Ghost in the shell is not a new concept just more modern because the cyborgs are suppose to be better, stronger and faster. The film is futuristic and focuses on artificial intelligence becoming dominant in the struggle against terror attacks and crime. Of course big corporations are running the show and corruption has it’s usual place in society. Hanka Robotics is the leading developer of augmentative technology and is involved in a secret project to develop a mechanical body they call a shell that will allow the integration of a human brain instead of an AI.
Hanka Robotics’ CEO, Cutter’s (Peter Ferdinando) test subject, Mira Killian/Motoko Kusanagi (Scarlett Johansson), was a young female survivor of a cyber-terrorist attack whose body was damaged beyond repair. By loading artificial memories into her memory cells, Mira was made to believe that she was saved from a car crash. Many young candidates were chosen to become a cyborg but there are rigorous test they would have to past in order to be the best. Also their bodies would have to withstand all sorts of injections and future repairs, so most didn’t make it. Mira Killian became the Counter Terrorism Operative and a year later achieves the rank of Major working with Operatives, Batou (Pilou Asbæk) and Togusa (Chin Han) under Chief Daisuke Aramaki (Takeshi Kitano). The team is very successful but Killian starts to experience hallucinations regarding her past but her designer, Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche), dismisses them as glitches. However, Killian becomes increasingly bothered by how little she remembers about her past.
Eventually Killian and her trusted partner, Batou encounter Hideo Kuze (Michael Pitt) as a result of a geisha, a hacker, murder and a lot of excitement and adventure. Dr. Ouelet admits there were 98 test subjects before Killian but she was the only one to survive the process and that her memories are fake implanted ones. There are lots of secrets to be revealed and lots more to this story. If you want answers, check out Ghost in the Shell. It’s not the best futuristic movie I’ve seen but it’s fun and worth the time to see Scarlett Johansson in that very sexy “shell” of an outfit. Also the special effects are fantastic!
Criminal really fell way under the radar. I was so impressed with Kevin Costner’s performance as Jericho Stewart, a criminal with no morals. This is Costner as I have never seen him before. Even his voice changed. If you didn’t know it before, you will know now if you see Criminal, Kevin can act his tuchis off! Criminal is about an anarchist, Xavier Heimbahl (Jordi Mollà) who instructs his associate, who is also a hacker known as “The Dutchman” (Jan Stroop) to create a wormhole program that would allow it’s owner access to the world’s nuclear defense codes by bypassing all computer codes via this wormhole. After following Xavier’s orders, the Dutchman panics and attempts to make a deal for $12M with Bill Pope (Kevin Reynolds) a London based CIA agent who secures the money and hides the Dutchman in an undisclosed safe house. Xavier catches Bill, tortures him and leaves him for dead without finding where the money or the Dutchman is being held. In the meanwhile, Bill’s supervisor, CIA Chief Quaker Wells (Gary Oldman) is desperate to find the money and the Dutchman before the Russian, Xavier Heimbahl does. Quaker consults Neuroscientist Dr. Mahal Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) who has developed a treatment that could theoretically plant the memory patterns of a dead man onto a living one. Keeping Pope’s brain stimulated to preserve its knowledge, Dr. Franks requests that convict Jericho Stewart be the subject of the procedure, as Stewart’s criminal behavior is the result of childhood brain trauma, leaving him with an underdeveloped frontal lobe, hindering his emotional development and impulse control, that they can use to ‘graft’ Pope’s knowledge into Stewart’s mind.
This is the kind of off beat movie you don’t expect too much out of. Surprise, it was great. A paparazzi named Les played by the great Steve Buscemi, along with the rest of the paparazzi will do anything for a money shot. A very handsome, homeless, wanna be actor named Toby, played by Michael Pitt, ends up working for Les in exchange for a spot on his couch to sleep. They fast become good friends. While trying to get a money shot of the ever popular K’Harma Leeds, played by Alison Lohman, Toby and K connect. Toby must now decide where his loyalities lie. As Toby and K start hanging out, they grow closer and closer. K drops any other boyfriends and focuses solely on Toby. As Toby gets discovered, he becomes sort after but always in love with K. It’s interesting to see how this movie unfolds. I still don’t like the ethics of the paparazzi any better but I really enjoyed this movie as it kept the element of surprise forever present throughout the movie.
CAROL's WORLDS 