Review of Ghost in the Shell

Languid pacing and sinuous premise notwithstanding, "Ghost in the Shell" succeeds brilliantly as both an anime and a standalone, exhilarating mix of sleek yet gritty, hard-edged visuals, cyberpunk imagery and propulsive, action-packed thrills. Wholly undiluted and cerebral in its gambit, scope and execution, the film's cross-genre dexterity, majestic character designs, methodically detailed settings, colouring and CG serve to implement and sustain mesmeric inscrutability in spite of its relatively concise run time and unusually literary dialogue. It may even be too mind-expanding, philosophically expository and opaque for nascent fans of the medium, but the film will indeed strike a chord with those directly affected by its subject matter, i.e. body dysphoria, displacement and identity crisis. With its dream-like quality, dazzling futuristic cityscapes and themes of transhumanism, metaphysics and socioeconomic international marketplace, "Ghost in the Shell" offers the uninitiated a complex work of speculative fiction of such universality, depth and substance, it needs to be reflected on, digested and reappraised in order for its immersive, singular world, as well as its wealth of themes, intricacies and nuances, to be fully comprehended and inseminated. Superb, highly atmospheric and emotionally augmented by a soaring soundtrack and character study, the film rarely falters; it remains a remarkable entry into the Japanese animation canon so pregnant with roboticized culture and metaphysical theory that it demands to be viewed more than once.