Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone (2007)
Dirs. Hideaki Anno / Masayuki / Kazuya Tsurumaki
A cinematic 'Rebuild' of the 'classic' Neon Genesis Evangelion TV Series. The first film (of four) covers episodes 1-6. It's overseen by the same director as the series, Hideaki Anno, so is faithful to his original vision - at least for now, but that's for a future post.
Newcomers to the world of NGE may find it difficult to assimilate everything on first viewing, but in truth even the series didn't make complete sense to a large percentage of its audience until the second sitting, so in a way being perplexed is par for the course.
Nevertheless, for the benefit of anyone that's wholly unfamiliar with the basics, a quick intro: fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari arrives in Tokyo-III, having been summoned there by a father he's not seen in three years.
Shinji's abandonment issues and his estranged father's overbearing (though often silent) judging of the boy's measure puts an excruciating amount of stress upon the youth's inexperienced shoulders. The emotional tearing that arises from the conflicting hatred of his father and simultaneous craving for his approval and love is the most defining attribute of the teenager.
But if that wasn't enough to deal with, Shinji is required to take on a task that would challenge even a hardened combat veteran, with nothing less than the fate of humanity on the line if he fails. It's a situation that puts him directly in his father's line of sight, and increases the fear of failure and sense of worthlessness that the boy unwisely nurtures.
The world itself is under attack from a finite number of mysterious entities known as Angels, bizarre and deadly lifeforms that helpfully tend to appear one at a time. The strangeness of Angels is a real boon to the franchise, with each one being wildly different to the last.
The titular Evangelion are giant manned-mechs that the humans use to combat the Angels.
It wastes no time getting to the action, but consequently drops some of the more interesting characterisation. On the plus side, Shinji's neuroses are less irritating than they were previously.
It stuck me that explanations for much of the science and technology used in the post-catastrophe world simply aren't there. I may have missed it, but I don't think it even explained what 'A.T.' means in an Eva's A.T. Field (it's Absolute Terror, by the way). Did the writers decide that most of the audience would be aware of such things already from watching the TV series, or did they simply forget? Was it perhaps in the original script but was later cut? I don't know.
The original NGE explored a number of philosophical concepts, often with religious and esoteric symbolism and/or imagery existing alongside, or even wrapped within. Many of those same concepts remain, but some have been reduced in importance or made less obvious (the ceiling in Gendo's office, for example). It seems to have been in an effort to simplify the core concerns.
I'm usually averse to remakes, but NGE is something of a special case in the annals of anime, with its troubled production and compromised ending scenario(s). In all sincerity, despite the omissions the first part of the Rebuild project is a great success, even if the titling is ridiculous.
The next movie is Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance (2009).
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