Evangelion: 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo

14 years after the Third Impact, Shinji Ikari awakens in an unfamiliar world where he's blamed for the destroyed world. Misato Katsuragi now leads an organization, Wille, along with several other former Nerv members including Asuka in a battle against Nerv and Shinji's father Gendo. When Shinji is rescued from Wille by Rei (or what appears to be Rei) Shinji is taken to the ruins of Nerv headquarters where Gendo is still working with Rei and Kaworu Nagisa on plans to bring about Human Instrumentality.

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, the third in Hideaki Anno's Rebuild of Evangelion film series, is probably the most ambitious of the series yet with the moviemaking a fourteen year time jump and creating a desolate red landscape with the characters we've come to know unrecognizable in the time since we've last seen them. While certainly ambitious, I find myself at odds with myself over the end product. On the one hand the movie goes into a bold direction the series has not yet traversed, but on the other hand I can't really say it does it well.

When the movie starts, we're thrown into an elaborate fight scene in Earth orbit with Asuka and another Eva pilot, Mari (who was introduced in the previous film, but factored so little into the plot I didn't even mention her in the previous review) fighting against an unknown enemy while escorting a package back to Earth. In terms of opening sequences it's a well-choregraphed sequence that's unlike any of the other fight sequences we've seen in the TV series or other Rebuild films so it gets off on the right foot....and then Shinji comes into the story. When Shinji comes into the story not only are we thrown into an unfamiliar environment with Misato Katsuragi piloting a ship called the "Wunder" now carrying a hardened edge and telling Shinji to "do nothing" which leads into a lengthy fight sequence against more nameless enemies before we're given very vague exposition on the "Third Impact" Shinji caused in the last movie that completely ignores the post credit scene where Kaworu stopped the Third Impact which leads to lingering questions that are never really answered over the course of the film. Even the time jump feels like this movie is detached from the other two films and dangling plot threads are just brushed by the wayside.

Despite the many missteps taken by Evangelion 3.0, I do think it does some things well. Shinji's relationship with Kaworu Nagisa was a large point of praise in episode 24 of the TV series, and the film expands on that relationship here giving us more time with Kaworu and Shinji in some truly amazing scenes such as the scenes of the two of them playing pion together or watching the stars. It's unfortunate that there aren't more of these types of character moments with other characters and instead the movie often feels like it's ambling along in search of a direction. Despite being the shortest of the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, Evangelion 3.0 feels like the longest because there's a barrier erected between the audience and characters that never really gives way through the entirety of the running time. The cold indifference with which Shinji is treated by Wille coupled with Shinji's regression to a state of helplessness feels like it's there simply to drive Shinji to Gendo and Nerv because it needs Shinji to bring about the Fourth Impact. Why exactly? I'm not sure, granted Gendo says it's to reunite with his wife Yui, but given the state of the post Third Impact world a Fourth Impact feels like it'd be putting a hat on a hat at this point. I wasn't particularly invested in the characters making up Wille because despite them being characters we've come to know over the course of two films and the TV series, for all intents and purposes they may as well be different characters.

Evangelion 3.0 is frustrating. While the film takes a massive departure from the original narrative of the series going into new territory, it does so rather sloppily brushing aside the plot threads from the previous two films and leaving us in a state of confusion for most of the runtime that leaves us not only wondering what's going on but why should we care. There are glimpses of greatness such as the elaboration on Kaworu and Shinji's relationship, but for the most part the movie feels mostly like a "bridge" episode of this film series whose job is only to keep the seat warm until the real sequel comes out.

It's great that they finally tried to do something a little different, but here we are missing everything that made the franchise special or the first two films remotely good. We are at a point in the story where the focus should be finally moved to the characters, but most of them have been suddenly cut out or turned into something completely different. The personalities of the ones who are still around have been strangely flattened, with important issues often being resolved in a short conversation if not a casual shogi game (??). On the other hand, things that should be kept simple are made overcomplicated with no apparent purpose. I dare anyone who is not familiar with the series to understand the point of this film.

Shinji's struggle mostly came from the inside, but this time they decided to let the world end earlier so that he could have something extra to whine about for a couple of hours. I was initially pleased to find out that the film would be focused on the relationship between him and Kaworu, as the original series only spends 15 minutes on it. Still, it felt like they could develop that aspect a little more as well. Maybe they spent too much time working on the (boring) CGI action sequences to make people happy.

I am confident that "3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time" will be better, but as this is no TV show, each individual film should be satisfying with its own definite narrative arc.

