Ghost in the Shell 2017: Lean & Mean Edition

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.

As much as I enjoy the unfairly maligned 2017 film adaptation of the Ghost in the Shell manga, this leaner and tighter fan-edit outdoes it in my opinion. Every change made is 100% smart and justified, it really improves the pacing -- which is kind of amazing since the original cut is an already well-paced film -- and somehow even manages to better capture the spirit of the original source material. Really great stuff.

Image quality is fine for the most part, though I noticed a bit of banding in the dark areas: noticed nothing amiss with regards to audio, and could not tell where the new cuts took place, though I wasn't specifically hunting for any issues.

Have seen the anime film a couple of times, but never the live-action adaptation that this edit is sourced from so cannot comment on any possible improvements. My initial impressions were better than anticipated, while the basic story remains the same and certain elements are reproduced (not always in the same place) it did not feel like a slavish remake, but it hasn’t got the same timeless qualities and I don’t think any further re-editing could solve this.

Thanks fairfriend for getting me to give this film a go in the first place though, now just need to decide if it is worth watching the unedited version!

A very orderly scraping away of the chaff. The film itself is still a fairly graceless mashup of familiar motifs, shots and beats from across the manga and its anime adaptations, but the considerably more understated approach to the narrative and the much leaner and slightly meaner 90 minute runtime helps tremendously. Great work.

After seeing the theatrical version I was sorely disappointed in the writing. It was less about the philosophy that the original animated movie explored, and more a romance movie that disguised itself as an action movie.

The edit is definitely smoother and has a better flow, but it seems to be lacking a backbone that I think without re-scripting and re-filming you won't be able to get.

The shelling sequence with the original song still gives me goosebumps.

I would definitely recommend watching this version rather than the theatrical release!

Thank you for your effort!