A really good movie, BUT you have to be a long time fan to appreciate it.
If you're just a casual audience who didn't know the history of the Gundam Universal Century timeline, this movie will get confusing really fast, as tou won't understand which faction is which and who you want to root for. And the movie really just assumes you already know who's who.
For a long time fan like me, this is perfect because the story just continued from where last we left UC timeline in the Unicorn Gundam series.
But for newcomers, I would understand if you don't like it because there's very little exposition on the state of the world the story takes place, and hence the character motivation becomes "blurry"
The main plot in itself, in the most basic form is a triangle love story, boy likes girl, the other girl gets jealous, but in a midst of war, jealousy can lead to some dire consequences.
The story is nice, but again, you NEED to know the history of Gundam to appreciate the story.
My suggestion, watch other Gundam shows from the Universal Century timeline, at the very minimum watch the Unicorn Gundam series BEFORE WATCHING THIS MOVIE.
But if what you're looking for here is only mecha on Mecha action, then you're in for a treat, because this movie has PLENTY! The animation is fluid and really capture the movement of the battle, while the OST perfectly accompanying the dynamics of the battle, I personally LOVED the first action sequence where Phenex first shown on screen.
Mecha design is also cool, although it only refurbished previous mecha design. The only new mecha design I see is only Gundam Narrative, but even then you can see that it's just a mash up of Unicorn and Nu. Other mechas are just previous design with some new add on to sell new toys.
Overall a superb movie, with a HUGE CAVEAT that you have to know the history of the world the story took place.
That is why I only give it a 6/10, because in the end, this movie cannot stand on its own.
