Unit-99999999
Brigade Leader
I watched 3.0+1.01 and below are my impressions.
These are not spoilers, per se, as I do not mention any characters or their actions - just wanted to share what I thought of the movie. But I do share some details regarding the movie structure and even draw some parallels with the previous Evangelion stuff so if you are planning to watch it, do not read anything about it. Just watch it and then come back to this post. You can always reply to me later… Hopefully in a respectful manner… My opinion on this movie won’t be popular here…
So…
These are not spoilers, per se, as I do not mention any characters or their actions - just wanted to share what I thought of the movie. But I do share some details regarding the movie structure and even draw some parallels with the previous Evangelion stuff so if you are planning to watch it, do not read anything about it. Just watch it and then come back to this post. You can always reply to me later… Hopefully in a respectful manner… My opinion on this movie won’t be popular here…
So…
…the movie is a mess. I don’t care what everyone else says. They praise this movie for being different and more optimistic but in order to get there the story makes major sacrifices and I am not OK with that.
Let me just start that I dislike End of Evangelion. I think it’s too dark; the scene in the hospital is outright disgusting, the Asuka battle is sadistic, the Misato kiss is weird at best, the second half is too bizare, and the ending is quite pessimistic. That said there was something that I liked in it but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Well, this new movie helped me.
I liked action. The scene with Asuka was amazing from technical standpoint. You could feel Unit-02’s movement, feel her emotions - it was really, really well done. I liked unpredictability. The climax of the battle was heartbreaking, but at least it made us all feel something, which is not an easy thing to do for every story writer. I liked artistry of it. The final scene where Asuka and Shinji sit at the shore looks very memorable - especially with the corpses of MPEs in the air (it always made me uneasy to look at them - I mean, just think about it: they killed Asuka and now we see their bodies in the final scene with her)
Now, moving to 3.0+1.01. As I promised, no actual spoilers will be here but I will draw some parallels with EOE which the movie, predictably, wants us to do.
The first 50 minutes or so are masterpiece. It seems like the movie will actually be able to fix the mistakes of the first three movies and tie the storyline together uniting both time periods and improving on all main characters. I’m gonna say these scenes in the village are the absolute best of the Rebuild movies, at least for me. It feels fresh, it feels personal, it feels alive.
And then it fell apart. Next third of the movie is more action-oriented and they try to mimic both Asuka’s EOE battle and another scene from that movie throughout it… but it doesn’t feel nearly the same. The action is bland, characters’ actions are rather predictable, the scientific nonsense becomes even more complicated (those theories you built - well, turns out there is many other elements you weren’t told about). I was like, “what the heck, why is it so bad suddenly”. The thing is, I REALLY wanted to like this movie. And this second part of the movie made it near impossible for me to do that.
Next is worse. Third part of the movie is… Well, I’m not going to say anything here. Maybe some of you haven’t watched it and for whatever reason looking at this review. I personally thought it was dumb. Both what characters did and how some of the scenes were built. I think there are some good messages spread throughout this part and overall it feels like an improvement over EOE - but then you get to the final scene of the movie and there…
What the heck, guys?!
Let me just start that I dislike End of Evangelion. I think it’s too dark; the scene in the hospital is outright disgusting, the Asuka battle is sadistic, the Misato kiss is weird at best, the second half is too bizare, and the ending is quite pessimistic. That said there was something that I liked in it but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Well, this new movie helped me.
I liked action. The scene with Asuka was amazing from technical standpoint. You could feel Unit-02’s movement, feel her emotions - it was really, really well done. I liked unpredictability. The climax of the battle was heartbreaking, but at least it made us all feel something, which is not an easy thing to do for every story writer. I liked artistry of it. The final scene where Asuka and Shinji sit at the shore looks very memorable - especially with the corpses of MPEs in the air (it always made me uneasy to look at them - I mean, just think about it: they killed Asuka and now we see their bodies in the final scene with her)
Now, moving to 3.0+1.01. As I promised, no actual spoilers will be here but I will draw some parallels with EOE which the movie, predictably, wants us to do.
The first 50 minutes or so are masterpiece. It seems like the movie will actually be able to fix the mistakes of the first three movies and tie the storyline together uniting both time periods and improving on all main characters. I’m gonna say these scenes in the village are the absolute best of the Rebuild movies, at least for me. It feels fresh, it feels personal, it feels alive.
And then it fell apart. Next third of the movie is more action-oriented and they try to mimic both Asuka’s EOE battle and another scene from that movie throughout it… but it doesn’t feel nearly the same. The action is bland, characters’ actions are rather predictable, the scientific nonsense becomes even more complicated (those theories you built - well, turns out there is many other elements you weren’t told about). I was like, “what the heck, why is it so bad suddenly”. The thing is, I REALLY wanted to like this movie. And this second part of the movie made it near impossible for me to do that.
Next is worse. Third part of the movie is… Well, I’m not going to say anything here. Maybe some of you haven’t watched it and for whatever reason looking at this review. I personally thought it was dumb. Both what characters did and how some of the scenes were built. I think there are some good messages spread throughout this part and overall it feels like an improvement over EOE - but then you get to the final scene of the movie and there…
What the heck, guys?!