Ghost in the Shell
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 31, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
52
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 42 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
26
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 28, 2017
There are moments which directly recreate Oshii’s best scenes, with real sets and actors performing a balletic kind of stunt-karaoke. But the story is far more graspable – more streamlined – and the gracenotes, action-free, tend to be the highlights. Read full review
80
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 28, 2017
Spectacularly honoring the spirit and aesthetic of Mamoru Oshii’s beloved animated adaptations without resorting wholly to slavish cosplay, this is smart, hard-lacquered entertainment that may just trump the original films for galloping storytelling momentum and sheer, coruscating visual excitement — even if a measure of their eerie, melancholic spirit hasn’t quite carried over to the immaculate new carapace. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineClayton DillardMar 31, 2017
The primary pleasure of the film resides in its awareness of the impossibilities of unity, whether physical or cultural, within a rapidly transforming global milieu. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyMar 30, 2017
It is in its designs, more so than in its generic corporate-conspiracy plot, that this new Ghost In The Shell finds tantalizing expressions of theme. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattMar 30, 2017
If there’s anything Sander’s ravishing set pieces fail to sufficiently color in, it’s the movie’s emotional stakes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleMar 30, 2017
Ghost in the Shell is like an amalgam of 2017 anxieties. Fear of technology. Fear of big business. Fear of being spied upon. Fear of the sacred disappearing, and of the crass, the loud and the empty crowding into every corner of existence — crowding out life itself. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 30, 2017
If you want a list of comics-derived spectacles less successful and worthy than this one, "Suicide Squad" heads the list. And that's the only list it'll ever head. Read full review
70
TimeStephanie ZacharekMar 30, 2017
The genius of Ghost in the Shell is that you don’t have to care about cyborg-anything to enjoy it. In fact, you’ll probably enjoy it more that way. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangMar 30, 2017
Your head might not be spinning as you exit the theater, but your senses will be deeply and thoroughly ravished. Read full review
67
IndieWireMike McCahillMar 28, 2017
Whatever philosophical nuggets were lurking amid Oshii’s tangled plotting, they surely merited closer consideration by a filmmaker who wasn’t just trading in gloss, and doesn’t merely regard human beings as elements of design. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 31, 2017
Ghost in the Shell is visually compelling but tone deaf. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 30, 2017
Just about every scene in Ghost in the Shell is a visual wonder to behold — and you’ll have ample to time to soak in all that background eye candy, because the plot machinations and the action in the foreground are largely of the ho-hum retread variety. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsEdward DouglasMar 30, 2017
While it offers some new ideas, the movie also suffers from the same pacing problems of the original. Read full review
60
Total FilmMatt MaytumMar 29, 2017
It’s the most staggeringly detailed and impressively realised sci-fi location since James Cameron welcomed audiences to Pandora, and one of the few recent blockbusters to benefit from the 3D treatment. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 29, 2017
It’s a spectacular movie, watchable in its way, but one which – quite apart from the “whitewashing” debate – sacrifices that aspect from the original which over 20 years has won it its hardcore of fans: the opaque cult mystery, which this film is determined to solve and to develop into a resolution, closed yet franchisable. Read full review
60
EmpireDan JolinMar 29, 2017
There is a frustrating absence of personality which means, for all her physical presence, this Major’s just not very engaging. It’s more a problem with the film than Johansson herself. A case, if you will, of it being so preoccupied with the shell, it forgot to bring enough ghost. Read full review
60
TheWrapBen CrollMar 28, 2017
Ghost in the Shall is a technical knockout, a here-and-now valentine to what design wizardry Hollywood can pull off in 2017. At the same time, it does so in service of a tired tale full of repurposed visual tricks, storytelling clichés and big-studio concessions. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneApr 3, 2017
It is this rage for authenticity, more than the leading lady, that transforms Ghost in the Shell into an American product. Here’s an irony: if anything preserves the unnerving quiddity and strangeness of the Japanese movie, it is Johansson. Read full review
50
Village VoiceBilge EbiriApr 3, 2017
Ghost in the Shell looks great, sounds great and has a gaping hole at its center — where its emotional core should be. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comAngelica Jade BastienMar 31, 2017
Full of dazzling images that suggest a rich, profound narrative the film is never able to achieve. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 31, 2017
It’s unfortunate, if predictable, that Hollywood found it necessary to almost entirely eliminate deep think in favor of deep action. As for Johansson, I have no big problem with cross-racial casting, but she’s so glum and seemingly uncomfortable here that you wonder if maybe she didn’t harbor the same misgivings as her detractors. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 31, 2017
Ghost in the Shell can’t escape its own ghosts, the movies, stories, characters and even settings of truly original work that predates it. For all its gory mayhem, it’s a movie as bloodless as it is sexless. Read full review
