Blu-ray Review: Ghost In The Shell
2017 – Ghost In The Shell
Paramount Pictures 2017
PG13 | 1hrs 46 mins | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
HD | 1080P | Dolby Atmos
4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Atmos
2.40:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Scarlett Johnasson, Pilou Asbeak, Takeshi Kitano and Micheal Pitt
Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Ratings & Reviews
Please see here for my comments on reviewing movies.
My ratings are simple being marked out of a maximum of 5+. My reviews are biased towards the technical production aspects of the film with brief comments about the story line. Extras, sorry, that’s just not my ‘bag’.
Not having 4K or Immersive audio yet what did the 1080P24 version look like? excellent, and the sound? very engaging.
Entertainment: 4+
Video: 5-
Audio: 4+
Technical Review – HD Blu-ray
This film provides you with black levels that are noise free and deep, but its production is inherently dark, so contrast levels were a little restricted at times. However, it manages to provide plenty of high quality details of the costumes and facial images. Image clarity and sharpness are excellent but most scenes lack a bright colorful impact, whether it is the holographic signage or the wider city shots. Those images only appear in the brighter lit daytime and building interior shots. CGI integration is good with little obvious noise or distraction. Within the restrictions of the movies visual and stylistic limits I felt that the overall images, while a little dull at times, were well defined, had realistic flesh tones and showed few compression artifacts.
The Dolby Atmos track defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 in my system. However, it lacks little of what I have come to expect from a well mixed uncompressed film track from a modern movie of this genre. The surrounds were quite active and fairly aggressive, especially during gun shots and explosions, while at the same time carrying a full range of the more refined and gentle residual sound effects representing the various environments the film was shot in. The dialog was clean and clear at all times and stereo imaging was reasonably precise, and where appropriate the LFE 0.1 channel certainly kicked in for those explosions. So while the sound field and music was engaging it didn’t wow me quite as much as the imagery.
Story Overview
I really enjoyed the original Ghost In The Shell movie and this live action adaption of the original 1995 manga animation takes it a little further. The groundbreaking original Ghost in the Shell, directed by Mamoru Oshii and based on a manga series by Masamune Shirow, was, and still is in my opinion, outstanding. This original movie, quite revolutionary for the time, had its impact on several other movies including The Matrix.
So, did this remake improve on, what is in my opinion, one of the finest anime films ever made?
Yes. However, this Ghost in the Shell I felt required more concentration in order to follow the story, from characters dealing with deep philosophical questions about their personal identities, to reducing your soul to a series of electrical signals in your brain.
The Major, played by Scarlett Johansson, is the first successful combination of robotics and living tissue. Saved from a supposed terrible accident her brain is transplanted into a cybertronic body in order to become the first of it’s kind cyber-enhanced soldier – developed to control the criminal population. Her cyber enhanced form enables her to access the growing world of cyber terrorism. This growing threat to the world’s security is now being used to access and control the cyber enhanced body parts increasingly being used by the world’s population. Her journey leads her to discover that her new lease on life was not exactly what she thought it was. Realizing what has happened to her she strives to discover her past and stop the same terrible journey happening to others.
See my other Blu-ray reviews here. More coming soon.
