Action

Summary
Shinji Ikari is settling into his life in Tokyo-3 and NERV and looking for ways to bond with his distant father, Gendo. A new hot shot pilot shows up in the form of Asuka Langley, a fiery redhead with a holier-than-thou attitude. Angels attack, shit gets crazy.

Plot 3.5/5
+ Pacing is very cinematic and a vast improvement over the first film. Every event feels meaningful and has plenty of breathing room before the next plot point emerges.

– Suffers from two climaxes that make each one individually feel less important, the second of which incorporates some ambiguous and unexplained imagery that seems to contradict the rules of this world.

Character 4/5
+ All of the main characters develop nicely. The dynamics between the three main pilots is varied and substantial, making each character’s motivation clear, consistent, and valid.

– While Shinji’s relationship with his father is fleshed out nicely, Gendo doesn’t get individual development that is necessary to providing depth to his side of the relationship. He comes off as unnecessarily cold.

Theme 3.5/5
+ Shinji carries the brunt of the thematic weight in this film, furthering thematic ideas of acceptance and duty from the first film. His character leans heavily on gaining the respect and affection of his father in the first two acts, but when Gendo betrays Shinji’s personal philosophies at the end of the second act, Shinji’s focus shifts to his responsibilities to his fellow pilots. The third act is driven solely by his sense of duty.

– More religious gobbledygook muck up the third act and second climax. The supernatural idea of divinity serves to explain the otherwise unexplainable, feeling unearned and lazy in what the audience understands to be the established world. Feels inconsistent and out of place.

Diction 3/5
+ Writing is as competent as the first film. Performances are emotionally weighty all-around.

– Gendo’s dialogue gets a bit mustache-twirly diabolical in places and feels a bit too on-the-nose for his character.

Music 1.5/5
+ The music in the third act is by-and-large appropriately powerful and complementary.

– The brunt of the music is chintzy and corny. The score is heavy on distracting bubbly fluff pieces that serve only to drain the dramatic tension from an otherwise emotionally heavy atmosphere. Easily the worst aspect of the film.

Spectacle 4/5
+ Still gorgeous. Fluid and colorful. Clearly a labor of love by the animation team.

– The CGI elements don’t seem to blend as well with the cel animation this time around. It’s not terribly distracting, just more noticeable.

3.5 moody adolescents out of 5.

[starrater]