended. Betty Buckley also deserves a mention for her work as the nurturing psychologist trying to decode the mentality of McAvoy's numerous personalities. She turns in some pretty good work here.

And, with the exception of the twist involving Anya Taylor-Joy's character being completely ill-fitting and kind of grossly inappropriate, the finale is an utter thing to behold. Up until the third act, McAvoy's been the normal type of psycho (if there is such a thing); but, at the end, he figuratively and literally gets to cut loose. Also, that stinger at the end is something that's already blown the minds of my fellow cinephiles (once more, I won't give it away).

Overall, Split is an exceptionally entertaining bit of schlock horror cinema and a beyond welcome return to form for a prolific filmmaker.

SPLIT gets a...
SATISFACTORY out of TEN

Trailers! Trailers! Trailers! #3

Okay, I just did a big piece on the first trailer for Thor: Ragnarok. But, there have been a couple other new trailers that have hit the web recently. So, you know what that means.

ATOMIC BLONDE

The latest trailer for Atomic Blonde is a lot like the previous one; however, given that this one's a green band, so it's not as violent, lurid or profane as the last trailer. Frankly, even with the more R-rated bits being toned down a notch, this still looks like a lot of fun. The action looks solid (I mean one of the guys who did John Wick is in the director's chair for this, so how could it be anything less than stellar). Plus, the cast looks like they're bringing their A-game (especially Theron and McAvoy). Plus, I love the whole neon drenched, synthwave aesthetic that seems to pervade the film. Overall, just keep your eyes out for this one once July comes knocking.

BABY DRIVER

Well, it looks like great second trailers that aren't too dissimilar to the ones that preceded them is a recurring theme in this piece. Moving on, anyone who knows me knows that I've been itching for a new Edgar Wright picture for about three or four years now. Baby Driver definitely looks like my cup of tea. This latest preview is basically a shorter, sweeter version of the last one (i.e. fun looking action scenes, interesting angle on the movie's use of music, and interesting looking characters).  All of that's just fine... but, the reason I'm even happier now more so than I was when even the first trailer dropped is because of a release date shift. Instead of coming out in August, Sony's shifted the release date to the tail end of June. Getting potentially great movies sooner than initially anticipated is always a cause for celebration (or, at the very least, a smile).

You may have noticed that this installment of Trailers! Trailers! Trailers is a bit shorter than normal. Honestly, there weren't too many trailers that came out in the past few days; that said, I really wanted to talk about these two movies. I didn't get to sound off about them when their initial trailers were dropped; so, I figured now would as good a time as ever to give these two films a spotlight on my platform. Anywho, see you around when I find something else to sound off about.

THOR: RAGNAROK looks like a modern-day Flash Gordon

Honestly, the Thor movies have been on the few things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that haven't really clicked with me. The first one's a fun fantasy flick and that's about it, really. And, the less said about Thor: The Dark World, the better. Thus far, that's been the main reason why I've been curious (but not necessarily excited) about the upcoming, Thor: Ragnarok. In comes this teaser trailer...

...and I'm now completely stoked for this. You've noticed that I mentioned the sci-fi cult classic Flash Gordon in regards to this trailer and I don't make that comparison lightly. Everything from the tone to the costumes and even the title design* looks like some VHS genre movie** fare from the tail end of the Reagan era. You better bet your bottom dollar that I'm digging this. Between this and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. It looks like that Marvel might actually start doing something interesting with its films from a visual standpoint. I'm hoping that I'm right and that these sudden splashes of color in a sea of entertaining but visually stagnant Marvel movies (yeah, I said it, come at me). Okay, all that gushing about how much this reminds me of retro stuff that I like is all well and good; but, let's discuss the actual trailer.

First things first, there are two big moments that I think are going to be the reason the geek community is going to be discussing this for a while. One of them is this shot of Thor's hammer being obliterated...

...and the other is the reintroduction of the Hulk.

Most people who knew about this flick already knew that A) Hulk and Thor were going to team up and B) Thor was going to lose his hammer. That first part didn't bring many surprises; however, Mjolnir (that's the name of his hammer for the uninitiated) being completely destroyed completely caught me offguard. But, if Iron Man 3 proved anything besides the fact that Shane Black should be doing more movies, it proved Marvel can do the "strip protagonist of powers and see how things go from there" rather well. Overall, this is a pretty great trailer and I'm beyond hyped to see it all plays out once Thor: Ragnarok hits theatres on November 3rd.
...
Also, this poster's okay, I suppose...


*Seriously, LOOK at this.

