Rebuild of Evangelion 1

THE REBUILD OF EVANGELION 1 : YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE

The first of 4 movies that re-work and modernise the highly popular work "Neon Genesis Evangelion". 

Please note - In this review I will NOT be comparing how the new movies hold up to the original series, as areas such as voice acting, production, CGI and story pacing have grown massively in the industry as a whole since the series. I will also be looking at the movie from the perspective of a single stand-alone piece. While I understand its part of a much larger set, I will be holding a second review of all 4 movies as one piece once all 4 have been released.

OVERVIEW - Set in a place called "Tokyo 3" at a time possibly in the future, The film is about humanity's struggle against an invading force called "Angels" who apparently seek to destroy all life on the planet. The main character is a teenage boy called Shinji Ikaru who has been summoned to the city to pilot a giant mecha known as an "Eva" in order to fight these Angels. In doing so he is inducted into a secret military organisation run by his estranged father. 

REVIEW - The film literally starts with a bang, throwing you right into a battle against an invading Angel with no warning, no information to the setting and no introduction to the characters. As the main character, Shinji, is picked up by a woman called Misato Katsuragi, more is revealed about them both. Shinji has been sent for by his father, for whom Misato works. As the battle rages on the pair arrive at NERV's headquarters, where Shinji's father works. Shinji is quickly brought before a giant mecha and told he must pilot it to defeat the attacking angel. After his initial refusal he decides to do it once he sees the battered condition of the only other potential pilot. 

By this point, it was only my knowledge of the story gained from seeing the series many years ago that stopped me from being lost. The action isnt at breakneck speed but is still fairly busy, however there is no attempt made at really explaining what is going on. Why is it only Shinji can pilot the Eva? why only children? whats the deal with the Angel's attacking? It gets a little confusing being given all this action and no exposition whatsoever. 

As the movie goes on, little bits are revealed, but never really explained. Some of it just plain doesnt make sense, like how Shinji's new classmates know he was piloting the Eva, the comment about "the second impact" is literally made like that.. simply stating that the second impact killed half of humanity and the angels are aiming to create a third impact to kill everyone else, which would happen if they reach a secret level in NERV HQ, thrown at Shinji to try to convince him to carry on fighting, but never mentioned before, or after. The film shows the Eva units "going berserk" but never expands on it other than showing that its "bad". The storyline really seems to be missing large points of explination about some really basic stuff, and one would only hope that the next 3 movies would add some of the information in. 

The characters are still the biggest dissapointment for me. I'm not a fan of the original series because of the one-dimensional portrayals and sadly the film really doesnt do much better. 

Shinji - Passive-aggresive behaviour, quietly doing what he's told then having strops about having to do what he's told. The only time he ever seems to show any backbone is when he's refusing to do something thats actually important. 

Misato - Alcoholic slob, with hints of an overly-sexed nature. seems unnaturally cheery at almost all times, such as making jokes and laughing about things such as having her car trashed by a nuclear blast, seeing an underage boy whom she's forcably dragged home naked or forcing Shinji to live with her. 

Shinji's father (first name not given in the movie) - cold, almost hatred towards his son yet laughing and overly concerned with a girl with whom he shares no shown relation outside of work. Is shown to be working on something bigger than simple defence but again, no emotional reaction save for a stern face and brooding behind his white gloves. 

Rei - second Eva pilot, seemingly incapable of any emotional response save when faced with Shinji's father. Almost robotic in her actions.

Most of the secondary character outside these four show little impact in the movie, save as plot points to explain characters actions, provide a sounding board for the little exposition we're given and incentive for people's actions. There is very little character depth in any of them, save for possibly Shinji's endless introspective thoughts where he flip-flops between wanting to be a "good son" and do as he's told and his fear of being hurt or dying while piloting the Eva. While I hope the upcoming films will address some of this, allowing more depth into the characters, as far as the first film goes, there is none. 

The story itself is fairly action packed, but the action sequences seem outweighed by scenes of Shinji moping about, being upset and isolated and Misato's oddly chirpy behaviour. There are three battles against Angels in the first movie, and it's hinted that there will be many more to come. The action sequences are fairly well paced, if short, and the climatic battle does convey a level of importance and how desperate the country is to prevent the angels from achieving their objectives. That said, it honestly feels like two different stories mashed into one, the "desperate fight" side, dealing with having to use experimental technology and children to fight an almost unbeatable foe, and the "lonely kid with daddy issues" side, generally shown by Shinji's mopy behaviour, inner monologues and his father's utter coldness towards him. Both Shinji and Misato's behaviour changes in each of these aspects of the stories, with Shinji showing desperation and reluctance to fight and Misato dropping the "its all your own choice" attitude towards Shinji and pretty much forcing him to fight even when he doesnt want to. 

The production however is top notch, the Angels, Eva's and city are all expertly rendered in cell shaded CG, seamlessly intergrating with the rest of the animation. lifelike movements and fast-paced action are achieved with no "tricks" used and the characters and backgrounds appear the same as well, often an issue with films. The character's designs are good, avoiding the elongated stretched looks of the series and with definate distinctions between each character as well. The oddest part however is how technology levels are really messed up, the time-frame of the movie is not revealed, but is obviously more advanced than current, given the weapons used in the battles. Even at a personal level, right at the start Shinji mentions his "cell phone" isnt working, implying at least modern-day levels of technology are in use by most people. Yet Misato's car is an 80's model, new as she mentions having 12 payments left on it, and Shinji spends most of this time listening to a cassette tape player (i mean, most teens now wouldnt really know what a cassette is) which is somewhat confusing, and I think a throwback to the time-frame of the original series, being released almost 20 years ago. 

Taken as a stand-alone movie, Evangelion 1.0 has much too little going for it. No exposition, no setting information, poorly developed characters and a schizophrenic storyline that doesnt gel well. It has many plot points left dangling and is obviously meant as part of a much larger story, which we all know it is. In that respect, I wont be letting the unresolved plot points negatively impact the summarys as that would be unreasonably harsh.

SUMMARY -

Story - With no explination as to whats going on, the world the movie is set in or any real introduction to the characters, coupled with the strangely opposed actions, behaviours and storylines, this movie is very hard to follow unless you're already familiar with the Evangelion story from the series. Its pacing seems unsettled, with the focus seemingly on the battles which are over relatively quickly. The one-dimensional characters are hard to relate to or empathise with as huge chucks of their backgrounds and rationalisations are missing. 3/10

Production -Top notch animation, as to be expected from a re-working of one of the most successful anime series of all time. There's almost nothing to find flaw in, save for the choice to make the intial scenes in Misato's appartment cartoony, a vast difference to the "real" feel for the rest of the film. otherwise this has some of the slickest animation I've seen. 9/10

 

Music - Nothing really stuck out, the film's score was fairly sparse, but that fact fitted the feel of the piece, and where it was used, it was used well. 7/10

 

Accessability - The film is set in Japan, and as such several japanese customs did sneak in, mostly in the scene with Misato taking Shinji home. None of which are really obscure or intrusive. For the most part the film takes place in a completely fictional scenario, meaning its as easily accessable for any culture. 8/10

 

Overall Impression - This film is an odd one, hard to see as a stand alone because of the knowledge that there's 3 more to come, and with so many dangling plot points left needing resolution its hard to really fairly review it on its own merits. The one-dimensional aspects of the characters could be resolved as the story grows in the following movies, the conflicting storyline style could also be resolved or the reason why it feels so different could become explained. For someone who's never seen or heard anything about Evangelion and didnt know there were more movies coming I dont see how this movie could impress however, it feels just too disjointed and shallow. 6/10

Final Score - 33/50