‘Ghost in the Shell’ is dystopian sci-fi done not quite right

Finally, Charlize Theron and her futuristic dystopian travesty “Aeon Flux” will have company in the DVD bargain bin when Scarlett Johansson joins her with the similarly themed "Ghost in the Shell," which will likely be in the next few weeks, based on its initial week at the box office.

For those who don't recall "Aeon Flux," I'm sure Theron is grateful. Set in the future, "Flux" focused on a skilled warrior who was ripped from her family and manipulated by the government for which she worked. She communicated telepathically with her enforcement crew.

Even though “Flux” was based on an animated MTV show, it was no doubt influenced by the Masamune Shirow manga comic "Ghost in the Shell," or perhaps the 1995 anime of the same name, or maybe "The Matrix" or countless other inferior rip-offs that seemed to clog the screens in its wake.

Regardless, "Flux" sank like a stone at the box office a decade ago, and it seems filmmakers have learned little from its death.

Like a copy of a copy of a video, you can see glimpses of what made the original “Ghost in the Shell” appealing, but this film version is so fuzzy and muffled that it becomes, to reference a previous Johansson film, "Lost in Translation."

This is the first attempt to bring the popular Japanese tale to Western audiences, and there is no welcome mat for the uninitiated.

Viewers need to be fairly well versed in the mythology to be able to untangle just who is working for whom and discern the motivations of each and every shallow character on the screen.

So, viewers who may think manga is a strange tropical fruit are left to retreat into the overused sci-fi cliches and dialogue that speaks of cyborgs, viruses, deep dives and other phrases that will seem like utter nonsense to those who have not combed the past literature.

There was much hullabaloo about the casting of Johansson as Major - the machine housing a human brain - as the central Asian character, but it turns out there are far more offensive assaults on the audience than that. She's fine, altering among (purposeful?) robotic delivery, hanging off rooftops in flowy black trenchcoats, and sexy cyborg martial arts. But there is far too little character development for us to care about anything else she does.

(Just an aside - her rank is "major," and that is what she is called by all in the film. But when Johansson radios in, "This is Major," you half expect something huge to take place, like "This is going to be big!" Turns out, not so much.)

Anyway, she works for a cool group of some sort of law enforcement, though it's never made clear in the film, just trust them, it's bad-ass, because things go into slow motion whenever they arrive on the scene.

They patrol the streets, minds, and holograms of the city looking for...well, their true purpose is never all that clear. Just trust them, damn it. It's cool, OK?

"Shell" marks the second feature from director Rupert Sanders (who worked with Theron on "Snow White and the Huntsman"), and he seems to have watched "Blade Runner" a few too many times without the sound on.

If he had listened to it, despite the incredibly influential visuals it created, it spoke of the sense of self, of identity, of loss and fading of all other human characteristics in the pursuit of our computer/robotic progress.

Aside from a few looks of consternation and fortune-cookie wisdom of our memories defining us, "Shell" never knows what to actually say about it all. Are we cool with robots entering our memories? Do we hit the panic button and pull the plug? Who cares? Just make it look pretty!

The one good thing this version of "Shell" does in terms of memory is that it reminds us of how awesome dystopian sci-fi can be when done right. Just re-watch "Blade Runner" to see how well it still holds up today.