Skip over navigation

Sofa Cinema

Gifts - NEW  |   Help   |   Sign in

Ghost In The Shell (1996) Certificate 15

Ghost In The Shell
Play trailer

Sign up

Rated 3.5 stars
Average rating
(68%)
 
Starring: Richard George | Mimi Woods | William Frederick | Abe Lasser | Christopher Joyce | Michael Sorich
Director: Mamoru Oshii
Studio: MANGA ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 111 mins
Genres: Animated | Anime | Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Languages: Japanese
Dubbed: English
Hearing-impaired: English
Subtitles: English
Released: February 28, 2000

Set in the year 2029 and following World Wars III and IV, a Japanese-led Asian block dominates world affairs. The alliance maintains its international supremacy through its elite security force whose cybernetically enhanced operatives tackle an array of hi-tech terrorists and other threats to international security. These augmented agents can ghost hack (i.e., download their consciousness) via the now omnipresent internet into other machines and human/machine cross breeds. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a cybernetically augmented female agent, has been tracking a virtual entity known as the Puppet Master with her crack squad of security agents. The shape-shifting Puppet Master, a rogue creation of a rival agency of the security apparatus, has concluded that it is a life form in its own right, born in sea of information, and requested political asylum and true physical existence in defiance of its creators.

Halliwell's Film Guide

Spectacular-looking Japanese animated film, but one that, like so many of its kind, involves a confusing narrative and peculiar metaphysics that reduce interest in its depiction of a corrupt future.

Highest rated reviews

74 out of 80 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 1.0 stars
Poor

pEst31 from , 12th May, 2008

I stopped watching after a few minutes, hated it. If this is the best Anime has to offer, I guess it's just not for me. The frame rate, for starters, was shockingly low! What was that, 5 frames per second??? It gave me headaches straight away! The animation has a few short good moments at important bits where they took extra care but is generally poor, no matter how you put it (unless, maybe, if you measure it against other cr*p Anime)!!! The other problem was the language; I just couldn't get into it with Japanese (I tried) and the American voices are laughable because the acting is so terrible! All this made me withdraw from the action and I was having to make a huge effort to understand what was going on so I just stopped wasting my time and sent it back.

Read all highest rated reviews

33 out of 49 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
BRILL ANIME

A Customer from ESSEX, ENGLAND, 10th March, 2005

This was one of the most original storys and the most ripped off idea! When watching this please remember this was released 10-15 years before the MATRIX and as you can see Matrix has ripped off many suttle ideas from this story!!!

Read all highest rated reviews

19 out of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3.0 stars
A Manga Classic

lizzard1138 from Yorkshire, 7th February, 2004

The thing about “Ghost in the Shell” is that this is a film as successful as it is ambitious. Many have compared the film to “the Matrix” (or rather “The Matrix” to it) and the comparison is justified if only in both films’ attempts to push ideas of technological advancement within the realm of science fiction to a point where fantasy meets reality and the lines blur. However, where “The Matrix” stops fantasising about electronic evolution to give way to unimaginable action sequences, “Ghost in the Shell” only grows denser and denser, building towards its foresight-defying conclusion, to the point where we are left pondering where man’s ever-improving experimentation with machines will take us, and even matters of humanity and life itself. The DVD comes with a glossary of terms and facts which is embarrassingly necessary in getting the most from the film. “Ghost in the Shell” was years ahead of its time in both ambition and animation. One on Manga’s finest – thought-provoking and unmissable.

Read all highest rated reviews

12 out of 12 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 4.0 stars
Still Outstanding Eight Years After It's Release

imran from , 22nd November, 2004

Really one of the great anime films made - thoughtful, artful and supplying the action so required of many of these types of films. You feel you are watching something aimed at adults like Akira and it's amazing that it's reaching a decade old and few anime have touched it's greatness. A must see for anime fans.

Read all highest rated reviews

Most recent reviews

Rated 4.0 stars
Ghost In The Shell

A Customer from Oxford, 28th February, 2010

Striking and thought provoking anime, with echoes of Blade Runner, and was the inspiration for The Matrix. It sucessfully blends fast paced and violent action with speculation on the existance of a 'ghost' or soul in highly evolved artificial intelligence. While some animation sequences now appear somewhat dated, others like the Motoko's slow journey through the backwaters of the city are have real melancholic depth, reflecting her troubled mind. The final closing shot is a moving and symbolic image of a little girl lost in the world. Much to enjoy, but be patient with the philosophising. The American English voiceovers are grating to the ear,so try to see it in Japanese with subtitles.

Read all recent reviews

Rated 5.0 stars
WOW!!!

A Customer from Romford, Essex, 18th February, 2010

I recieved this film in the post this morning, I've heard good things about it from friends so I thought I'd watch it just to shut them up!! What a film! Most Hollywood movies these days sacrifice character development and story for all out action so it was refreshing to watch something that allows the characters room to develop and create an interesting story. Some people have told me its hard to follow but I didn't think it was. Its a complicated plot so if you have to watch it from beginning to end to be able to follow it. I promise you its worth it though! The animation is stunning, the characters are believable and the plot is a work of genius, if you've never seen an anime before then start with this one, you wont be disappointed!!

Read all recent reviews

Rated 3.0 stars
Hmm

A Customer from London, 4th February, 2010

I agree with the people here who say that the animation was beautiful, and I loved the music. I also agree that the plot and existential musings were just a bit too deep. I must confess I found it difficult to keep up - for most of the film, nothing noteworthy happens in terms of plot, then suddenly we're bombarded with a stream of overly-complicated and, frankly, pretty uninteresting exposition, before the ending kind of tails off. Maybe the later films make more sense.

Read all recent reviews

Rated 3.0 stars
sonic

carlosfandangosuperwidewheels from , 17th January, 2010

Beautiful, if meandering. Memorable for being the source for an obscure drum & bass track sample for the band Sonic Subjunkies

Read all recent reviews