History YMMV / GhostInTheShell2017

** Even inside the franchise's fandom, there is consensus in that movie's basic premise was not the best for an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' of all they could have chosen. Before 2017, Motoko Kusanagi's human origin had never been a big deal in any continuity (or at least not in the way it is connected to this film's main plot), so the decision to make the film an origin story for her, probably inspired by the success of recent superhero cinema, was condemned to feel unfamiliar and forced even in the best case scenario. It didn't help that the arc of Hideo Kuze is a relatively obscure one, unlike more famous plots like the [[Manga/GhostInTheShell Puppetmaster]], the [[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Laughing Man]] or [[Anime/GhostInTheShell Locus Solus]], and neither it did the inclusion of Hanka, which is literally a villain-of-the-week in the manga. While the resultant mishmash of canonical elements and additional homages (which included giving Kuze symbolic elements of the villains above) could still be appreciated in a nostalgic light, it is difficult to overlook that this film's skeleton was cobbled together out of ''Ghost in the Shell'''s least interesting pieces.

** The 1995 film was regarded as a classic and one of the greatest anime films of all time in the West, but in Japan, it's considered a slow, boring artsy film and a MainstreamObscurity. Then the tables turned when the 2017 film received mixed reviews in the West while in Japan was considered an enjoyable action film.

** The film became this due to the {{race lift}}s of several characters from Asian to other races. Paramount executive Kyle Davies [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paramount-admits-ghost-in-the-shell-did-poorly-because-casting_us_58e486cbe4b0d0b7e1660b61 even conceded]] that the whitewashing controversy likely hurt the film at the box office. It was even brought up in the 2019 Golden Globe Awards where the hostess Creator/SandraOh joked about the film, together with ''Film/{{Aloha}}'', for casting white actresses as Asian leads.

** A directorial example. The film being directed by Ruper Sanders angered and worried many people, given that he was basically a rookie director whose only previous title was ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' of all things, making it easy to thing he wasn't simply the right person to manage an already delicate product (given that anime adaptations tend not to do very well in general).

** Even inside the franchise's fandom, there is consensus in that movie's basic premise was not the best for an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' of all they could have chosen. Before 2017, Motoko Kusanagi's human origin had never been a big deal in any continuity (or at least not in the way it is connected to this film's main plot), so the decision to make the film an origin story for her, probably inspired by the success of recent superhero cinema, was condemned to feel unfamiliar and forced even in the best case scenario. It didn't help that the arc of Hideo Kuze is a relatively obscure one, unlike more famous plots like the [[Manga/GhostInTheShell Puppetmaster]], the [[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Laughing Man]] or [[Anime/GhostInTheShell Locus Solus]], and neither it did the inclusion of Hanka, which is literally a villain-of-the-week in the manga. While the resultant mishmash of canonical elements and additional homages could still be appreciated in a nostalgic light, it is impossible to overlook that this film was effectively cobbled together from ''Ghost in the Shell'''s least interesting pieces.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. It's an expensive adaptation of a beloved anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S., but otherwise isn't well known by many in both the U.S., the Anglo-sphere and some other western countries, including modern day anime fans. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis is already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' which is Creator/TheWachowskis's love letter to the 1995 film. Additionally, the fact that the Major is TheStoic also made it difficult to get audiences invested in the trailers since there was no emotional tether. The filmmakers were also accused of taking far too many creative liberties with the license than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, who argued (justifiedly or not, as explained in Hypocritical Fandom below) that the result missed the point of the original animated film and series. Finally, the ensuing racial controversy meant that many entertainment journalists and geek bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to cover the movie and help promote it, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, there are people who wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all.

** Kuze's name is dealt with inexplicable gravitas, like it was a some sort of meaningful, menacing title, like [[Manga/GhostInTheShell the Puppetmaster]] or [[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex the Laughing Man]]. The chances are that it was one of these two in earlier drafts, and the script never ended up changing how it was presented.

** It is evident that the film retains the manga's original setting in Japan, as the President is referred as "Prime Minister", traffic is left-handed, and there are Japanese cultural elements left and right. However, both the film and its promotional materials are bizarrely shy about this and ''never'' mention explicitly where is it supposed to take place. This makes it look like the producers couldn't decide about a possible ThinlyVeiledDubCountryChange and just opted to write around it, which only makes it much more awkward.

** Casting the 47-year old Chin Han to play Togusa, who in all the previous versions of the franchise has been the rookie of the team or stated to be 27 years old, raised a fair bit of confusion. It only gets muffled because Han gave a good visual impression of Togusa.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. It's an expensive adaptation of a beloved anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S., but otherwise isn't well known by many in both the U.S., the Anglo-sphere and some other western countries, including modern day anime fans. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis is already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' which is Creator/TheWachowskis's love letter to the 1995 film. Additionally, the fact that the Major is TheStoic also made it difficult to get audiences invested in the trailers since there was no emotional tether. The filmmakers were also accused of taking far too many creative liberties with the license than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, who argued (justifiedly or not, as explained in Hypocritical Fandom below) that the result missed the point of the original animated film and series. Finally, the ensuing racial controversy meant that many entertainment journalists and geek bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to cover the movie and help promote it, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, there are people who wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all the way it is.

