Ghost In The Shell: Arise The New Movie (Review)

Set in a futuristic Japan after the end of a brutal world war, science has advanced by leaps and bounds giving humanity the choice to prolong life and reduce suffering with the use of sophisticated cybernetics. With all of humanity linked into one system of minds and personalities known as ghost, the biggest threat to civilization is the cyber terrorists capable of hijacking people's bodies and memories. When a ghost-infecting virus known as Fire-Starter begins spreading through the system resulting in the assassination of the Japanese Prime Minister, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her elite team of special operatives are called in to track down its source. As they delve deeper and deeper into their investigation, they uncover traces of government corruption and a shadowy broker that bears an all too familiar face. When you target can be anywhere and look like anyone, the only choice you have is to trust your ghost, and hope you aren't infected too.

Ghost In The Shell Arise has been a hit or miss with the core audience of Ghost In The Shell fans. Some fans enjoy the new take of the beloved franchise and others well have been very vocal about it. Ghost In The Shell: Arise The New Movie is a solid entry into the series but it's not without it's problems. Watching the film I had the sense of they done a storyline like this before. The film constantly references the original movie which is nice to see since it's 20 years of Ghost In The Shell. However the plot is not as deep, philosophical and complex as you would expect from the series. This doesn't mean the film is bad or disappointing. It just means that the film was missing that one two punch you expect from the franchise. The villain Fire Starter is not as compelling or a huge threat as The Laughing Man or The Puppet Master. She has the same M.O. as those two villains but don't leave the same impact. While the story is lacking a little of the philosophical punch and complex villain. The film does well on establishing more of our main character Major Motoko Kusanagi. In this film Motoko backstory is fleshed out the most throughout the entire series. We see more of where she came from, more about the Ghost and her arc comes closer to the Major that we know.  My only real complaint is the side characters such as Batou and the rest of the ghost team are not explored character wise as the Major is. Overall if you're a fan the franchise it still has an enjoyable story and worthy of the Ghost In The Shell name. However it feels to reminiscence of previous entry with the same plot of a hacker controlling others for their own means.

Besides the story I will say that the voice acting and action remain stellar. Chris Sabat as Batou is always a pleasure to watch. Elizabeth Maxwell is great as Major Motoko Kusanagi and the action is just as good and worthy of any Ghost In The Shell. The music is not the best and felt pretty generic but it serves it's purpose. Overall if you're a fan of the series you will enjoy the action, homage to the original but would wish for a new bold take to the series.

Blu- Ray Special Features - The Blu-Ray features a look at the behind the scenes look at Ghost In The Shell: Arise. Also a look at the anniversary of Ghost In The Shell and how the series evolved. Each special feature is about 25 mins each which gives more insight on the show and the franchise. This was a really good watch to see how things were made, process and a look on how the new voice actor felt taking such an iconic role. 

Final Rating 3 and Half Stars