Amph Ghost in the Shell

Actually got a chance to watch it a second time today and came away with a more positive opinion, I spose it took a second viewing to look past all of the reworked elements from the anime and view it more on its own terms. Still not without flaws(the villain still feels rather basic most obviously) but it held together more as a whole and I think

As I said I think the Matrix is a pretty standard heroes journey story complete with discovered knowledge, training with a master and romance. It doesn't ever really go into too much depth(really only Cypher) about the religious overtones it features for me. I don't think that's automatically a bad thing though and as I said I think the sequels failure was in part down to the Wachowski's and the cast not being able to pull off a more in-depth exploration of such themes, they'd probably have been better following the original more.

In terms of dramatic depth I'd say its a little above the Matrix, less of a standard heroes plot and I think benefits from a superior cast. Even on second viewing I'd say its not quite as well constructed and perhaps most importantly isn't nearly as original in setting nore visuals(although does have some nice touches and doesn't go "full Blade Runner")..

 

And 162 million worldwide So not a total bomb.

 

still a total bomb. That's not enough to cover production and marketing. They'll get some money back on video, but it's still a total bomb. Anything under 2x production is floppish.

 

I'm guessing it will probably get pretty close to 200 million by the time all the numbers come in although unless it does very well on home release(I strongly suspect the negative white washing critical reaction won't change) that's likely not enough to push hard for a sequel even if it might potentially cover costs.

Again though dispite the possibility of a sequel at the end I'm not sure theres a great deal of potential there to make a film in the same style, the more obvious origin drama has been covered and if they did anything I'd actually say scaling things back a bit and doing a sequel in the $50 millionish range with perhaps a bit less of a standard blockbuster plot might be a better option. A more low key Puppetmaster style story.

 

I have now seen it and I liked it. The visuals was greater than the story (but then again I could say the same for the ’95 movie and this time I could actually follow the story, unlike the ’95 movie). If you like cyberpunk or nice future settings I recommend it.

 

Has there been much word on the home release? I spose the first release is probably too soon(I'm guessing around July?) but it does somewhat seem like the kind of thing that might go with an extended cut to try and drum up some more interest and give the critics a chance to change there minds. It did feel like it might have chopped down a bit, especially when it comes to the supporting characters.

On second viewing I would agree Gamiel, I ended up coming away liking it a lot even if there are a few inherent limitation of being a big blockbuster. These days I just find it nice to watch something done well that's played straight as well rather than the tide of action metahumour.

 

Again I would say that sometimes dodgy box office can end up driving a directors cut, Ridley Scott stuff like Kingsdom of Heaven and Prometheus both got that treatment for example. You could argue that if you have something that's done well already theres less need to try hard to convince people to buy it on home release where as if its not done so well and had questionable critical reactions putting out a new version to get them to look again makes more sense.

I wouldn't be supprised by a 3D Bluray, I think your dealing with a bit of a sub market there anyway as people tend to want to buy the more eye catching stuff in that format.

 

Doing a quick search I am seeing 3D Bluerays listed for preorder although they do have "not final artwork" on them and not much in the way of details regarding extras so they might not be 100% confirmed. Really though I do think your talking about a film on another level to Resident Evil and Underworld in terms of intended market, even if it didn't light up the box office I suspect the ambition for home release will be pretty strong.

Speaking of extras as well I wonder whether we might actually see a decent amount of them? Weta do have a history of this kind of thing with there Tolkien films and this seemed like a production where they were really heavily committed and indeed did a lot of pratical work which obviously makes for better documentaries.

 

SAC 2045 is one of the worst things I've seen all year. Like, I struggle to decide whether it's worse than Arise but honestly, given the Stand Alone Complex association, I'd call it worse just on that basis alone.

 

May I ask why it is so bad?

 

A combination of a lot of different things. The art style and animation just being far worse than that of the first two seasons of Stand Alone Complex, the characters just being completely hollowed out and shallow versions of what they were before (Batou's kind of the worst example in this regard if you're familiar with episodes from the first season of Stand Alone Complex like Jungle Cruise), every single one of the new characters being really grating (especially Purin who's just really incongruous tonally even for how silly 2045 is already), etc.

I'll admit I feel pretty let-down since I liked a couple of the episodes and the themes they were trying to tackle but the execution on the whole was just not very good.