* ClicheStorm: An inevitable one, given that the film is an adaptation of a manga from TheEighties, back when the whole CyberPunk story with cyborg-human identity crisis and [[MegaCorp Mega Corps]] run by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive heartless businessmen]] had not been done left and right. Some of those clichés were popularized the manga itself.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: A crowded box office along with whitewashing controversy hurt the movie's domestic box office. International audiences were more accepting and the overseas income tripled the North American gross. [[https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2017/04/japanese-audiences-praise-ghost-in-the-shell-remake-and-are-happy-with-scarlett-johanssons-casting/ Japanese reception was more favorable as well]].
* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she was bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in the upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which will be also directed by Rupert Sanders. However, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/13/scarlett-johansson-rub-tug-exit-transgender-casting-backlash/ she backed out]], knowing being in another controversial role is detrimental to her career and to growing casting problem in Hollywood.

** Related, but the most common defense for Scarlett Johansson's casting was that she's a big enough star to bring in a mainstream audience, and creator Mamoru Oshii went so far as to say he couldn't think of a more perfect actress for the part. The film ended up being a box office flop in America in spite of Johansson's considerable fame, and her performance was panned in a number of reviews.
** The 1995 film was regarded as a classic and one of the greatest anime films of all time in the West but in Japan, it's considered a slow and artsy film and a MainstreamObscurity. Then, the tables had turned when the 2017 film received mixed reviews in the West while in Japan, they considered it as an enjoyable action film.
* HypocriticalFandom: The film gets constantly compared with the Mamoru Oshii anime movies in terms of how an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' should be played, with most detractors labelling the 2017 film as unfaithful and disrespectful to the manga and quoting the anime movie as the quintessential of the saga. However, this happens to be a very heavy case of PopCulturalOsmosis, because the Oshii films are just as divergent from the original idea as the live action film, if not actually even ''more''. The 1995 movie started the trend of portraying the Major as a depressive philosopher instead of the provocative hustler she was in the manga, Batou as a somber straight man in the place of the boisterous snarker he was created to be, and the series's medium as a place for psychological musings instead of stylized action as Masamune conceived it. Considering that the 2017 film brings out a bit of the Major's lively side again, gives Batou a less introspective nature and focuses on action first and existential questions later, it could be said that it is a more faithful adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' than the Oshii movies.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. It's an expensive adaptation of a beloved anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S., but otherwise isn't well known by many in the west, including modern day anime fans. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis is already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' which is Creator/TheWachowskis's love letter to the 1995 film. Additionally, the fact that the Major is TheStoic also made it difficult to get audiences invested in the trailers since there was no emotional tether. The filmmakers were also accused of taking far too many creative liberties with the license than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, who argued (justifiedly or not, as explained in Hypocritical Fandom below) that the result missed the point of the original animated film and series. Finally, the ensuing racial controversy meant that many entertainment journalists and geek bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to cover the movie and help promote it, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, there are people who wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all the way it is.

* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she was bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in the upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which will be also directed by Rupert Sanders. However, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/13/scarlett-johansson-rub-tug-exit-transgender-casting-backlash/ she backed out]], knowing being in another controversial role is detrimental to her career and growing casting problem in Hollywood.

** The film became this due to the {{race lift}}s of several characters from Asian to other races. Paramount executive Kyle Davies [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paramount-admits-ghost-in-the-shell-did-poorly-because-casting_us_58e486cbe4b0d0b7e1660b61 even conceded]] that the whitewashing controversy likely hurt the film at the box office.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. It's an expensive adaptation of a beloved anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S., but otherwise isn't well known by many Americans, including many modern day anime fans. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis is already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' which is Creator/TheWachowskis's love letter to the 1995 film. Additionally, the fact that the Major is TheStoic also made it difficult to get audiences invested in the trailers since there was no emotional tether. The filmmakers were also accused of taking far too many creative liberties with the license than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, who argued that the result missed the point of the original animated film and series. Finally, the ensuing racial controversy meant that many entertainment journalists and geek bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to cover the movie and help promote it, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, there are people who wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all the way it is.
* AuthorsSavingThrow: After months of controversy over the film's casting, Creator/TakeshiKitano was hired to play Aramaki. They followed this up by casting a number of other Japanese actors, like Rila Fukushima.
** YMMV on Rila Fukushima's casting, since after the film was released, it was revealed she wasn't actually playing a character in the film, but instead served as the facial model for the robo geishas that Major battles in one scene.

