Okay, I finally had an opportunity to watch this, and I'm going to try to comment a bit on it without rolling out any spoilers. I'll see how well I can pull that off.
This is the first full feature length movie the Gundam franchise has had in ages and there's a lot riding on it. It's made quite a lot of money but.. is it any good? I could tell as soon as I'd seen it that this was going to be a very polarizing movie. There are elements to it which are blatantly not 'Gundam' and, at times, run counter to messages that people have come to expect in Gundam.
Normally in Gundam you have a dialog of sorts between the main characters and the threat they're facing. A declaration of ideals is handed out on each side and the sides beat each other's faces in until someone is resolved as being 'right.' This movie lacks this completely. The enemy is faceless and voiceless and seemingly implacable. Brave soldiers put their lives on the line, proclaiming their devotion to their cause.. and are met with nothing but a soft metallic hum that will probably stick in my head the same way the Probe from Star Trek 4 did.
The enemy of the movie is, I think, one of the most alien aliens I have seen in recent efforts of speculative fiction. Their biology and home environment is completely unlike Earth's and it shows on basically every level.
One of the most surprising messages that got repeated in the story, both in dialog and in the events of the movie is the idea that 'understanding' is all well and good, and an admirable thing, but there comes a time when you have to be prepared for the thing that doesn't want to understand, that simply does not care or simply cannot be reasoned with. For a Gundam production to say this is almost heresy, and it has gotten a lot of people rather heated.
Is it good? It was entertaining. It was fairly thought provoking to me at least. I know a lot of Gundam fans who are kind of furious right now because they feel like it was 'too super robot' for them to properly enjoy. I wonder what in the world people like that are thinking. I personally recommend it with the following caveat: The movie does not attempt to explain the story to people who are just coming in now, this is not a recap movie and it goes straight away into the epilogue of a two season long TV series without missing a beat, two hours is barely enough time to get the job they wanted to do done.
Of course, just like any regular TV episode of Gundam 00.. make sure to keep watching when the credits roll, there's a little something after the credits end.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
This is the first full feature length movie the Gundam franchise has had in ages and there's a lot riding on it. It's made quite a lot of money but.. is it any good? I could tell as soon as I'd seen it that this was going to be a very polarizing movie. There are elements to it which are blatantly not 'Gundam' and, at times, run counter to messages that people have come to expect in Gundam.
Normally in Gundam you have a dialog of sorts between the main characters and the threat they're facing. A declaration of ideals is handed out on each side and the sides beat each other's faces in until someone is resolved as being 'right.' This movie lacks this completely. The enemy is faceless and voiceless and seemingly implacable. Brave soldiers put their lives on the line, proclaiming their devotion to their cause.. and are met with nothing but a soft metallic hum that will probably stick in my head the same way the Probe from Star Trek 4 did.
The enemy of the movie is, I think, one of the most alien aliens I have seen in recent efforts of speculative fiction. Their biology and home environment is completely unlike Earth's and it shows on basically every level.
One of the most surprising messages that got repeated in the story, both in dialog and in the events of the movie is the idea that 'understanding' is all well and good, and an admirable thing, but there comes a time when you have to be prepared for the thing that doesn't want to understand, that simply does not care or simply cannot be reasoned with. For a Gundam production to say this is almost heresy, and it has gotten a lot of people rather heated.
Is it good? It was entertaining. It was fairly thought provoking to me at least. I know a lot of Gundam fans who are kind of furious right now because they feel like it was 'too super robot' for them to properly enjoy. I wonder what in the world people like that are thinking. I personally recommend it with the following caveat: The movie does not attempt to explain the story to people who are just coming in now, this is not a recap movie and it goes straight away into the epilogue of a two season long TV series without missing a beat, two hours is barely enough time to get the job they wanted to do done.
Of course, just like any regular TV episode of Gundam 00.. make sure to keep watching when the credits roll, there's a little something after the credits end.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead