Gekijouban Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel - III. Spring Song

In a year when big movie projects are either delayed or stopped indefinitely the third film from Japanese anime franchise FATE/STAY NIGHT sneakily got into movie theatres. I only understood what a big deal this release was when I couldn't buy a ticket, every session sold out for ten days straight.

The anime film revolves around teenagers playing the deadly "battle royal" game, where the last one standing will win the Holy Grail and have their wish fulfilled. Think HUNGER GAMES with dark magic, with some high school romance and Dragon Ballz battles, and you will get what the FATE franchise is about. The film reviewed here is the third in the trilogy called HEAVEN'S FEEL, and you would have to see at least the original tv show and both previous theatrical movies to understand what's going on.

HEAVEN'S FEEL III is loud, colourful and even thought provoking entertainment, however I found its rather simplistic story very heavy on unnecessary details that you won't get if you don't remember them from the other movies and TV shows.

This one is for the fans! For non aficionados it's impossible to follow up on every thread of information given, and I was often at a loss, even though I had seen the minimum requirement to understand it.

Hearing the fans talking after the film, it was clear they got what they wanted. With its huge budget, HEAVEN'S FEEL has an indie production air about it, as common sense is often sacrificed for artistry. The animation here is mind blowing and if anything it's the reason to see the film. The soundtrack from veteran anime composer Yuki Kajiura is a masterpiece (the album unfortunately is unavailable on Spotify). All in all HEAVEN'S FEEL III can be quite an experience but to those exposed to the franchise for the first time it will look like an incomprehensible mess.

I am a big fan of the series. Let me just say, if you do not know what this series is about, there is no way you will understand what this movie is talking about.

That said, this last installment was not consistent with previous two. I think what has happened is that they started off very well, how ever half way through making the third movie they realised "oh shit, at this rate we will never finish the story with only three movies..."then they cut out all the little details which would really flesh the story out a lot more.

This is the over all feel I had when I walked out of the theatre, I could really appreciate what they were trying to do and the embedded message of it. However it had too many compromises and the whole thing feels wrinkled and uneven. Hopefully there would be a director's cut version of it.

As a fan, was it a master piece that I wanted? No, not by a long shot. But, was it grand and enjoyable? Hell yeah.

Let me begin off by saying I recently started watching Fate a few months ago with Fate Stay Night. I'm far from the most hardcore Fate fan, however I have enjoyed my experience lately...and plan to get into Fate Grand Order soon. With that said, here is my review.

• Sound: I did not come in expecting the most impactful portion of the movie being the sound. The sound effects were amazing throughout (a bit loud, but amazing nonetheless). The MUSIC was phenomenal!!! I'm talking about music throughout almost the ENTIRE film that perfectly captures the mood. When I say the ENTIRE film...I'm only slightly exaggerating...at least 80% of the scenes were accompanied by an OST.

• Animation: There isn't much to say here. We all knew what Ufotable would do with a movie budget and full production cycle. It's amazing. The fights were beautiful. There are a lot of flashes of rainbow colored light, but it doesn't take anything away from the choreography. If anything it only adds to the drama. Even when everyone was standing around talking it was beautiful.

• Story: This might be the weakest part of the movie to me...and this is why I emphasized before the review that I have limited experience in the Fate universe. I'm not fully engaged with the visual novel, so there were quite a few moments when I did not understand what was happening, and they didn't really explain it. The pacing here was breakneck. The movie is two hours long, but it doesn't feel like two hours at all. It felt more like an hour. I'm assuming they made this with visual novel readers in mind, and didn't want to over explain what that audience already knows...however that is a weak point if I judge this film strictly on its own merit.

• Waifus: All my waifus looked amazing out there. Rider, Sakura, Rin...the art style allowed them all to shine in their own ways. I feel like the movie did a good job touching of the relationship between the three. I wish I could have seen more of Saber, but I understand why I didn't. She wasn't the focus of the film.

• Overall I enjoyed the movie, and would definitely purchase the Blu Ray for it.

-intheweebcloset

Honestly, I feel that the critiques in some of these reviews are legitimately unjustified. Let me preface by saying that from a technical aspect, this movie is head and shoulders above the first two movies. There generally are no hard cuts for scenes, the storyboard for the film is much more straightforward and it naturally answers most questions(with the exception of the ending).

With that out of the way, I will say that this film cannot and should not be judged as just a single piece of work but as a culmination for ALL of Ufotable's Fate works. What this story tries to show and allude to can only ever be appreciated if looked as a sequel because that is the clear intention. If someone can't necessarily remember plot elements tied to previous works like Unlimited Blade Works or Fate/Zero, I don't think the fault is placed on this movie. It expects its viewers to know the story it tries to tell. It wants to treat them competently and read into subtext. As for people that simply want a highlight action reel, this movie also gives them what they want in spades. This is a sequel to end it all and it'll give a large spectrum of fans at least a few things to love. A masterpiece in my eyes.

What a satisfying conclusion to the HF series. Even though they left out a few things from VN, the fights were some of the best represented to date. This movie was a perfect reward coming from a VN fan.