** The casting of Creator/ScarlettJohansson as the Major earned a lot of accusations on whitewashing while others don't mind it as long as the story and direction is good. Another camp argues that while it's a bit of a wasted opportunity, the Major's body is artificial anyways.

* ClicheStorm: The whole cyborg-human identity crisis with CyberPunk elements and [[MegaCorp Mega Corps]] run by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive heartless businessmen]] has been done before and the film doesn't try hard enough to distinguish itself from the source material in spite of that. However, all of that doesn't stop it from being a well-made and well structured movie.

* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she was bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in the upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which will be also directed by Rupert Sanders. However, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/13/scarlett-johansson-rub-tug-exit-transgender-casting-backlash/ she backed out]] knowing being in another controversial role is detrimental to her career and growing casting problem in Hollywood.

** Many fans defended the movie's whitewashing by say Major was a cyborg and her race could be anything and there was nothing that said she wasn't originally born Japanese. [[spoiler: Turns out that's exactly what happened as she was originally a Japanese run away, who was kidnapped and illegally experimented on.]] Additionally, [[spoiler:the film becoming a BoxOfficeBomb led to a lot of relief from the same people that a Japanese actress wouldn't be forced to take the blame for it]].

* HypocriticalFandom: The movie gets constantly compared with the Mamoru Oshii anime films in terms of how an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' should be played, with most detractors labelling the 2017 film as unfaithful and disrespectful to the manga and quoting the anime films as the quintessential of the saga. However, this happens to be a very heavy case of PopCulturalOsmosis, because the Oshii films are just as divergent from the original idea as the live action film, if not actually ''more''. The 1995 film started the trend of portraying the Major as a depressive philosopher instead of the provocative hustler she was in the manga, Batou as a somber straight man instead of the boisterous snarker he was created to be, and the series's medium as a place for psychological musings instead of stylized action as Masamune conceived it. In comparison, the 2017 film brings out the Major's emotional side again, gives Batou a less introspective nature and focuses on action first and existential questions later.
* InternetBackdraft: Due to Hollywood's [[Film/FistOfTheNorthStar ill]] [[Film/DragonballEvolution reputation]] on adapting anime and manga into the big screen as well as its history of whitewashing, people remain skeptical about the film, most especially the casting of the white Creator/ScarlettJohansson. Several people such as [[https://twitter.com/jontsuei/status/720803388355530753 Jon Tsuei]] and [[https://twitter.com/MingNa/status/720629012180123648 Ming-Na Wen]] were very critical about the casting while others such as [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/doc-strange-whitewashing-shell-884385 Hollywood Reporter]] pointed the reasons behind the casting. Despite the plot twist [[spoiler:regarding the Major being Japanese all along]], [[http://variety.com/2017/film/news/scarlett-johansson-ghost-in-the-shell-whitewashing-1202020230/ there's still some people accusing the movie of whitewashing]] considering that the movie didn't bother [[spoiler:to show the real faces of Motoko and Hideo in the flashbacks, or - even weirder - to give Motoko a gravestone inscription written in Japanese]].

** The sheer amount of times that the film crams some variation of "[[TitleDrop Ghost in the Shell]]" into the conversation.

*** They also mention another case of ValuesDissonance with Motoko's mother hugging her daughter at the grave, something awkward from a cultural point of view, along with other misplaced cultural attitudes.

* AwesomeMusic:

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: While the ultimate reaction to the film was mixed, just about every critic and fan seems to be in agreement that the special effects, production design and cinematography were nothing short of breathtaking, and managed to capture the CyberPunk aesthetic and tone of the original manga and anime down to a T.

* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she is bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in her upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which will be also directed by Rupert Sanders. However, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/13/scarlett-johansson-rub-tug-exit-transgender-casting-backlash/ she backs out]] knowing being in another controversial role is detrimental to her career and growing casting problem in Hollywood.

* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she is bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in her upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which will be also directed by Rupert Sanders.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general critical consensus of the film, despite a few positive and negative outliers. While many agreed that the technical aspect and the action are the highlights of the movie, the story itself is simplified and dumbed-down for the sake of newcomers of the franchise which many agreed that it is the weakest aspect of the movie. However, even the harshest critics agreed that the movie itself is not nearly as bad as other Hollywood film adaptations of anime like ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' or ''Film/AstroBoy''.

* AwardSnub: The movie didn't get any Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects and Best Make-up and Hairdressing. It doesn't help that it's competing against another cyberpunk film, ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', which earned five Oscar nominations and won two.

* AwardSnub: The movie didn't get any Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects and Best Make-up and Hairdressing. It doesn't help that it's competing against another cyberpunk film, ''Film/BladeRunner2049'', which earned five Oscar nominations.

