Review of Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale
It's back, but is it better? Eh, not really. Here's the spicy details with some spoilers, read at your own risk: Negatives: -They wear Google Glasses and run around the city like people hunting for raids in Pokemon Go. This is actually a main story telling device. I couldn't get over it. -They blew the budget at the end of the movie for a flurry of colors rather than something that could have held more impact or meaning. -You don't really meet the real villain until later, and even after all is said and done, his whole evil plot seemed pretty, well, dumb. -MINOR SPOILER-Despite endangering many lives, the villainwas granted immunity for his crimes. (After credits)
-There is a sub villain who physically hurt people in the real world. He somehow managed to evade anyone catching him in the act, despite being surrounded by other players. Also, this future apparently has little to no security cameras.
-SPOILER- Klein, or the rest of his guild, doesn't remember who injured them despite their memories of ONLY SAO being taken.
-When searching for the main villain, there is only a small team of agents in suits, and not entire squads of police despite thousands of people being at risk.
-As usual, the only characters who matter are Kirito and the Villain. Everyone else is secondary and really don't matter.
-The movie starts off with a boring explanation as to what the new headset is. That's just lazy.
-Kirito pulled a Deus Ex Machina.
-SPOILER- Somehow the whole group was able to simultaneously login and Full-Dive to defeat the final boss, but the only ones who were able to Full-Dive were those present in the stadium, courtesy of Yuuna. It isn't explained how they Full-Dived.
-The sound effect for AR booting up is lifted from some other movie or show, and I can't help but notice it each time.
There's some more I could say but those are the major complaints.
Pros:
-Asuna's nipple.
-Kirito seems more human.
-The art is pretty darn fluid. Even in moments of high-frame action, you get a feeling of depth and weight.
-The music is pretty good.
-The fights are nice.
-There's a little more mystery and investigating to it.
-Voice acting is alright.
It's easier to list the negatives of something than the pros. If you enjoy Sword Art Online, give it a watch. You will definitely enjoy it. However, to everyone else who has had mixed feelings about the series or has never watched it to begin with, I say don't bother.