Released: March 31, 2017 (US)
Director: Rupert Sanders
Watched: 10/2/2019 (via Hulu and SyFy)
Rating: 2-2.5 stars
Synopsis (from IMDB): In the near future, Major Mira Killian is the first of her kind: A human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world’s most dangerous criminals.
My Thoughts
Five years ago, I watched and reviewed the 1995 animated movie of the same name. I mentioned then, and I will reiterate now, that cyberpunk is not one of my favorite science fiction subgenres. A half decade has not improved my appreciation. I had forgotten most of the plot and premises from the first viewing, so except for some minor flashbacks of memory, I had a clean slate going into the 2017 live action edition.
I connected less well with the protagonist than I did with the animated version. In fact, I spent most of the movie confused and finding a reason to care for any of these characters. The story is less well rendered in this live action treatment. And I have to agree with the critics – I would have preferred a Japanese actress instead of Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett is a great actress but this part deserved a more appropriate casting.
I also found myself getting bored and distracted during this movie. I kept finding excuses to pause the movie and check my phone or anything else besides the watching the movie. I would even pause to see how much longer was remaining, never a good sign.
My rating is about a star lower than the 1995 version. I really need to read the original manga to get some perspective and a baseline for comparison.
