The answer is surprisingly well. From start to finish, the film moves at a fast, almost breathless, clip. If the first film recalled how slow the opening act was, this one will take long-time fans back to the days when they couldn’t wait to go to the video store to pick up the next two-episode tape priced at $30. It brings back the sense of discovery, character drama and nightmarish intensity of the series’ main arc all those years ago. Ironically, the reason for this is that the film only superficially resembles the second act of Evangelion.
Granted, many of the main points remain the same: fan-favorite characters, Asuka and Kaji, are introduced; the crimson Eva Unit 02 gets deployed for the first time; and a fight with an Angel-infected Eva plays a key role in protagonist Shinji Ikari’s development. Even the infamous still-frame elevator scene gets thrown in for good measure. However, the devil is the details as these events play out in a dramatically different fashion and to drastically different effect. By changing everything, the acquainted fan can no longer fall back on his previous knowledge for comfort. Everything old is made new again.
Indeed, detail is a key word throughout this film. While the TV series was never for a lack of nuance, the world of Tokyo-3 as shown in this film makes the place really feel alive, like it never did in the Eva series. Director Anno devotes just as much attention to how people get on and off the trains as he does to showing how the Evangelions dispatch the various Angels. The scenes are minor, but they add a deft humanistic touch to an anime that is best remembered for its unapologetic nihilism.
Despite several fun scenes with the series leads just being kids—including one amusing visit to an aquarium and the suggestion of a love triangle—this hasn't suddenly become Neon Sunshine Evangiggleon. The battles, brutal as they were in the TV series, take on a more animalistic nature, similar to Gurren Lagann but bloodier, that taxes the film’s budget and the audience’s stomachs to the fullest. Nary does a battle go by where someone doesn’t get a limb or three casually torn apart, exploded or otherwise mangled in graphic fashion. Yet, like seeing a pack of wolves take down a deer, it never feels sadistic, merely methodical in its carnage.
What is a bit of a letdown is the new character, Mari. When first announced as being a new Evangelion pilot, there was much anticipation over her involvement with the new storyline. While the contrast between her collected, slightly libidinous nature and her borderline psychopathic obsession with piloting the Evangelion are interesting to watch in comparison to the more morose main cast, she simply doesn’t get to do very much. Unless there are greater plans for her in the final installment, she seems destined to be relegated to just another figure for hardcore otaku to collect than a proper character in her own right.
On the other hand, the new and redesigned Angels are an utter delight to watch. Beautifully animated with all sorts of surreal appendages and implausible designs, they all look like something out of your worst LSD-induced nightmares after an Ultraman marathon. Likewise, the few new Eva Units seen are quite beautiful, despite their short screen time.
Of course, even rewritten from the ground-up, a 108-minute re-imagining of a patch of roughly 14 TV episodes is bound to suffer in some areas. While the pacing is smooth and the sense of scale is impressive, many details are scrubbed over and this writer’s Japanese skill is not entirely to blame. For instance, we see a few new logos for organizations – ACRON, IPEA to name two – that don't really get explained and it was disappointing to see Anno and crew include so much fan service in the midst of all the pycho-drama. Granted, in the series, we saw more than our fair share of skin but here it just feels even more gratuitous, which is saying something. Also a bit of a letdown is Anno’s use of children’s music for two key scenes. In one scene, it is used to poetic effect, on par with the classic “Komm Susser Todd” sequence in The End of Evangelion. The second time he uses it, however, feels both forced and mawkish.
What is inevitable is the question, where is the innovation? The original series was daring in the way it managed incorporate Freudian psychology, live-action images and reflexive commentary into what was ostensibly a giant robot story. Here, there is very little of that experimental daring outside of playing with the content of the story itself.
Nonetheless, Evangelion 2.0 does far more right than wrong overall. Bringing a melancholy optimism to the table, it is both more terrifying and more uplifting than its predecessor. Whether the world really needed yet another Evangelion can be argued, but at least it is a worthy rebuild.
Rating: A
Anime 3000 reviews anime, manga, and games based on specific criteria designated by each medium's respective editor. Anime is reviewed on a scale from F to A+. Series or movies that receive a score of A- or above are considered outstanding, B- to B+ recommendable, C- to C+ average, D- to D+ unrecommended, and F terrible.
