Thursday, April 25, 1996
‘Ghost in the Shell’s’ compelling story and stunning visual
effects work to overcome a sometimes muddled plot and poor
dubbing
By Colburn Tseng
Daily Bruin Contributor
Last year, in an attempt to cash in on America’s sudden
obsession with the internet, Hollywood released a spate of
cyber-related movies aimed at the online crowd. An unprecedented
display of moviemaking at its worst followed, and it seemed that
cyberpunk enthusiasts would be left with nothing to do but mourn
the tragic disaster that was "Johnny Mnemonic."
Until now. Enter "Ghost in the Shell," a brooding, almost
haunting, animated cyberpunk adventure imported from Japan. Armed
with eye-popping visuals and a compelling, though confusing, story,
"Ghost" is infinitely more enjoyable than Hollywood’s recent
live-action bombs.
The influence of cyberpunk guru William Gibson’s seminal novel
"Neuromancer" and Ridley Scott’s "Blade Runner" run strongly
throughout this adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s comic series, or
manga, of the same name. Genre-familiar elements  a
near-future time frame, a decaying urban metropolis, a computer
dominated society  set the stage for a race to capture a
notorious hacker known only as the Puppet Master.
In the year 2029, the field agents of the Internal Bureau of
Investigation, Section 9 of the Security Police, are cyborgs more
machine than man  or in the case of Motoko Kusanagi, woman.
The film’s opening finds Kusanagi embarking upon the assassination
of a foreign diplomat interfering with Security Police Section 6,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The diplomat is offering political
asylum to a classified programmer seeking defection from Section 6,
an action that holds fatal, and incredibly bloody,
consequences.
The relationship between Sections 9 and 6 and the significance
of the programmer are vague, but before they can be adequately
clarified, "Ghost in the Shell" is busy distracting its viewers
with state of the art animation and a magnetic credit sequence.
The specifics of "Ghost in the Shell’s" complex plot are
difficult to ascertain. The dubbed dialogue is spoken too quickly,
and important details are easily missed. It seems the Puppet Master
has begun "ghost hacking" humans  that is, invading their
minds and implanting false memories to create unwitting pawns. The
results of ghost hacking are a permanent, partial erasure of a
person’s memory and an alteration of their essential self, their
soul or "ghost."
Loss of humanity through technology is a major theme of
cyberpunk, and "Ghost" uses the Puppet Master scenario as a
springboard to explore this issue. Kusanagi is consumed by haunting
questions: Is she really human, or is her robotized body an
intricately programmed "shell?" If a cyborg’s memories can be
transferred from one body to another, can it die? And if memories
can be hacked, what happens to one’s soul? Not satisfied with
merely being an action-adventure, "Ghost" is tackling some heady
concepts. Unfortunately, these issues are raised, then glossed over
in lengthy monologues that lack depth. The speedy, often flat
delivery of the voice-over actors only makes things worse.
When the Puppet Master is captured occupying an entirely
synthetic body, Kusanagi is presented with an opportunity to find
some answers. An examination of the body, or shell, reveals the
Puppet Master is an artificial intelligence that has generated his
own ghost. When the Puppet Master is unexpectedly abducted before
his mind can be examined, Kusanagi embarks upon a retrieval mission
that will irrevocably alter her very being.
"Ghost’s" moody atmospherics and electrifying action sequences
rival the most sophisticated live-action fare. Dazzling to behold,
the film combines electric colors with computer generated textures,
effects and photo-realistic backgrounds to produce a rich texture
grounded in realism. Unfortunately, the most visually spectacular
scenes  the chases, explosions and gunplay  are
surprisingly scarce as "Ghost" devotes too much time to its
surface-level exploration of existentialism.
With a budget in the neighborhood of $10 million, "Ghost"
surpasses 1989’s ground-breaking "Akira," also a manga-based
cyberpunk thriller from the same producers, as the most expensive
anime of all time. But while "Ghost" might have surpassed "Akira"
on a financial level, it does not measure up critically. "Ghost"
would benefit from a little more excitement and a lot less
talk.
Just when the intricacies of "Ghost’s" confusing plot have been
explained, the movie is over. While it may have been difficult to
adapt a series of comics into a single feature, the story feels
abruptly interrupted, not concluded, when the final credits roll
after a too-brief 83 minutes.
Despite these flaws, however, "Ghost" is still an absorbing work
of considerable sophistication which reveals the limitless
possibilities of animation as a medium for mature audiences.
FILM: "Ghost in the Shell" Written by Kazunori Ito and directed
by Masamune Shirow. Based on the manga by Masamune Shirow. Playing
nightly at the NuArt Theatre through April 30. Grade: B