Well guys. It's time.
Evangelion 3.0+1.0 is here, finally, at long last.
And that means that it's time to share some thoughts with all of you.
Before we move on, this video will contain spoilers for Evangelion 3.0+1.0, so consider yourself warned.
I want to start out by saying that I don't consider this a formal review.
I fully expect to revisit and review the Rebuild series, both individually, and as a whole.
And, because of what the film's resolution revolves around,
I feel I can't fully stamp an approval or disapproval on 3.0+1.0, or Rebuild as a whole at this time.
There’s so much that I want to revisit beforehand, not just the prior three films,
but also the television series, The End of Evangelion, and Sadamoto's manga.
I think it's important to consider the interrelation between all of these works, when also evaluating 3.0+1.0,
which in some ways endeavors to be the new capstone for the core works of the franchise.
I've been an Evangelion fan for a long time, and I've spent a long time awaiting this film.
When the Rebuild of Evangelion films were announced fifteen years ago,
they were described as three re-edits of the television series, concluded with a new ending.
And the original timeframe for that ending would have seen it released by the end of 2008.
In a way, I've spent the majority of my Evangelion fandom in expectation for this new ending.
In that regard, it had a lot, perhaps too much to live up to.
One of the things that I hope is pretty apparent from my social media, the content that I create,
and how I interact with all of you in the fandom, is that I want to project positivity and optimism,
because I really love this franchise, and I want people to enjoy every facet of it.
And in the case where I don't care for a part of it, and particularly where others do,
I genuinely feel bad, like I'm letting you all down.
All of this is to say that I wanted to like this film. I wanted to be satisfied by this film. But I'm not.
After three viewings, I can't say that I liked it. I can't say that I hated it either.
Mostly, I feel disappointment in nearly every aspect of it's narrative.
I've read comments and responses by people who found it beautiful, emotional, cathartic,
and how they were moved to tears by it, and a part of me wants to joke and ask, "did we even watch the same movie?".
Candidly, the first time I watched it, it felt like a fever dream. Like, my brain genuinely hurt afterwards.
I suppose that's fitting, in a way, the memory of my first viewings of the prior two endings were also a lot to take in and process.
Nevertheless, it took me a while to slowly decompress, and begin to put my feelings into human speech.
My first issue was the film's length. In every way, it felt like a two and a half hour film.
It never engaged me to the point where the time slipped by. It crawled.
I kept checking the playhead to see how much time was left. I was surprised by how slowly it progressed through its acts.
I can recall watching "The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya", which is longer than 3.0+1.0,
and being engaged with it to the point where it didn't feel remotely as long as it was.
3.0+1.0 on the other hand, felt much longer than it actually was.
Another issue I had was the film's structure, and that despite being a pretty long film,
it felt like the first half contributed very little to the second half.
I liked the Paris sequence as an action set piece, but really,
all it boils down to is them getting parts and supplies. That's it.
If the children had rejoined Wille after they had made repairs, I really don't think anything would have been lost in terms of the narrative.
Similarly, the Village sequence really doesn't add much to the rest of the film.
It's mostly about completing Rei Q's arc, which is basically the same as Rei 2's arc in 2.0.
She's nice to Shinji, and she gives him his fathers tape player, which is symbolic of wanting them to communicate.
It feels very redundant, and I would have liked to see her character arc connect with Rei 2 in a more meaningful way.
As for Shinji, this film feels like it completely forgot that he's the protagonist.
With the exception of isolating himself from others, he doesn't do or say anything for an entire 37 minutes of the film.
And while he starts to open back up through the efforts of Rei and Kensuke, he does nothing to advance the film's plot.
In particular, the transition from Rei Q's death, which should have triggered a relapse of his PTSD,
to him resolving himself to go with the Wunder, which happened the same day, felt incredibly abrupt, unrealistic, and sloppy.
I'm certain many of you will disagree, but I could have done without the entire Village sequence,
and instead followed the opening titles with the children being retrieved by Wille,
and reinvest that time in the reconciliation between Shinji and Misato
being the thing that allows Shinji to cope with his PTSD, and rediscover his path in the story.
Alternatively, have the Wunder spend time at the village, so that Misato and Shinji can connect,
and so that Shinji and Mari can develop a more believable relationship.
