The time skip was unexpected to say the least, the whole "curse of Eva" conveniently keeping Asuka 14 years old physically was bulls*** though
. I found the way it dealt with the repercussions of the ending of the last movie quite interesting. The tone of 3.33 was pretty much unremittingly bleak though, which made it tough to watch at times. I didn't like the way Misato acted to Shinji either, considering she was encouraging him at the end of the last one, but maybe the guilt of doing that was the reason for her coldness. Was so glad that Asuka was as fiery as ever at least, though Mari was just...there I guess. I also really liked the way they worked in Rei III/Q/Whatever to the rebuild story. The Kaworu/Shinji stuff felt a bit more developed compared to the series (though it's been like a decade since I saw it), though his plan to get Shinji back into the Eva at the end really was rubbish. "We'll take both those lances from Lilith because that will totally work out fine!!!"
That's probably my main complaint with the movie really, too much stuff seemed to happen as a result of not communicating, which would lead to stupid decisions. Especially at the beginning when Rei III/Q/whatever took Shinji back to NERV from the Wunder.
TVTropes sums it up nicely here, definitely a case of Right Hand versus Left Hand. Having said that, it's set things up very nicely for the final film, which I hope will resolve everything well to make Rebuild the definitive telling of the story. I'm starting to subscribe more and more to the theory that Rebuild is a sequel to End of Evangelion too.
The action sequences were absolutely first rate, both the Wunder's battle near the beginning and the final battle were absolutely jaw dropping. The visuals all the way looked first rate, really added to the oppressive and alienating feel of the movie. Music was excellent as ever too, glad to hear Ode to Joy making a comeback too (I'll forever associate it with Eva and Die Hard
).