Review of Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
Ah, Evangelion. I like to consider myself something of an Evangelion fanboy. I loved the first two rebuild movies so much, I went back and watched the original series as well as EOE. I bored to death anyone who would listen to my numerous theories and explanations behind the recurring symbolism and the less "cohesive" sections. And most of all, I would never pass up a chance to illustrate my excitement for the next rebuild movie. I spent four years waiting for the release, and another 4-5 months for the BDs. I watched, I took in, I digested, I frowned. This wasn't what I was waitingfor.
Evangelion 3.0 (technically I watched 3.33, but that's irrelevant) takes place a whole fourteen years after the events of 2.22. Shinji finds himself a prisoner of the anti-NERV organization Wille, led by his old friend Misato and countless other acquaintances. What was expected to be a happy, warm welcome turns out to be a cold rejection, as the entire crew seems to hold a grudge against Shinji for doing something terrible that he doesn't remember doing. From here on is a roller-coaster ride that will play with your mind and crush your preconceptions.
Not in a good way, mind you, but it will.
Every single character has changed, as to be expected after fourteen years. But the fact is that why they have changed ironically remains a mystery to Shinji until nearly half-way through the film. People frequently refuse to offer him an explanation for no good reason, seemingly only to make him (and the viewer) more and more confused. There is also no explanation of what happened within those fourteen years to bring the characters to where they currently are, and some very important characters (such as Gendo) are given such incredibly short roles that it's positively stupefying. A few terms are tossed around so liberally and then never used again (Key of Nebudchanezzar? L barrier?) and the climax of the movie was a haphazard (from my perspective) mess, nearly impossible to follow and increasingly difficult to care about. I watched and understood EOE, but ironically, this is what stumps me.
It's a good thing there are redeeming factors.
The art and animation are fantastic; not as good as the previous movies, of course, but still most definitely exceptional. The liberal use of CG distracts from it, but what is here is eye-catching, jaw-dropping, and simply brilliant. The sound is of similar caliber, but it's relegated to the side in the movie; I would not listen to a single song on this OST without visual accompaniment, which is truly a shame, as many songs on 2.22's OST were fantastic while standalone. The only exception to this is the ending theme, Sakura Nagashi, which captures the feel of the movie incredibly well, and shows why Utada Hikaru is very deserving of her widespread acclaim. Voice acting continues to set a high standard, particularly Megumi Ogata's performance as Shinji, which I thought was very well done and brought me farther into an otherwise broken movie.
The characters, on the other hand, do not deserve the same amount of praise, in my opinion. The interactions between Shinji and Kaworu were well executed and definitely entertaining to watch, but that's as far as I can go. Mari is a completely unnecessary character, and doesn't contribute anything of value to the overall story. Misato's new character isn't explored nearly enough, and is frequently very off-putting. Ritsuko has no role other than to deliver exposition, and Gendo's has about five lines in the entire movie and shares Misato's problem. Rei has been reset to, well, rei (I'm sorry), and has lost all of her characterization from the second film. And Asuka, well, I'm not sure what to say about her. That's the problem, really. Her character wasn't really developed or explored, but what was there wasn't taken away, and I at least appreciate that. Other than that, there isn't much to say.
Out of all the Rebuild movies, I believe that 3.0 is the closest to the original's psychological themes, even going so far as to say that it's trying to emulate them. But if that's the case, then it's failing spectacularly. There is no real psychology to see here, and the original series wasn't known just for being confusing. There was a message, an overarching story-line, characterization. This movie has none of these things. It is simply confusing, and just being confusing does not Neon Genesis Evangelion make.
There is much more that needs to be added.