"Rebuild of Evangelion: You can (not) Redo" is the third movie in the reboot Evangelion franchise, which premiered over a month ago in Japanese cinemas. It's a movie which had been in the works for over three years, steadily increasing interest and expectations from both a new audience and fans of the old TV-drama which first premiered on television in 1995.
It begins as one would expect from seeing the previous movie, radio chatter with an action- filled sequence (now taking place in space), where the returning characters Mari and Asuka participate and retrieve an item of some importance - the sleeping protagonist, as well as his giant robot Evangelion Unit 01.
A rather dull and technical awakening of the recovered Shinji Ikari complete with cognitive and medical checkup does not hide that something seems slightly off. There's new faces, more advanced technology and how Shinji is being held at gunpoint for the entire duration - if not obvious already, one might think that one had been transported into the future where everybody holds a grudge against Shinji. That notion soon turns out be true as we discover that Misato Katsuragi is now the Captain of a flying battleship accompanied by a fleet of sea-vessels with the charge to fight and defeat their previous employers, NERV. A irremovable collar has been fit to the fourteen year old Shinji's neck, which is set by Misato to explode should Shinji become able to Awaken an Evangelion. When the now 28 year old Asuka and Mari haven't aged day, maintaining suspense of disbelief becomes a challenge.
A point where one might easily sympathize with the protagonist is here, as all of this sounds quite ridiculous and unbelievable, which makes the decision to run away once the voice of Rei Ayanami is calling him all the more understandable. But once we have left this bizarre place, we also leave behind any sense of realism or what little was left of it.
We enter a place where little or nothing seems coherent or plausible, with static backgrounds and spotlight lighting the stage, as if it were a play. The latter would make sense as the only characters operating this massive facility which required thousands to operate can be counted on one hand alone. The next part of the movie breaks down Shinji's mind by revealing that Rei was but a lookalike that is nothing like the Rei from the previous movie, making Rei a non-returning character after all. More revelations also come, revealing that 14 years have passed since the last movie, and the aborted Third Impact explosion Shinji was at the center of had far greater consequences than shown in the previous movie.
The enigmatic Kaworu who very briefly appeared the previous installments serves as a temporary relief for the mind of our protagonist, who at this time it has become clear is the only character with more than two dimensions in the movie.
When even that very protagonist shows signs of unnecessarily lowering himself to the level of stupidity apparently shared by all in this movie, there just isn't a reason to care any more. Thanks to the plot-moving stupidity now also found in Shinji, another Impact explosion is about to occur nearing the end, and with the frequency of which these impacts occur it might be a good idea to include a spot for them in the weather forecast. All that remains after this is the wait for the inevitable stopping of said impact, following a disappointingly predictable routine now.
The previous movies are required watching, but the end result is that this might have been better off as a stand-alone movie, since it does not make very good use of the previous material, nor does it cover any expectations one might have had coming from them. It would not stand on it's own legs either way.
Possibly worse is it if one has watched the original TV-drama, as one realizes that nearly none of the crucial elements that held the story together have been transferred to this new rendition. When some of it's principal characters become mere shells of their former selves (quite literally for Rei who by far suffer the most in this category) and don't interact on any meaningful level, disappointment will only set itself in harder.
The most enjoyment one could have regarding this movie is undoubtedly spending time making sense of it after having watched it as if to attempt justifying having wasted your time.
It begins as one would expect from seeing the previous movie, radio chatter with an action- filled sequence (now taking place in space), where the returning characters Mari and Asuka participate and retrieve an item of some importance - the sleeping protagonist, as well as his giant robot Evangelion Unit 01.
A rather dull and technical awakening of the recovered Shinji Ikari complete with cognitive and medical checkup does not hide that something seems slightly off. There's new faces, more advanced technology and how Shinji is being held at gunpoint for the entire duration - if not obvious already, one might think that one had been transported into the future where everybody holds a grudge against Shinji. That notion soon turns out be true as we discover that Misato Katsuragi is now the Captain of a flying battleship accompanied by a fleet of sea-vessels with the charge to fight and defeat their previous employers, NERV. A irremovable collar has been fit to the fourteen year old Shinji's neck, which is set by Misato to explode should Shinji become able to Awaken an Evangelion. When the now 28 year old Asuka and Mari haven't aged day, maintaining suspense of disbelief becomes a challenge.
A point where one might easily sympathize with the protagonist is here, as all of this sounds quite ridiculous and unbelievable, which makes the decision to run away once the voice of Rei Ayanami is calling him all the more understandable. But once we have left this bizarre place, we also leave behind any sense of realism or what little was left of it.
We enter a place where little or nothing seems coherent or plausible, with static backgrounds and spotlight lighting the stage, as if it were a play. The latter would make sense as the only characters operating this massive facility which required thousands to operate can be counted on one hand alone. The next part of the movie breaks down Shinji's mind by revealing that Rei was but a lookalike that is nothing like the Rei from the previous movie, making Rei a non-returning character after all. More revelations also come, revealing that 14 years have passed since the last movie, and the aborted Third Impact explosion Shinji was at the center of had far greater consequences than shown in the previous movie.
The enigmatic Kaworu who very briefly appeared the previous installments serves as a temporary relief for the mind of our protagonist, who at this time it has become clear is the only character with more than two dimensions in the movie.
When even that very protagonist shows signs of unnecessarily lowering himself to the level of stupidity apparently shared by all in this movie, there just isn't a reason to care any more. Thanks to the plot-moving stupidity now also found in Shinji, another Impact explosion is about to occur nearing the end, and with the frequency of which these impacts occur it might be a good idea to include a spot for them in the weather forecast. All that remains after this is the wait for the inevitable stopping of said impact, following a disappointingly predictable routine now.
The previous movies are required watching, but the end result is that this might have been better off as a stand-alone movie, since it does not make very good use of the previous material, nor does it cover any expectations one might have had coming from them. It would not stand on it's own legs either way.
Possibly worse is it if one has watched the original TV-drama, as one realizes that nearly none of the crucial elements that held the story together have been transferred to this new rendition. When some of it's principal characters become mere shells of their former selves (quite literally for Rei who by far suffer the most in this category) and don't interact on any meaningful level, disappointment will only set itself in harder.
The most enjoyment one could have regarding this movie is undoubtedly spending time making sense of it after having watched it as if to attempt justifying having wasted your time.