For a movie like director Rupert Sanders' upcoming live action adaptation of the Japanese manga / anime GHOST IN THE SHELL, featurettes like the ones below can be very helpful to a potential viewer. For those like me, who have some interest in the film but no knowledge of the source material, and who might still be feeling out of the loop even after watching the trailers, it's good to learn more about the characters and this world they inhabit. For those who are familiar with the source material, you can watch something like this and see what the filmmakers and actors are getting right – or, hopefully not, what they're getting wrong.
These featurettes introduce the members of an anti-terrorism group called Section 9. The first one tells us more about the film's heroine Major, played by Scarlett Johnansson. The second one is focused on her fellow Section 9 operatives, particularly Takeshi Kitano as Daisuke Aramaki and Pilou Asbæk as Batou. Batou is described as a hardcore killer, but don't expect his kills to be too hardcore in the film. This is rated PG-13, after all.
Scripted by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler, and Ehren Kruger, GHOST IN THE SHELL follows
the Major, a special ops, one-of-a-kind human-cyborg hybrid, who leads the elite task force Section 9. Devoted to stopping the most dangerous criminals and extremists, Section 9 is faced with an enemy whose singular goal is to wipe out Hanka Robotic’s advancements in cyber technology.
Johnansson, Asbæk, and Kitano are joined in the cast by Lasarus Ratuere, Tawanda Manyimo, Yutaka Izumihara, Danusia Samal, Chin Han, Rila Fukushima, Michael Pitt, Michael Wincott, Juliette Binoche, and Kaori Momoi.
GHOST IN THE SHELL is set to reach theatres on March 31st. Just a couple weeks to go.
