Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
[シン・エヴァンゲリオン劇場版𝄇]
Director: Hideaki Anno, Kazuya Tsurumaki, Katsuichi Nakayama, Mahiro Maeda
Starring: Megumi Ogata, Megumi Hayashibara, Yuko Miyamura
Synopsis:
A traumatized Shinji is stranded with Asuka and "Rei" while WILLE gears up for the final battle to stop Instrumentality.
Impressions:
This movie was originally supposed to be released back in 2008 and was pushed back time and time again. Between all the delays and the backlash from the third film, I could easily see this dropping off people's radars. I'm honestly a little surprised they actually got it out into theaters at all, but the Eva franchise retains enough popularity that the investors have been able to stick it out this long. Now, let's get to the film itself.
I was there opening night when the first Rebuild movie came out. Unfortunately, I wasn't in Japan for the release of the second and third films, but things managed to come full circle fourteen years later. The first movie was basically just a trimmed-down version of the first six episodes of the original series and it wasn't until the second film where were started seeing some major divergences from the original storyline. Like many people, I considered the third movie to be a major disappointment, throwing away the interesting developments of the second film while squandering the potential of the new scenario. I plan on revisiting the third movie in the near future in light of this film to see if it's improved any by comparison.
I rather liked the first act of the film. We had more of what I wanted to see from the timeskip with Shinji meeting his former classmates all grown up. I don't really know what to call 3.0's version of Rei (Rei Q, Rei III, You are (not) Rei?), so I'll just take a cue from Hikari and refer to her as Sokkuri-san. The whole process of her getting in touch with her humanity as she adjusts to life in Village #3 was quite nice. At the start, Shinji has fully collapsed into the invertebrate we all *ahem* know and love, but I will say that by the end I liked where his character had gone more than what happened in End of Eva. Asuka's screentime feels largely wasted and Mari remains mostly a cipher, which belies her rather large role in the story. Misato gets rather significantly short-changed, too, and for their role in the second act climax, Sakura and Midori really needed more development. You can feel that a serious effort was made to salvage 3.0, but the sins of that film seriously hobble this one. We get a lot of gobbledygook thrown at us with no prior establishment, in the franchise's penchant for obtuseness taken to the nth degree. At the theater we were given a handout that was filled with keywords that basically say, "Look this stuff up later if you're interested." I will say, however, that I mostly liked the third act confrontation between Gendou and Shinji, once we get them to actually talk, that is.
I remember watching the sample footage that turned out to be the opening of the film. I was struck by the ugly CG hodgepodge of the mech designs. I suppose it's deliberate. You contrast that with some truly breathtaking camerawork and you're left not knowing what to think from a visual standpoint. Despite all the time and money put into the film (and involvement from just about every major animation studio in Japan and few other countries as well), sometimes it can look really cheap. At a few points I figure it was a design choice. This is Hideaki Anno we're talking about, after all. Then we have ridiculous swarms of thousands upon thousands of Evas, which only had me longing for the days of 1997 when having the Asuka take on the nine Mass Production Evas was amazing. I'm reminded of the inane copypasta used in The Rise of Skywalker. Also, for whatever it's worth, they managed to make a far creepier version of Giant Naked Rei than the one in End of Eva. Thank you, Anno. -_-
You'll notice there's a lot of negative in this review and that's because, aside from the first act, this film is quite a mess. However, I did find it a much better viewing experience than the third film. In the final tally, I'd say the Rebuild series was a bit of a bust from a creative standpoint. That being said, I still think there's enough good in this film to make it worth seeing. Eva fans are used to being jerked around, so this is nothing new. Omedetou.
Rating:
Watch It