I am writing this review as someone who hasn't seen the original anime. I have also been very critical of the whitewashing of this film. With that I aside, I went to see it with willingness to give it the benefit of the doubt. "Ghost in the Shell" is well...a beautiful shell.

The visuals were absolutely breath taking. The action scenes flowed so beautifully with special effects. But that's all the movie had to offer. Take away the spectacles and you have a basic run-of-the-mill action movie.

The acting was fine. But honestly, the leads didn't have anything to actually sink their teeth into. Scarjo, and everyone else, was serviceable.

If you're looking for some mindless, yet stunning entertainment, then go see it.

I've watched Ghost in the Shell at the cinema 3 days ago, knowing

beforehand about the controversies that have surrounded this movie for

the last 6 months or so. Science fiction movies are probably my

favorite genre and I also enjoyed most of Scarlett's movies for the

past 8-9 years so those two factors were a plus for me going in.

Regarding the whitewashing business, I think its been blown way, WAY

out of proportion by social justice warriors with nothing better to do

than drag media attention over whatever they're feeling insecure about

this month/year. For those of you who might be on the fence about

watching a Caucasian actress in the role that (supposedly) should've

been reserved to an Asian actress, please consider this a NON-MATTER

and watch it anyway. The character she is portraying is SUPPOSED to

look Caucasian/white. It was the same in the source material and even

the creator of that anime said so in interviews.

Now, is the movie any good? In my opinion, yes. Yes it was. It wasn't

amazing but at the very least entertaining. There is a good amount of

people who score this a 1/10 because they are butt hurt that the story

was changed a lot. Please ignore them and see for yourself even if

you're a fan of the anime and are able to keep an open mind. I think

maybe I was able to judge it more objectively because I had zero

knowledge about the story in the anime going in, but, if nothing else,

the movie actually made me want to watch those old ones to compare.

The acting - 7.5/10 - Since Scarlett Johansson is the only big name

that the movie is being marketed alongside, I'd say she did a good job.

At no point in the movie could I say she didn't belong there. She

played the part of cyborg who had difficulty belonging in a human world

very well. The cast is diverse enough in my opinion, though some of

them get pretty little screen time.

The visuals - 9/10 - If there is one point most critics/viewers are in

alignment concerning this movie, that point is definitely the visuals.

The movie both looks and feels spectacular, with the futuristic city

looking like a close-future mix of Blade Runner and TRON. The

combination of CGI and practical effects looks organic, the movie's

powerful themes of excessive self-augmentation and technology almost

running amok represented very well visually.

Soundtrack - 8/10 - Sometimes pretty subdued, sometimes

almost-but-not-quite in your face, I found the soundtrack to vary

between decent and very good in some moments. It didn't MAKE the movie

but it enhanced a good deal in my opinion.

Story - 7/10 - Here is where the good points of the movie kinda start

to run dry. A lot of other people would probably rate it a lot lower,

with 5 or 4's if they're at least trying to be objective. Yes, the

story is fairly predictable, and the fact that the movie is only around

100 minutes long doesn't do it any favors either. Here is probably

where most of the legitimate hate towards this movie stems from. The

creators adapted a story that had a lot more depth and philosophical

insight and turned it into a somewhat generic cyborg coming of age

story mixed with an evil corporation doing questionable things. The

villain is also very cookie-cutter and has almost zero depth. HOWEVER,

I do think that concerning this film's particular themes and narrative,

a weak villain doesn't hurt it so much since its more about

losing/gaining your humanity through technology than any bad guy trying

to shoot you.

Writing/Dialogue - 6/10 - By far the movie's weakest aspect. In fact, I

believe if some more meaningful dialogue and character interactions

were written into this film, it could've easily been 1 or 2 points

higher on anyone's scoring system. As it is, the dialogue is shallow

and fairly run-of-the-mill for about half the movie's length. Some bits

of good interactions are sprinkled here and there, and thankfully

that's enough to preserve the soul of the movie's central theme of

human souls surviving in machine bodies, BUT not enough to give Ghost

in the Shell the depth it should've inherited from the source material.

Overall - I gave this movie 3.5/5 stars here, mostly because I

couldn't give it a 7.5/10 which felt more appropriate to me. My advice

would be to not listen to the whitewashing nonsense, because that's

exactly what it is, nonsense. Also don't listen to the haters who rate

this movie a 1/10 or call it shit because those people should not be

reviewing anything to begin with. It is a decent movie, with great

visuals and a theme that might get you thinking for a couple of days

after seeing it. The acting is decent, with an above average

performance from Scarlett and a good soundtrack that might hit the

right spot on occasion. The only bad aspects, like I mentioned, are the

film's rather short running time and weak dialogue/writing which hold

it back from being truly great.