Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Greg D. Smith reports on the screening of footage from Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell, which comes out March 30.

Taken in on the ‘Impact’ Screen at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, this fifteen minute presentation included a brief intro by Scarlett Johansson (below), a brief look at the origin of Major, and an extended version of the impressive action sequence from the recent trailer, rounding off with a few minutes of another trailer type sequence.

I’m not a huge fan of 3D, but this has been done well, and the picture really pops, though there is still the slight issue I always have of blurring around the edges of the frame. The attention to detail in the recreation of New Port City is stunning, reminiscent of both the original source material with a passing nod to Blade Runner’s giant holographic billboards.

The whole of the aesthetic is instantly recognisable to anyone who has seen the 1995 anime, and this, combined with certain segments seen in the trailer at the end, suggests that this will cleave quite closely to, but not perfectly mirror, the original.

The action we got to see was cleanly shot, with no shaky cam or constant jump cutting so beloved of modern action directors. Johansson herself is an oddly unsettling presence, her appearance at once aesthetically beautiful and slightly inhuman. It’s a good visual shorthand of the conflict the central protagonist is meant to feel, never quite wholly human or entirely machine, and it bodes well for the full movie.

The trailer at the end showed a few snippets that haven’t yet been seen in trailers, and much that has. Our antagonist is obviously changed from the original, but much of the rest is familiar – whether this proves to be a good thing or not remains to be seen.

Verdict: An intriguing taste of what promises to be a lusciously shot, faithfully recreated version of a well-loved classic. We know that Johansson has the action chops – let’s hope that the studio has given her the vehicle to do justice to them.