I think the problem (not in regards to the casting) with the whole Ghost in the Shell thing is summed up by the mentality that brought this kind of content to the fore. In other words, some westerners just can’t let go Oshii’s take that they have seen decades ago, and wanted to appropriate it for a Hollywood version.
The truth is as good as Oshii’s movie was, the idea within the movie are too dated by 2017 standards. They already were well-played in cyberpunk lit when that movie was made. If you wanted a refresh take better suited for this decade/century, Stand Alone Complex is where it is at–some of these ideas need a much more in depth spin to play them out to what they deserve, which is what a TV series can do that a 1-film series cannot. Superficially, neither GITS or the Hollywood business has figured out how to tell that kind of a profound message in a 2-hour window.
Which is to say, I don’t think the GITS movie project is a mistake and should not have been created. It just failed because it could not overcome the main problem of making a movie based on Oshii’s movie, in a similar way that Oshii’s second movie tanked. (In reality it tried to take the opposite approach by making everything simple, but the end result was still not great.) I think what I would prefer in a Hollywood remake of GITS would be a wholly original remake. I would prefer Hollywood figure out the problem in the Oshii movie in the first place. The truth is what GITS fans love about the 1995 film is actually made better in SAC, which is how the rest of Section 9 can add to the Major-and-her-guns show. Instead, importing just the iconic imageries and set pieces from the 1995 film will only please a very narrow band of weebs in 2017, which is why GITS is a notable thing at all anyway.
TL;DR Hollywood should’ve adopted SAC, not the Oshii movie.
