Scarlett Johansson Won’t Be Controlled in Latest ‘Ghost in the Shell’ Trailer

The government is not to be trusted, not at present and certainly not in the trippy future Japan of Ghost in the Shell. Major Motoko Kusanagi (Scarlett Johansson) has been led to believe that she endured some manner of terrible accident in life, and the police department salvaged her body by augmenting it with cybernetic implants. In exchange for a second chance at consciousness, all she has to do is devote herself to fearlessly cleaning the street of crime and to surrender what’s left of her free will; naturally, she has some doubts about this. And when she meets an enigmatic stranger warning her that all is not what it seems, her whole understanding of who the bad guys are starts to shift.

The latest trailer for the upcoming rework of the seminal anime dropped this morning, evincing a vibe closer to The Bourne Identity than the far-out sci-fi from which the original drew inspiration. Kusanagi’s a rogue agent, on the loose and turning against her federal handlers, trying to recover all her memories so she can figure out whose hindquarters are most in need of kicking. Around that, however, there’s plenty of surreal imagery from this advanced, Blade Runner-ish society: Kusanagi disappearing into cloaking-mode as she freefalls alongside a skyscraper, a mysterious hologram entity that vanishes like falling rain.

Ghost in the Shell comes to theaters on March 31 — whether that’s cause for celebration or panic among anime nerds will only become clear in time.