50
New York PostSara StewartMar 30, 2017
Like its synthetic heroine (Scarlett Johansson), the live-action Ghost in the Shell is a feast for the eyes. With its killer-robot geishas, Godzilla-size hologram ads and nearly nude fighting gear, it’s a cyberpunk wonderland — but there isn’t much ghost left in this smokin’ hot shell. Read full review
50
Boston GlobePeter KeoughMar 30, 2017
Or maybe Major, like Oedipus, is really searching for herself? Do people even have selves? Are identities and souls just a bunch of clichés spun out by teams of screenwriters? If these questions interest you, do yourself a favor and watch the 1995 original movie. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBarbara VanDenburghMar 30, 2017
Ghost in the Shell sidesteps questions of humanity and the effect of technology on the human spirit and opts instead for boilerplate sci-fi spectacle, eschewing existentialism for predictable plot and the glittery trappings of its 21st-century carapace Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesSoren AndersenMar 30, 2017
It’s somehow only fitting that with Scarlett Johansson in the lead role, Ghost in the Shell leaves you with the feeling that something has been lost in translation. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayMar 30, 2017
This version may not break new ground, but it revisits familiar territory with a vibrant sense of style and welcome restraint. It exemplifies the kind of respectable and utterly unnecessary remake that now defines the Hollywood business model. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallMar 30, 2017
Like the live action Beauty and the Beast, its best impressions come from imitating the source, lifting visuals and dialogue to deja vu effect. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezMar 30, 2017
Visually dazzling, but dispassionate and hollow, the film often looks impressive, with some incredible action sequences to boot, but otherwise keeps the viewer at a considerable distance. Read full review
50
Screen DailyLisa NesselsonMar 28, 2017
Even though there’s an enormous amount to look at and digest, little of this film is truly memorable or thought-provoking. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMar 28, 2017
If the "ghost" of anime classic Ghost in the Shell refers to the soul looming inside of its killer female cyborg, then this live-action reboot from director Rupert Sanders really only leaves us the shell: a heavily computer-generated enterprise with more body than brains, more visuals than ideas, as if the original movie’s hard drive had been wiped clean of all that was dark, poetic and mystifying. Read full review
45
The VergeKwame OpamMar 31, 2017
Maybe it’s instructive that Ghost in the Shell is a solid film made on a broken foundation. Maybe this is the movie that needed to be made so the backlash would help Hollywood question the kinds of cross-cultural adaptations it can make. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovApr 5, 2017
Certain touches resonate and remain memorable long after the film’s conclusion – I’m talking to you, creepy robo-geishas – but for all its CGI bells, whistles, and Johansson, this simply can’t compare to its (highly recommended) Japanese forebears. Read full review
40
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMar 30, 2017
The script shoehorns in more identity-grappling this time—half-baked and sub-Westworld though it is—and the squelchy synth score (by Black Swan’s Clint Mansell) supplies a playfulness that’s unearned by the visuals. Find a handy film geek to tell you all about how Ghost in the Shell was a massive influence on The Matrix. Better yet, just rewatch The Matrix. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisMar 30, 2017
[Mr. Sanders] likes a dark palette and is good with actors, but there’s little here that feels personal, and he mostly functions as a blockbuster traffic cop, managing all the busily moving, conspicuously pricey parts. Read full review
40
ScreenCrushE. Oliver WhitneyMar 30, 2017
The biggest problem is that Ghost in the Shell has nothing smart or interesting to say — it just thinks it does. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Emily YoshidaMar 30, 2017
The filmmakers think little of the emotional and intellectual connection fans already have with this property, and have put all their chips on the aesthetic. It’s exhausting to watch them curate what parts of the story’s Japanese origin are worth keeping and which can be discarded. Read full review
40
We Got This CoveredMatt DonatoMar 30, 2017
Ghost In The Shell is exactly the high-fi cyber shooter you feared it’d be, drenched in digital paranoia and concerns of network privacy. Visual fancies overload the senses early and often, only to hope the kaleidoscope artistry lingers long enough to overcompensate for back-end dullness. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMar 30, 2017
No matter how many nifty shots he inserts of Major’s hologram-ridden metropolis, the director cannot shake the impression he simply does not care about his creation. At least Johansson makes an effort. Read full review
38
USA TodayBrian TruittMar 30, 2017
Despite the beautiful eye-popping world it creates, the sci-fi film Ghost in the Shell is a defective mess with lifeless characters, missed chances for thematic exploration and a minefield of political incorrectness. Read full review
33
ConsequenceAllison ShoemakerMar 31, 2017
Ghost in the Shell is a visually arresting film, even occasionally an entertaining one, but profound it ain’t. That’s no crime, but dressed up as it is in the trappings of a much smarter film, its significant shortcomings stand out every bit as much as a pair of pert breasts on a supposedly utilitarian body. Read full review
33
The Film StageDaniel SchindelMar 30, 2017
This iteration of Ghost in the Shell remixes elements from the various comics, films, and TV series that have come before, but offers nothing new or interesting in doing so. Read full review
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