* UnfortunateImplications: [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/ghost-shell-4-japanese-actresses-dissect-movie-whitewashing-twist-990956 In a roundtable discussion]] hosted by ''The Hollywood Reporter'', it was argued that while TheReveal about the Major's past was probably meant to justify the casting and defuse the racial issue, it opened up ''another'' can of worms [[spoiler: by virtue of having Asian characters be "upgraded" into perfect white bodies]]. [[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-ghost-in-the-shell-hollywood-whitewashing-justin-chang-jen-yamato-20170406-story.html This charge]] has been echoed in other pieces on the film as well. Then again, given that the project's leader was a (white) villain, it could be argued that Unfortunate Implications may have been intended.

* OvershadowedByControversy: The film became this due to the {{race lift}}s of several characters from Asian to other races. Paramount executive Kyle Davies [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/paramount-admits-ghost-in-the-shell-did-poorly-because-casting_us_58e486cbe4b0d0b7e1660b61 even conceded]] that the whitewashing controversy likely hurt the film at the box office.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general critical consensus of the film, despite a [[LoveItOrHateIt few positive and negative outliers]]. While many agreed that the technical aspect and the action are the highlights of the movie, the story itself is simplified and dumbed-down for the sake of newcomers of the franchise which many agreed that it is the weakest aspect of the movie. However, even the harshest critics agreed that the movie itself is not nearly as bad as other Hollywood film adaptations of anime like ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' or ''Film/AstroBoy''.

* CriticalDissonance: Professional critics gave it a 44% with an average rating of 5.5 on Website/RottenTomatoes, compared to the slightly more positive 6.5 on Internet Movie Database. The affair is interestingly addressed in the latter page, as a surprising number of reviews spoke of the film as over-criticized or underrated in some way.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler:The reveal that that the Major really was a Japanese person named Motoko Kusanagi]] offers up a gift-wrapped opportunity to directly address the RaceLift issues that plagued the film ever since the casting was announced, but any feelings she might have about literally being an Asian character turned into a white one are unaddressed.

** Casting the 47-year old Chin Han to play Togusa, who in all the previous versions of the franchise has been the rookie of the team or stated to be 27 years old, raised a fair bit of confusion.

* CriticalDissonance: Professional critics gave it a 46% in Website/RottenTomatoes, compared to the slightly more positive 6.5 in Internet Movie Database. The affair is interestingly addressed in the latter page, as a surprising number of reviews spoke of the film as over-criticized or underrated in some way.

* CriticalDissonance: Professional critics gave it a 46% in Website/RottenTomatoes, compared to the more positive 6.8 in Internet Movie Database. The affair is interestingly addressed in the latter page, as a surprising number of reviews spoke of the film as over-criticized or underrated in some way.

* HypocriticalFandom: The movie gets constantly compared with the Mamoru Oshii anime films in terms of how an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' should be played, with most detractors labelling the 2017 film as unfaithful and disrespectful to the manga and quoting the anime films as the quintaessential of the saga. However, this happens to be a very heavy case of PopCulturalOsmosis, because the Oshii films are just as divergent from the original idea as the live action film, if not actually ''more''. The 1995 film started the trend of portraying the Major as a depressive philosopher instead of the provocative hustler she was in the manga, Batou as a somber straight man instead of the boisterous snarker he was created to be, and the series's medium as a place for psychological musings instead of stylized action as Masamune conceived it. In comparison, the 2017 film brings out the Major's emotional side again, gives Batou a less introspective nature and focuses on action first and existential questions later.

* HypocriticalFandom: The movie gets constantly compared with the Mamoru Oshii anime films in terms of how an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' should be played, with most detractors labelling the 2017 film as unfaithful and disrespectful to the manga and quoting the anime films as the quintaessentia of the saga. However, this happens to be a very heavy case of PopCulturalOsmosis, because the Oshii films are just as divergent from the original idea as the live action film, if not actually ''more''. The 1995 film started the trend of portraying the Major as a depressive philosopher instead of the provocative hustler she was in the manga, Batou as a somber straight man instead of the boisterous snarker he was created to be, and the series's medium as a place for psychological musings instead of stylized action as Masamune conceived it. In comparison, the 2017 film brings out the Major's emotional side again, gives Batou a less introspective nature and focuses on action first and existential questions later.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. It's an expensive adaptation of a beloved anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S., but otherwise isn't well known by many Americans, including many modern day anime fans. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis is already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' which is Creator/TheWachowskis's love letter to the 1995 film. Additionally, the fact that the Major is TheStoic also made it difficult to get audiences invested in the trailers since there was no emotional tether. The filmmakers also took far too many creative liberties with the license than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, and the film arguably completely missed the point of the original animated film and series, further alienating fans. Finally, the ensuing racial controversy meant that many entertainment journalists and geek bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to cover the movie and help promote it, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, there are people who wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all the way it is.