Finally new material after years of remakes and recycled material and reshuffled scenes.

It is glorious to behold!

But, at the same time, it was a whole lot of setup and build up for the final part in the series. So, it didn't have as much bang as I would have liked.

Overall, it's very true to what came before, and it's nice to see these characters doing something new even if it was a bit of a tease to wait for the final movie.

With a plot full of holes like Swiss cheese, setting and setup that will confuse even the staunchest long-time fans, script on the level of a bad fan fiction, countless disrepancies and abandoned plot lines from the first two movies and characterization taking 180-degree turns every two seconds, Evangelion 3.0 is an utter mess at best, and an open insult to movie watchers at worst. It's a colossal failure as its own story, as a follow-up, as a remake and a movie in general that renders the previous two movies and all their accomplishments completely pointless.

Almost nothing from the previous films is resolved in any meaningful way: Shinji's relationships with his friends and slowly growing confidence, Kaji's shady dealings with NERV, the Key of Nebuchadnezzar, Rei coming out of her shell, Asuka warming up to people, the growing threat of Angel attacks and much more are completely abandoned and forgotten about. In their place we get an endless barrage of new terms and plot elements which the characters talk about, but none of which are ever adequately explained or established. The first 30 minutes consist of nothing but action scenes with only the tiniest amount of context or setup, just a bunch of flashy stuff for the viewer to look at.

The characters have taken a total nosedive. Mari, who had a strange foreboding about her in 2.0 is reduced to a mere sidekick with no meaning. Despite the 14-year gap, Asuka is still her old bratty self despite now being 28 years old. The justification for her and Mari not having aged is so ridiculous you have to wonder if the writers are actually pulling a prank. Misato is so far removed from her previous persona she might as well be an entirely new character. Rei's character actually regresses, as all her development from the previous movies is rendered nonexistent, and is never properly explained how. Gendo has become a caricature of himself. In the original series he had an enigmatic presence and there were hints of his deeper motives, but here there's nothing under the surface: he's just a cartoon villain, practically twirling his moustache and cackling "JUST AS PLANNED".

But the change of setting is undoubtedly the thing that shoots this film in the leg and then some. So many questions rise and are never answered that the viewer is completely lost. The last 20 minutes will be spent in utter confusion as the viewer tries to grasp even the flimsiest straw of what is supposed to be going on, and why it should mean anything. Bombastic music playing over certain scenes is the only signal of something meaningful happening, but since the setting is so unestablished the viewer is just left thinking "I guess that's important because the characters act like it is, but why should I care?"

Perhaps the only saving qualities of this film are the music and the animation, both of which are great and work to put together some rather impressive action scenes. But that makes it only so much worse when you think what other projects this clearly great amount of talent could have been used for, rather than this 90-minute fart in the audience's face. At one point Fuyutsuki, the one character who gives the only direct exposition in the film, says "'Tis a wretched role I'm playing" to himself. It's almost if he's meta talking about his character having been reduced to a useless exposition device.

Add to all this meaningless shoutouts to the original like recycled shots from the series and Gendo's new choice of eyewear, occasional pseudo-philosophical lines which don't mean anything and some completely out of place piano playing scenes that add nothing to the story and you have an indulgent, incomprehensible, poorly told, plot less, pretentious, forced mess that doesn't even have a proper ending. Stuff explodes, characters talk about things you don't understand, Shinji sulks, some piano playing, stuff explodes again and then the movie just stops. Nothing has been achieved, learned or accomplished and you just don't care.

Ah look, the black sheep of the rebuilds.

Look, this film was just ok when I watched it. It's dramatically improved by the sequel, which makes a lot of this film (notably not all) make actual sense. The goal of Anno it seems, is to show the plot from Shinji's perspective. So basically, confuse the hell out of the viewer to make us empathise with this kid. This is an interesting, but flawed decision I think. Why not trust the viewer to empathise with this traumatised, anxiety filled teenager that's forced to risk his life constantly? Is your target audience children?

Regardless, knowing what comes next does improve this aspect.

The film does start out strongly, with a fight on a scale not before seen in Evangelion. The 3D, while looking a bit cheaper, does allow for this to happen. I liked it quite a bit, and the general sense of overwhelming information at first is refreshing.

It's important to note that we are so far detached from the main series at this point, this is a fresh new experience with slightly different versions of characters that you probably love from the original series.

Don't let the feedback of this film scare you away. It's probably due to how confusing it is, and the 9 year wait people had to endure to actually get some answers.

For me, I just had to wait 5 minutes.