There are influential films and there are influential films. Sometimes, however, a film will come along that has a profound and lasting effect on an entire genre. This week saw the re-release of one such film, Manga classic Ghost in  the Shell, remastered in HD with enhanced CGI scenes and a new soundtrack, at London’s ICA.

Originally released on 1995, the film weaves together a complex tale of advanced technology, artificial intelligence and industrial espionage against a backdrop of visceral and hyper-stylised violence in an unspecified city in late 21st century Japan. The film’s main character, a cyborg police officer, Major Motoko Kusanagi, whose only remnants of her human body include her brain and part of her spinal cord, is on the tail of a sophisticated ‘ghost hacker’ – someone who can take control of a humans actions and memories by hacking directly into their brain – called ‘the ‘Puppet Master’.

In the search for the answer to the Puppet Master’s hidden identity, the film explores the question of how (not whether) technology will change not only humanity physically, but also challenges what it means to be human itself. The chilling ending gives a prophetic glimpse into the future where life is not necessarily biological in origin.

Already visually stunning on its release in 1995, the redux builds on this, recreating key scenes in luscious CGI. On the whole, these scenes worked very well, although sometimes the switch between the original cell animation and the CGI was slightly jarring. The benefit of these remastered sections was to provide a sense of depth and richness that can sometimes be lacking in the traditional method.

A thrilling soundtrack containing elements of Japanese noh theatre and Vangelis-like synth pop add to the richness; childlike voices sing in strange harmonies and sparse percussion adds tension and complexity to various scenes, replacing Hollywood bombast for calm introspection.  The dialogue and sound effects have benefited from re-recording and re-mastering in 6.1 surround sound; thundering handguns and screeching tyres have seldom sounded so good.

You can see the influence this film has had on more contemporary sci flicks: The Matrix is the first that springs to mind, and was indeed namechecked by the Wachowski brothers as an inspiration. There are undoubtedly more, but it’s just a case of revealing them!

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is still as beautiful a film as it was 14 years ago and still has as much to say now as it did then. I don’t know if it’s still showing in London, but it’s well worth going to see it if you can!