Based on the internationally-acclaimed sci-fi property, “Ghost in the Shell” follows the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic’s advancements in cyber technology.
In the future, human organs are enhanced by the cybernetics technology developed by the powerful Hanka Robotics Corporation owned by Cutter. Dr. Ouelet is the responsible for the development of the secret project 2571 of a full mechanical body to be connected to a human brain. She uses the brain of a young woman that lost her parents in a cyber attack as subject of a prototype.
One year later, the woman is ranked Major and has joined the Section 9, an anti-terrorist division commanded by Chief Saisuke Aramaki, working with agents Batou and Togusa. She needs to use a medicine to help the integration of her brain with the mechanical body and has no recollections of her previous life. When Section 9 hunts down the terrorist Kuze, Major learns secrets about Hanka and the experiment she was subjected. What will happen next?
Ghost in the Shell is a 2017 American science fiction action film directed by Rupert Sanders and written by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler, and Ehren Kruger, based on the Japanese manga of the same name by Masamune Shirow. It stars Scarlett Johansson, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt, Pilou Asbæk, Chin Han and Juliette Binoche. Set in a near future when the line between humans and robots is blurring, the plot follows the Major (Johansson), a cyborg supersoldier who investigates her past.
Ghost in the Shell grossed $40.5 million in the United States and Canada and $129.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $169.8 million, against a production budget of $110 million. In North America, Ghost in the Shell opened alongside The Boss Baby and The Zookeeper’s Wife, and was projected to gross around $25 million from 3,440 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.8 million from Thursday night previews and $7.7 million on Friday.
It opened to a less-than-expected $19 million, finishing third at the box office behind The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast. Deadline.com attributed the poor opening to below-average critical reviews, an unclear marketing campaign, and no social media presence by Johansson. In its second weekend the film grossed $7.4 million, dropping 60.4% and finishing 5th at the box office.
About the Story
In the near future, humans are augmented with cybernetic improvements to traits such as vision, strength, and intelligence. Augmentation developer Hanka Robotics establishes a secret project to develop an artificial body, or “shell”, that can integrate a human brain rather than an AI. Mira Killian, the sole survivor of a cyberterrorist attack which killed her parents, is chosen as the test subject after her body is damaged beyond repair. Over the objections of her designer, Dr. Ouelet, Hanka CEO Cutter decides to use Killian as a counter-terrorism operative.
A year later, Killian has attained the rank of Major in the anti-terrorist bureau Section 9, working alongside operatives Batou and Togusa under Chief Daisuke Aramaki. Killian, who experiences hallucinations that Ouelet dismisses as glitches, is troubled by how little she remembers of her past. The team thwarts a terrorist attack on a Hanka business conference, and Killian destroys a robotic geisha after it murders a hostage.
After learning that the geisha was hacked by an unknown entity known as Kuze, Killian breaks protocol and “dives” into its AI for answers. The entity attempts a counter-hack, and Batou is forced to disconnect her. They trace the hacker to a yakuza nightclub, where they are lured into a trap. The explosion destroys Batou’s eyes and damages Killian’s body. Cutter is enraged by Killian’s actions, and threatens to have Section 9 shut down unless Aramaki keeps her in line.
Kuze tracks down Section 9’s Hanka consultant, Dr. Dahlin, and kills her. The team links her murder to the deaths of other senior company researchers and realize that Ouelet is the next target. Kuze takes control of two sanitation workers and sends them to kill Ouelet. Batou, now with cybernetic eyes, kills one while the repaired Killian subdues the other.
While they interrogate the worker, Kuze speaks through him before compelling him to commit suicide. Togusa traces the hack to a secret location, where the team discovers a large number of humans mentally linked as a makeshift signal network. Killian is captured and Kuze reveals that he is a failed Hanka test subject from the same project that created Killian. He urges her to question her own memories, then frees her and escapes.
Killian confronts Ouelet, who admits that 98 test subjects died before Killian, and that her memories are implanted. Cutter has decided that Killian is a liability and orders Ouelet to kill her after she returns to Hanka Robotics. Instead, Ouelet gives Killian an address and helps her escape. Cutter kills Ouelet, but blames Killian, saying that she has gone rogue. He informs Aramaki and the team that Killian must be terminated.
Killian follows the address to an apartment occupied by a widowed mother, who reveals that her daughter, Motoko Kusanagi, ran away from home a year ago and was arrested. Motoko took her own life while in custody. Killian leaves and contacts Aramaki, who allows Cutter to remotely eavesdrop on their conversation. Batou, Togusa, and Aramaki eliminate Cutter’s men trying to ambush them, while Killian follows her memories to the hideaway where Motoko was last seen. There, she and Kuze meet and recall their past lives as anti-augmentation radicals who were abducted by Hanka as test subjects.
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Ghost in the Shell (2017)
Directed by: Rupert Sanders
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Michael Wincott, Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche, Rila Fukushima, Pilou Asbæk, Takeshi Kitano, Danusia Samal, Xavier Horan, Tawanda Manyimo, Anamaria Marinca
Screenplay by: Jonathan Herman, Jamie Moss
Production Design by: Jan Roelfs
Cinematography by: Jess Hall
Film Editing by: Neil Smith
Costume Design by: Kurt and Bart
Set Decoration by: Greg Cockerill, Craig Poll
Art Direction by: Matt Austin, Simon Bright
Music by: Clint Mansell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, suggestive content and some disturbing images.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: March 31, 2017
