'Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie' Has Badass Action, a Riveting Mystery Story, and a Fascinating Sci-Fi World

The original 90’s Ghost in the Shell movie is an anime as well as a science fiction classic.  I liked it a lot.  But, to be honest, I didn’t quite love it.  I watched it for the first time around at the same time as Armitage III, which has some similarities, and for some reason, Armitage III appealed to me much more (that’s one reason why Naomi Armitage is in my list for top 10 androids but Ghost in the Shell’s Motoko Kusanagi isn’t).  It’s been a long time since I’ve last seen Ghost in the Shell, and it’s very possible that I missed something (might need to re-watch it for a re-appraisal).  But this is simply my feelings about the franchise coming into Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie: I liked the original movie, but I’m not really an invested fan.  That’s why aside from the original movie, I’ve never watched any other Ghost in the Shell anime – series or film – until this new movie.

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (kind of a dumb, weird title) is a continuation of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise series – which is a re-imagination of the original 90’s anime.  As already mentioned, I haven’t watched that series.  Thankfully, there’s no need to be familiar with Arise to enjoy and understand this movie, which follows Major Motoko Kusanagi and her Section 9 squad conducting an investigation of the assassination of the Japanese prime minister.

I was completely absorbed on it from start to finish.  It has great production value.  Its futuristic setting and technologies are very fascinating.  The plot is riveting and full of intrigue.  The characters are all interesting.  And, most notably, the action scenes are exhilaratingly badass.

Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie is not as groundbreaking as the classic 90’s anime movie, but at its own, it’s still pretty amazing.  And actually, I think I might have enjoyed it more than the original (but, again, I need to re-watch it to be really sure).