A delight.
It appears from only cursory googling that I am fortunate to have 0 familiarity with the source material. What I saw on screen was a fully realized cyberpunk neo-noir thriller. I was IN the universe. What others saw was, apparently, shit?
Some of the acting was not deeply superb, occasionally the CGI was just barely off. But largely it was immersive. The action was enjoyable and not overwrought. The audio experience was good. I'd recommend this movie. You can slouch into the couch and enjoy it. I guess I also thought it was gonna be some shit hollywood reboot so I had low expectations. Will it blow your mind? Eh. Will you want to see the whole thing. Yah.
"We cling to memories as if they define us. But what we do defines us."
That's not poetic. But it is deep. It's always hard to make voiced-over cliches resonate so I won't argue that the line is great art or whatever. And truthfully, I'm not even sure how relevant that line is to the actual plot. But in this world where Scar Jo's brain is in a synthetic body, questions arise, right? What makes us human, yadda yadda. 'We cling to memories as if they define us.' Am I a great baker because I made one good loaf? I don't think so. Cuz once it's happened it's gone. It's like that classic phrase, what have you done for me lately? 'But what we do defines us.' What are you doing now? Right now. And right now. And then right now. It's always now. So you've to keep doing. Again I'm not sure how this notion is relevant to the plot but I'll let you figure that one out.
I'll end it by saying. I was more interested in the immersion and action in this film than I was in the grander philosophical themes. By no means a knock.