Review of Psycho-Pass: The Movie

Aaa, Psycho-Pass... Once a great doesn't mean it can get a legacy. After a whole week of pondering whether to see Psycho-Pass movie, I finally gave in the urge and actually enjoyed the first half of it. While it may have been driven by my bias since I like the prospect of the original protagonist returning in the spotlight, soon, in the latter half, it was crushed by an anticlimactic conclusion. Given Psycho-Pass already embracing their fallen grace, from the great season one to the poorly-written sequel, I was foolish to think that the movie would serve as a holy gargle to wash out the bad tasteof the season 2. And yeah, like aforementioned I did enjoyed the first half and literally got bored on the latter parts.

So I'll start the points to my review in my usual format.

The story wasn't bad nor it was any good either. Though a "mediocre" term is simply an insult as well. Frankly, the story had given the movie a good drive.

Enters Shamballa, a newly-made cage for those who had just adapted the Sybil System. With its inferior function compared to the original, misfits and the rule of the systeml itself wasn't stabilized in the said country.

Then comes Kougami, in his recurring main role. This is why I'm always telling my friends that without Kougami, Psycho-Pass can never be such a bad-ass title. He now staged a guerilla faction opposing the Sybil as always. With his drive for his self-defined justice, he opted to act on his proven instincts to help the minority live another day.

Finally, Akane. The notion of having Kougami and Akane in one movie was mouthwatering, but unfortunately, their reunion was bland and as far as I'm concerned, really unconvincing. With hopes of arresting her admired model, Akane sets off to Shamballa to start of her investigation but it seems like the ever-calculated Sybil System had already seen through her intentions from the very start and purposely let go of her so that she won't pose a dent to their plans.

Thus, the fateful reunion emerges and Kougami showed her the real situation of the country and so on and so on...

Now we point on the focal minus of the movie and that is the villains.

By now, we all know that Sybil System is a mass of Zero crime-coeffiecient brains, so the movie took a slightly different approach to their previous portrait of bad guys. Coming on this movie is a bunch of foreign mercenaries, which were totally honed as veterans on the warfields only to turn like idiots in the last part of the film. Aside from the big gorilla boss, who posed lethal threat to Kougami's hand-to-hand combat, the bunch who were pretty much intensified from their initial appearance were reduced to mincemeat without even resisting in the end and it was such a major turn-off.

Another was this Colonel who initially appeared like an obedient dog turned out he is the mastermind of all. He was a waste of character development as he never acted like a real villain. The textbooked aspect of his has never left an impression and like any of the other villains, he was simply shot in the end, splattered his insides and that's it.

The only villain worth mentioning is the ever-charismatic Makishima Shougo who appeared as Kougami's delusion. In the midst of their discourse, Makishima has indeed labelled Kougami as a bloodhound, only driven by his own view of justice. That itself served as a salvation for the majority of the bad dialogues and it was enough for me to tolerate the rest of the show.

In the end, it was Akane's "Talk-no-jutsu" that finished the squabble. It was good at the least I think, one of the few worth mentioning. After all, Akane was written as the type to adhere the law and maintain it as fair as it can be.

Ending this review, while the movie has indeed showed glimpses of greatness, it was all because Kougami was included in the cast. Imagine the movie without him and it will certainly, turn into one of the most forgettable films ever made.

Still, with Kougami's tenacity towards finding his peace or perhaps, his resting place remains unsolved, there's still so much to expect from his character. With him still lurking outside the cage, I think it's safe to expect a third season years from now. Whether we see Akane finally arresting him, or he becomes the biggest villain the System has ever face yet faced, I'm still hoping that Psycho-Pass can redeem themselves into one of the greats.