#718 – Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (2015)

Film review #717

Director: Kazuya Nomura

SYNOPSIS: After the Japanese prime minister is assassinated, Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team in Section 9 must unravel the conspiracy surrounding it.

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie is a 2015 film and a continuation of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise prequel series. Continuing the series, the film revolves around Major Motoko Kusanagi and her team trying to stop the mysterious “Fire Starter” after the Japanese Prime Minister is assassinated. The film works as a stand-alone production, so you don’t really need to see the 10-episode series, but it certainly would help on establishing some of the elements. If you’re familiar with the franchise, you’ll know what to expect with the story being a host of twists and turns and multi-layered conspiracies that is interspersed with plenty of action scenes to balance it out. It fits perfectly into the franchise, but still, the amount of plot and machinations of the various agencies at work can get confusing and difficult to follow if you’re not paying attention. What it does well, as the series does, is also fleshes out the minor characters of the team as well, providing a nice balance between them all.

The film wraps up the Arise series fairly nicely, and also goes straight into the iconic opening scene from the 1995 film (although the two are technically still different universes). I’m not one of the people that thinks every franchise needs prequels or spin-offs that explain every moment before, after, and during the events of it’s most iconic moments, and I think this applies here: it also is never going to be as iconic as the 1995 and will always pale in comparison. I wouldn’t say Arise (and this movie) is the optimal entry into the franchise even being a prequel, but a good addition to it. It’s never going to have the impact that the 1995 had, and doesn’t add anything really new to the franchise, but still packs a punch with plenty of things happening on screen and more of what you would want.