Cool visuals try to enchance a somewhat common story - ***

This is an American film produced by Paramount Pictures based on a Japanese manga written by Masamune Shirow.   The writer and illustrator of the manga intended the series to be read by adolescent boys and men who are old enough to read kanji.   The books were serialized in 1989 and the  series describes Shirow's vision of 21st century Japan that started in 2029.

The movie starts with the creation of the first successfully enhanced cyber-human, Major Motoko.  This cyber-human was created from a salvaged brain that is put inside a full prosthetic body and was assigned to be part of a team in charge of protecting public security.  While on a mission to fight against cyber terrorists, her paths crossed with someone that led her to discover the conspiracy behind her true identity

I admire the efforts the designers put in creating the Japanese prefecture set in 2029.  What is clearly the strong point of this film are the visuals, both in design and execution , be it by computer generated visuals or real sets and costumes.  Cinematography solidly sets the mood and the tone of the entire film ably supported by dark characters and Scarlet Johansson's internally intense interpretation of her character as the lead Major Motoko. 

But as the story unfolds you realize that you have probably heard this story before, maybe another hero story gone wrong or a conspiracy theory that has been published in several books already and I start to fall asleep and loose interest.  What kept me from totally dozing off are the action sequences and Scarlet's magnetic presence.