I have waited for this for a long time. But, at least from the trailer, I get a feeling that something is off. The visuals are there... I think they may have fallen into the "too literal" interpretation from manga to live action. Or maybe is that Scarlett Johansson seems off for the role.

I will still watch it, though.

Seems stunning looking Sci-fi movies are pickling up this year.

It's a good sci-fi franchise so can't be too bad (I hope, bah)
But these days hollywood need to come up with something more original.

I like the look of this.I'm not sure if it was based on a comic book or whatever so hopefully I can watch it with no idea what is going on as to whether it remains faithful etc etc...

It is based in both a Japanese manga and animated film of the same title. For me, one of the seminal animated Japanese animated movies of the 90's.



There was a remake a couple of years back to bring the animation up to date.

I never got into the Japanese version, but this film looks good from the preview. But I've learned to never base my expectations for anything other than production quality on the preview...

All of the characters seem wrong americanized. This is the equivalent of casting a white guy for the role of MLKjr. Ill probably watch it and enjoy it but I dont think it is going to be very GitS.

ScarJo does not fit the role of the Major at all, even if you don't count Asian-Americanized.

Agree with Master and Ice. This is an obvious "white-washing" to make the film more acceptable to Western mainstream audiences.

Yeah well if she goes full frontal I'm in:D

I know nothing about the Japanese version other than it exists, so I can't be disappointed.

Beyond it being dull and/or nonsensical, that is. When I get around to renting it I will have low expectations so I can't be let down much.

As for calls of whitewashing, I think the more accurate term should be whitefunding. Blame the lame investors who believe it is their right to make 10x profit on the money they put in demanding name recognition for Western audiences.
I'm sure this film could easily have had an all-Asian cast for half the budget.




The Jedi Master

+1 Jedi

This is a case where not knowing what you are getting into will most likely lead to disappointment (not everyone, but for most people).

The animated movie is full of symbolism and deep themes. A lot of "show and do not tell" to let the audience interpret it. It has action in it, yes, but it is not an action movie, which is why I think the trailer is a little misleading. Think Blade Runner, but heavier on the existential themes and corporate plots, and from the side of the replicants.

My off feeling from this version is that it will probably be made more palatable by cutting on the philosophical and leaning on the action and exposition. To use Blade Runner again as example, I expect the narrated version without the Roy Batty monologue.

No matter how the live action movie turns out, I can't recommend the animated version enough.

If you liked The Animatrix shorts compilation, you will love this.

I don't see why they would need someone Asian for the role just because it comes from anime. If they stuck to that they would need a genderless, wide eye'd 14 year old devoid of any ethnicity. In a live action movie that would be just CREEPY. LOL
I like Scarlett, she seems to enjoy action movies and does them well. She could've been just another pretty face doing romantic comedies and chick flicks, but she went the route of the nerd audience. That makes her alright in my book.

The main problem to me is that the storyline, although a classic in certain circles, is very familiar now to the public. Super soldier, uncertain past, turns out the procedure was done to them unwillingly...blah...Bourne...blah. Might not sit well with the general audience.

Excellent point. Those plot threads have been done a LOT in both tv shows and films since the original anime film was released. It could very well be a case of "seen it already" for today's audience.

How many different takes on Seven Samurai and Yojimbo have we seen already? How many more exist we're not even aware of?



The Jedi Master

There was an episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues that was Seven-Samurai-themed.

Also, and slightly better , The Magnificent Ferengi, from DS9.

I think Pilou Asb�k needs be a bit bigger..Batou is a pretty hefty guy compared the the Major..Having the UZI man in the waterway fight and the highscraper dive is so much a nod to the original anime movie.Just hope its not a mismash of the number of episodes.

...aaand, they did it.

The early screenings confirm this is not a movie for the fans. It plays homage visually to the anime, but fails to go deep enough in the existential themes that made that anime stand out. It seems it is more focused on the action than in the story.

I know some might say that that is for the benefit of appealing to mainstream audiences. Not false, but that is not a strength, but a weakness. At this point, movie producers should be aware that the things that make an original great, would still be great and relevant on a remake. There are other things (like visuals) where innovation is more needed than changing the core elements in a remake. There are already many examples of movies that fail due to ignoring this. Is this pandering to the "small number of fans". It is, and most remakes that do this fair better.

If the original GitS was "The Matrix", the producers of this film decided to skip that one and go straight to "The Matrix : Revolutions".

And Johansson is still wrong on it, but not because of white washing issues. She is not good playing an emotionless and detached android (she did better in "Under the Skin").

It is visually stunning though so, for that, I will still give it a watch.

The crux of the matter is money. If you are going to make the film appeal mostly to the hardcore fans and thus keep it relatively esoteric then no studio is going to give you a big budget to make the film.

If you are willing to make the film more "mainstream" by adding more action scenes and dialing back the philosophizing then studios will be more willing to take the risk and give you a budget of 100 million or more.


That's just the way the movie business works.

It's an idiotic process. The thing that makes the story great is taken out as its biggest risk. :/