"The End of Evangelion" Fever Dream or Masterpiece?


     End of Evangelion is being rescreened in Canada and my friend and I took that opportunity to finally see the legendary anime's true ending in person. Or well, one of the many endings, because frankly anytime they release Evangelion in a new format it seems they can't resist also changing the ending. To be honest, I came into this movie expecting very little. In fact, I can't say Evangelion is very easy to explain, there's a bunch of religious lore, many things are never explained, and as someone who just finished watching the movie, I can safely say don't expect everything to be explained. I have to say though, when I was watching this movie for the first time, I must have been on my phone, because this time I actually understand this movie.

    Look, I'm not here to justify a 15 minute interlude where they just film the Japanese public, or the opening scene of Shinji masturbating to a naked Asuka in front of him, but honestly this movie is easier to follow than you think. And honestly, I enjoy the film more than I did before, which yes was something I was genuinely concerned about. Even though there's relatively little fighting other than the one Asuka fight, and Shinji, who is supposed to be the main character mainly just cries and holds one pose, I was oddly captivated throughout the whole ordeal. I mean is the message a bit hamfisted? Yes, but when it comes to a series as confusing as Evangelion can be I think it's generally a good thing to have a pretty explicit message about perseverance.

    Yes, the world is not perfect and you will always end up hurting someone, but that should not be a reason to give up on life forever. That also doesn't mean you should be looking for everyone to ascend, letting go of their souls (or AT fields?)/ individuality just because you believe you can play God. Even if the film does end on Shinji simply choking Asuka and crying, I think it does ultimately end on a hopeful note. Is it as hopeful and as warming as everyone clapping and simply saying congratulations like the original ending? I mean no, but even as bleak as the ending seems, it's proof that Shinji chose to continue to fight on, for whatever world that might be left.

    Frankly though, if you're not a fan of Evangelion how interesting is this movie really? I mean how interesting is this movie even if you're an Evangelion fan? I basically consumed all Evangelion content for a month in high school and even I couldn't bear to watch this movie without my phone in my hand. Plus we haven't even addressed the big elephant in this room, the amount of nudity/sexual content contained in this film. Is any of it necessary? Maybe for big Rei, but otherwise it's copious and frankly I think the last thing this film needed was Gendo causing the teenage clone of his wife to moan so that he could finally start the third impact. I think the film could have done without it, though I'll say I think the Evangelion creator is one horny bastard, the fan service becomes pretty egregious especially in the remake movies.

Final Score: 70/100

    Would I watch this film again? Probably not unless my friend asked me to. Would I say I hated this film, also not really I mean it's not like it's bad it's just that it's really slow and it doesn't work at all unless you have a pretty solid grasp of what Evangelion and it's lore is about. Regardless, I'd be lying if I didn't leave the theaters satisfied, and it is significantly better than that weird drawn ending they originally laid out for the last two episodes of the anime. On a side note, I forgot how smooth the jazz music for this film is, Komm Susser Tod is much better than it really needs to be.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 1" What The Hell is This?

Image
      Look, Danny Devito was the only reason this show had any sort of foothold in my mind. I kept on repeating I'm the trash man through many of my younger years, and frankly, after looking at the absurd number of seasons, I've always been wary of starting this sitcom. In fact, I had even given it a shot before this, but no Devito, oddly low quality and format for the time period, and just general wariness had kept me from going past the pilot. Not to mention, you watch the first episode and just ask yourself, is this kind of racist? Is it bad that I might be laughing at how completely racist these characters are? Anyways, I did manage to get past the first episode, and even managed to complete a season, and I can safely say that I now understand what people mean when they point to this show to prove that "cancel culture has not ruined comedy". I mean in only seven episodes, the show decides to deal with racism, gay people, abortion, cancer, underage drinking, a litt
Read more

"System Of A Down - Toxicity" Stick it Out for the Second Half

Image
      I have in fact tried listening to this album before. I remember Anthony Fantano saying he really loved Toxicity , so I decided to put on Prison Song  at 12 pm, before promptly realizing this is exactly the kind of music I'd rather not listen to going to sleep, and that the song was really on the nose. Other than that I have absolutely no prior experience with System Of A Down other than Chop Suey!  which is a lovely song that Jeff Rosenstock continues to play before every single one of his shows (thankfully). So I suppose I won't pretend to deliberate further because I'm not particularly a big metalhead either, so I doubt any knowledge I might impart would be useful. So without further ado, my track-by-track review. Toxicity - System Of A Down Prison Song  - 55/100 While the chorus and the song in general goes pretty hard, I have to say just the whole delivery of the verses is really holding this song back. Well other than the fact that it's pretty much just them
Read more

"It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 2"

Image
      To me, Danny Devito was always It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia . Not because I was actually a big fan of him, but rather because he's so unique, with the way he looks and his general stature, I was half expecting him to steal the show and constantly be doing these feats of physical comedy. But he didn't, and I suppose that's on me, after all everyone in this TV show is supposed to be an asshole, so did I really expect him to be any different? I guess I just have this perception of him as this nice old man from Matilda but honestly at first his appearance in this show was just really jarring to me. He frankly looks younger than you'd think he is, though I suppose that's because of the age of the show, and him being framed as the father to Dee and Dennis took some getting used to for me. In spite of all that, I'd say by the end of this season Devito had grown on me, and frankly him and his hijinks are a welcome addition to help round out this cast.    
Read more