The original "Ghost in the Shell" is one of the classics of the initial Anime Boom of the late 80s/early 90s. It takes cyberpunk staples like the fractured relationship between man and machine and the accompanying identity crises that loom when the body you live in may not be the person you really are. In all honesty, I'm not the biggest fan of the original - it looks great and has a striking soundtrack, but the script delves into a lot of abstract philosophising that I frankly don't find particularly compelling.
This remake has gathered controversy because of the non-asian casting of the lead role (although it should be noted that there are two chinese companies involved in this one (Shanghai Film Group Corporation and Huahua media), and Takeshi Kitano as the lead character's mentor speaks purely Japanese all the way through the film). But alas a lot of it is splashy-looking boredom - there's a lot of impressive design work, but the general plot, about an android policewoman who may be being lied to about her true identity, doesn't really compel. Rupert Sanders didn't exactly inspire a great deal of confidence in his ability to tell a story rather than just deliver pretty pictures with his previous film, "Snow WHite and the Huntsman", and this has identical flaws. So not recommended.
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