While some lasting issues from 3.0 are resolved, we don't get to the actual plot, or conflict of the film
until a full hour in, when we get to Operation Yamato, which has the goal of rendering Unit-13 unusable,
to prevent instrumentality, or another impact from occurring.
It took an entire hour to get to what the film is actually about.
My issue with Operation Yamato itself is that it's a solid half hour action set piece,
that's followed with another half hour of being punched in the face repeatedly by deep lore babble. It was exhausting.
And, after an hour of all of that, at two hours into the film, and after ruining the suspension of disbelief
with the ridiculous face of Evangelion Imaginary, we finally get to the main emotional hook of the film, Gendo.
This is the part of the film where I completely disengaged from the narrative.
I don't care about Gendo, and I really don't care about healing his heart.
Moreover, despite being ten minutes long, Gendo's emotional epiphany that Yui lived on through Shinji felt very sloppy and abrupt.
It's as if Gendo abandons his 20 plus year quest to be reunited with his wife, a quest where he has literally destroyed the world,
pretty much at the drop of a hat, and all it took was Shinji telling him that he should share his feelings.
And, for as important as Yui is, in all of this, she's been reduced, less of a character now, and more of an idea.
Her only spoken line, considering the names of Rei and Shinji, is recycled from 1.0,
and If I'm not mistaken, is her only spoken line in the entire tetralogy.
And finally, the loop, the connections to Neon Genesis all felt very vague and messy,
and Shinji deciding to rewrite reality to one without Evangelions felt like a very cheap resolution.
Instead, I would rather have seen the Evangelions wiped from existence, the door to gauf closed,
the corization of the earth purified, and the curse of Evangelion lifted from the pilots.
And initially, that's what appears to happen, but then Shinji appears to awaken in a reset world, with Mari,
who removes his DSS Choker, the responsibility that Misato had bestowed upon him, as the last remnant of that reality.
I don't interpret this as the literal future of that world.
The presence of the choker, and of Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu, seemingly as strangers in the background,
and that it transitions to live action to connect it to our reality, would all suggest otherwise.
This film talks about standing up in the real world, and accepting the responsibility of your actions,
and where previously we were told that time can't be turned back, that you can not redo,
wishing for an entirely new world feels like it undermines all of that.
I would have liked to see Shinji return to the Village, which the film spent the better part of an hour developing,
to help REBUILD, rather than wishing it all away.
The fact that Shinji is heavily implied to have ended up with Mari, didn't upset or disappoint me,
the fact that it seems to have wished away everything else along with it, feels like a disservice to that world,
and the potential it had to renew itself, had it only been given the chance.
The finality of the ending, came at the expense of any joy that people found in the Village,
as well as the characters, or the versions of those characters lost in the rewrite.
What shouldn't have been rewritten, was the world of this film.
What should have been rewritten, was the film itself.
I sincerely wanted to like this film. Maybe it will grow on me over time.
But for now, I feel overwhelming disappointment for it.
There are certain elements, ingredients within the film that I enjoyed.
I enjoyed seeing Touji and Hikari together, raising a baby girl.
I enjoyed the action set pieces, like the Paris operation,
and the Evas diving into the vortex of mass produced Evangelions, ridiculous in its excess as it may have been.
I found most of the experimentalism in the instrumentality sequence interesting.
Visually, the film was mostly very well done. The film was certainly well crafted, and countless hours were put into its creation,
and the sound track was excellent, with a lot of memorable background music, and lyrical interludes.
but the narrative itself felt overly long and poorly structured, and the emotional core of the film didn't resonate with me.
For those of you who were so moved by this film, I want to say that, for what it's worth,
I am genuinely happy that you were able to enjoy this film where I could not.
More than anything else, Evangelion 3.0+1.0 leaves me with a desire
to reread the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto,
which I think more accurately reflects the ending that I had wished for, and more fittingly leaves Evangelion thrice ended.
Hey guys, thanks for listening, I hope you appreciated hearing my thoughts, even if you disagree.
In the spirit of positivity, regardless of whether you liked or disliked 3.0+1.0,
tell me one thing in the comments below, that you liked or enjoyed about this film.
Thanks, I'll see you again soon.