**For anyone who doesn't know what a genre film is...

Trailers! Trailers! Trailers! #2

WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

So far, the Planet of the Apes reboot series has been the high watermark for how to do a reboot properly. Rise of the Planet of the Apes was solid and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was, quite frankly, marvelous. In terms of the little details, Woody Harrelson looks like he's going to make for a great villain and the characters seem rich/nuanced. And, how can I not be excited for a movie where monkeys wield machine guns? Overall, I'm getting a strong feeling that this flick's going to be a pretty excellent trip to the multiplex.

ANNABELLE: CREATION

Let me get the obvious joke out of the way now: Releasing this on April Fools Day was a rather bad joke. Hardy har har har! Now, then, let's get down to brass tacks. This movie doesn't look very good. It looks almost identical to the first one (which was also not very good). It's riddled with obnoxious cliches and horribly done jump scares. If nothing else, I'll give Warner Brothers credit for getting a better director, if nothing else. But, yeah, don't get your hopes up for this.

THE MUMMY

The Universal Monsters cinematic universe is a pretty strange creature in the current trend of modern blockbusters. For starters, it's both weird and kind of exciting that we're finally getting a movie universe (that was supposed to be kicked off with Dracula Untold way back in 2014 but that ended up being kind of meh) comprised of the iconic classic movie monsters. I wasn't sold on the first trailer because it just looked like a generic action blockbuster. As for this second trailer, I'm a bit more enticed to check out the actual flick. Don't get me wrong, it still looks kind of dumb; but, it looks like my kind of dumb. This trailer reminded me a lot of that one for Guy Ritchie's King Arthur movie that's coming out in a couple months. Both look like enjoyably silly pulp with quixotic but awesome needledrops (only here it's Rolling Stones not Led Zeppelin). Color me cautiously optimistic for this one.

BRIEF ADDENDUM: For those wondering, yes, I am aware that there was another trailer for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword that was released yesterday. What are my thoughts on it? Basically what I just said about the previous one in my bit about the Mummy (heck, they even used "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" again, no complaints there). So, yeah, it still looks like dumb fun. 

GHOST IN THE SHELL Review (MILD SPOILERS)

BRIEF DISCLAIMER: Hey guys! I just wanted to say before we get to the nitty-gritty, there's going to be a spoiler or two in this review. So, if you want the short version (which isn't saying much considering that this review might end up being one of the shortest things I've written for this site yet): it's okay at best, stay for the eye-candy visuals and the fantastic score. With that out of the way, on with the show!

Up until its recent release, I was predicting that Ghost In The Shell would be this year's equivalent to the 2013 Tom Cruise sci-fi flick Oblivion. And, after finally having seen this long-awaited American adaptation of the much revered anime franchise, I can confidently say that I was... pretty much right.

For context, I use Oblivion as a comparison because both films are visually stunning works from competent directors backed up by fantastic scores from accomplished artists (no joke, Clint Mansell's work for this flick is absolutely solid)... that are rather unspectacular when you get right down to it.

Seriously, it hasn't even been 24 hours since I've seen this thing and I'm already having to scour Wikipedia and Reddit just to remember what the plot was. Going back to Oblivion for a moment, while I'm admittedly unfamiliar with the source material, Ghost in the Shell seems to share even the basic story beats of that forgotten affair (i.e. Main character works for big company/organization, ends up uncovering some big secret about his/her existence, and spends the rest of the proceedings exacting revenge). Side note relating to the revenge stuff: am I the only person who thinks this movie should've have been much more R-rated. Honestly, the action here is so dull and lifeless, that it feels like adding just a tiny bit of bloodshed would've made things just a little more interesting.

And now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: casting Scarlet Johansson as the franchise's traditionally Japanese protagonist. Now, let be clear, I am NOT the guy to approach when it comes to the subject of how race is handled in movies or "whitewashing" (if you want more thoughtful looks into that sort of territory, there are plenty of other movie news rags with plenty of other writeups on it); but, suffice it to say, Johansson (like pretty much everyone else in this movie) is basically sleepwalking through this. Oh well, at least she and the rest of the cast have been in better motion pictures.

Overall, my suggestion would be to wait until this thing hits Redbox or Amazon Video (AKA the point where the world at large forgets this was a thing that existed) to check it out; however, the visuals and score* are strong enough to earn at least the price of a matinee showing I suppose. As for me, I'm just content in the knowledge that I'll be getting a better version of this sort of cyperpunk fare once Blade Runner 2049 hits theaters about six months from now.


GHOST IN THE SHELL gets a...
MEDIOCRE out of 10

*Message to Paramount: Why haven't you released Clint Mansell's work for this yet? Most film scores are already released either ahead of/after the movie comes out or on the day of. Seriously, why are you holding it back? Just release it already.