Mr. Movie review: Scarlett Johansson tries to save the world in ‘Ghost in the Shell’

Ghost in the Shell casts Scarlett Johansson as Major. She’s not really a she anymore. Her brain has been implanted into a very sophisticated machine.

The company and scientist that designed Major made her for fighting crime. She’s the top agent at Public Security Section 9. Someone and their minions are killing top scientists that work on similar projects. Major and her organization are charged with finding out who and why.

Already I’m bored.

A buffed up Johnansson has become moviedom’s latest action heroine. She’s done comic book flicks like Iron Man, The Avengers and Captain America, and the action-packed sci-fi thriller Lucy, and has — with this one — become almost believable in that role.

Almost.

Wearing a body suit to make her look like a robot and that provides her with clothing, makes her invisible and has all kinds of other unique uses, Johansson’s Major — in this film and the no-doubt sequels — is out to save the world.

But Major is also troubled. She doesn’t know who she was before she was all machine with brain attached and has disturbing dreams. Major’s search for her past seems tied to the current crisis.

Ghost in the Shell comes from a series of graphic novels that began in the 1980s and were later turned into anime, and now into a very not-original but very well done live-action movie. Great effects dot a landscape void of an original plot and that borrows heavily from Blade Runner and from a dozen other, darker, better movies.

But it’s short, sweet and to the point, doesn’t drag and no other movie this weekend has a ghost of a chance of topping it.

This story was originally published March 30, 2017 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie review: Scarlett Johansson tries to save the world in ‘Ghost in the Shell’."