Ghost in the Shell 2017: Lean & Mean Edition

You have done this film a great service. I will now be able to show this to my anime-hating wife >.

I recently became an anime fan, through my persistence of my nephew who is a DIE-HARD. And I'm excited to say that the Ghost in the Shell is the first franchise that has really sucked me in! I couldn't wait to see this version of the film. So needless to say, this story and world has a very special place in my cyber-enhanced heart. And I was very happy with my experience watching this edit.

The cutting was seamless. The audio levels were all balanced and video was crisp. I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing. It was very PUNCHY and didn't lag at all by trying to explain to much subplot. Straight-forward. Boom in your face! And I had a really fun time exploring the world on a grander stage.

Looking forward to seeing more projects from you in the future FairFriend.

I anticipated seeing this edit for a long time now.
I liked the theatrical cut enough to appreciate it without the obvious comparison to the source material, but was always curious to check another take on it - mostly one that was praised to be more competent and straightforward.
However, to my disappointment, the edit tries to shorten the distance between the movie and its anime counterpart but ends up making one that falls short of both of them.
For better or for worse, the theatrical relied heavily on Major's backstory to keep its pace and character development, and that's whats mostly compromised in the edit. In this version, everything happens so lightning fast and the movie never stops to think any reason to be moving at all. At the core of Kuze's unveil there is originally a detective story, where Section 9 follows several clues and locations to spin a thin thread of what's going on. In the edit, this all boils down to scene-hopping from point A to point B with little cohesion. As a result, the Major is just along for the ride. Even though as fans we're familiar with Kusanagi's pragmatic attitude, the edit reduces her to an effectively soulless action doll who beats people, shoots people, stops once in while for a repair and goes at it again. Whitewashing controversy aside, the whole Mira subplot involving her past was necessary to give the movie any identity, even if it dumbed down the quintessensial Ghost in the Shell philosophical ramblings of self and soul to the cliché corporate conspiracy. On top of that, the removal of some lines thin the exposition a little too much. Like the aforementioned Major's subplot, some of the original lines present in the theatrical cut clearly wanted to convene a critique about ownership and autonomy of self on the information era. Even if the execution of these ideas was originally clunky (like the "i give my consent" silliness), the edit is poorer for the complete absence of them.
To the edit's merit, it's well cut and with no jarring transition whatsoever. The added scenes and music are great, and the overall nitpicking (like fixing the movie title persistently repeating in the opening credits) do give the film a subtle refinement. The encode is very good and lives up to an already gorgeous looking movie - in my opinion, one of the most beautifully realised cyberpunk scenery ever made in film.
Overall, I think, Lean & Mean is a technically great editing work that unfortunately doesn't do the original narrative any favors.

GITS : L&M
I was lucky enough to see this excellent edit because the editor kindly aided me.

I was not happy with the original film as a fan of the ..everything GITS.
The film missed all the right notes but I felt it had everything it needed to be a solid entry if it could find someone who could play music.

The friendly editor took all the issue I had with the source material and solved them as best they could with what they had.
The editing and as a result narrative was far tighter and accurate to the source material.
I found that if you liked the anime then you will probably like this edit.

Only at one point was I even aware it was an edit and in my memory this is the definitive version. #
If you did not like the junk they added about the Majors back story and all the other fluff then this is the edit for you.
Also I am not aware of any other edits so the fact that the edit we have is a good one is a big win for all!

If you hated the film the edit won't help you but if you wanted to love it but struggled then I would say this might help.

The edit was creative and functional and helped tell the story in a more cohesive and impactful manner.
The audio and visuals were excellent.

6 movie made into a 7.5
Editing 9/10

I was very impressed by this edit. The pacing was really good and it flowed very well. I enjoyed this far better than the theatrical cut. It felt more faithful to the source material than the original cut. The movie itself is gorgeous and I feel like less = more which was shown by your cut. The didn't hate the original cut, but I came away cold and it felt too dumbed down. I'm glad this was rectified with this cut.