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You know you’re in for trouble when at an all-media screening, someone from the general audience section yells “Whitewash!” and manages to piss off a Paramount rep so much that he gets ejected. That controversy has plagued this movie from the time Scarlett Johansson was announced as The Major. As for the film itself? Well, I was on board till a certain reveal in the plot that led to this whitewashing becoming a stain on the film. Paramount seems to have an uphill battle with this in the coming days once more people (and press) lay eyes on this.
A cyborg named The Major works for an elite task force named Section 9 alongside her partner Batou (Pilou Asbæk). As they work on stopping cyberterrorist criminals, a new threat arrives with the goals of bringing down Hanka Robotics’ artificial intelligence technology.
I am not familiar with this intellectual property. From what I was told this is a combo of the various iterations of Ghost in the Shell with an original spin on the story. I got to see fifty minutes of this in IMAX 3D back in February and was blown away by what I was shown, out of context, on the best IMAX screen on the East Coast. The actual press screening was on a fake IMAX which is fine, but it was at Kips Bay a theater that’s pretty much on the East River and is a pain in the ass to get to. I knew we were in trouble when I saw that this was an all-media screening and was told by a fellow member of the press that many press people weren’t invited at all. Well, I can say for those of you going to see this no matter what definitely do IMAX 3D, just not at Kips Bay as the masking is nonexistent at that theater. There was crucial information missed in the plot of the film because subtitles were cut off at the bottom. I know IMAX personally runs their theaters, so hopefully they can have one of their people fix that.
(Editor’s note. The following contains spoilers to crucial plot details that hinge on whitewashing. Skip to the last paragraph if you want to stay spoiler free)
When making the press rounds for this film, everyone including the cast, crew and even people who are associated with the creation of the property have defended Scarlett’s casting. I didn’t have a problem with this till I got to the climax of the film in which it was revealed that Major, as well as Micheal Pitt’s character, are kidnapped runaways who have very Japanese names. It was here the revealing of the names where it brings into context the entire story of the film as well as why an elderly Japanese woman was so fond of The Major earlier in the film.
I was so appalled by this fact that it took me out of the film completely for the last twenty minutes of the film. Before this, the film had me with its beautiful production design, Clint Mansell’s score is awesome, next level set pieces, and sharp directing. That water fight that showed prominently in the trailers is both brutal and beautiful. I wished more blockbusters could combine art and brutality as good as they did here. The cast is committed, but the story they are serving is thin making me cold to the characters, but it was still working for me. For those of you looking at the screenwriting credits, it should be no surprise that the story is lacking due to one name there. Not mention this an Avi Arad production. This reveal, that showed us this unnamed city is obviously supposed to be a futuristic Tokyo with Japanese characters.
I heard people trying to argue that since these cyborgs are made by white creators, that they are made in their image. The film does not even attempt to offer up that to any extent, so I call bullshit on that. In fact, the two best characters in the film are played by Chin Han and the legendary “Beat” Takeshi Kitano. Watching them made me wonder on my way home from the screening on why wasn’t the entire film played by Asians.
(End spoilers)
If you can get past the whitewashing and/or you are a huge fan of the Ghost in the Shell property, then IMAX 3D for sure. Everyone else I don’t know what to tell you as I feel some type of way of seeing a black man being kicked out of this screening for a slight jab and one that’s been brought up time and time again on this press tour. Reps are there to make sure the right people get in and the screening is running as smoothly as possible. Seeing a white dude get mad at that and then have fellow people of color ejected is not how you want to kick off a screening of a film that already has its fair share of controversy and denial proving that privilege is still in full swing. ------------------------------------------ America from 9:00 on: https://youtu.be/GUwLCQU10KQ
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