Brief history lesson for those who haven't seen the anime: the remaining population of humanity has been confined within 3 sets of walls built to prevent attacks by titans that feed on humans. Mankind has attempted to fight back by forming a group known as the Survey Corps which goes beyond the wall to study and defeat titans, but not many return alive. Those who remain within the safety of the walls clung to the illusion of peace, until the day the outer wall was breached.
Now onto the movie. We get that history lesson at the beginning with some cool animations of the titans, before we move on to the live-action part with Armin. The place we see him in is like a market place, with people working away or going around buying stuff as he runs past to go visit Eren. He meets up with Mikasa and together they head to where Eren is. Eren is wearing Mikasa's iconic red scarf, and he asks the two what they want to do with their lives after he gets fired from yet another job. Armin's studying of things beyond the wall is shown when they see a picture of a woman in the ocean on what Eren says is a dud bomb. Then the trio venture to the edge of the wall. Apparently none of them are aware of the fact that titans are roaming outside the walls, since Armin tells Eren about the rumour yet Eren asks if he really believes in that. A few minutes later and the wall seems to start shaking. They think it's an earthquake, until they hear a scream/roar from outside the wall and see a titan.
The titan is attacking the wall by kicking it, damaging the town at the same time by parts of the wall flying towards it. It stops attacking the wall and disappears, and Eren notices that the wall has been breached. Now the smaller titans are entering through the wall and chaos ensues. Eren is able to get to safety, Armin is nowhere to be seen, and Mikasa is sitting on the ground holding a baby she saved with a titan right behind her. But we don't see what happens to her. Instead, Eren and the others who are in hiding fall down when the titan walks off, and he is able to get out to see where Mikasa is, and turns around to see titans tearing the roof off of the building he was hiding in with others.
Fast forward two years later, and we see the Survey Corps jackets and an update of what happened - survivors retreated into the second wall - and the mission to reseal the outer wall. Sadly the mission isn't being led by Levi, but the crazy Survey Corps member who wants to dissect titans is still around. Armin shows up again after we see Eren walking towards him and past other characters, such as Sasha and Jean. Mikasa is still MIA. Sasha is still the same potato lover as we see her eating Armin's mashed potato which he uses to try to explain to her how the outer wall restoration mission will be carried out.
The Survery Corps is off to the outer wall. There seems to be some news that there is a girl who managed to kill 10 titans in half a year, and that people are calling the Goddess (a hint at Mikasa being alive?). Also, they're travelling at night because titans fall asleep and their eyes won't work (this is new), but since they're very receptive to human voices, no one is allowed to talk on the way. But this seems to be irrelevant as everyone seems to talk when someone thinks something is out there and everyone is communicating. Anyway, a couple of members from the Corps strayed away from the group because one of them could hear a baby crying, though this turns out to be a baby titan. Finally another titan shows up as the guy who told them not to talk told them again to avoid anyone screaming and alerting the other titans. Serves you right. More titans show up and everyone tries to get into the trucks and get away. So much for all that training if the people left behind don't know what to do with the equipment. That crazy captain just tells them to find tall buildings.
Eren gets into a fight with Jean (I think) and Mikasa stops them. Armin asks Mikasa what happened, but she just walks off. At least she's more like who she's supposed to be in the anime.
Why is there a piano in that destroyed building? Mikasa is playing it as Eren walks up to her. We find out that the baby she saved was eaten, and so was she, to an extent, as she shows the bite mark to Eren. The Captain shows up, and we see how he has taken a liking to Mikasa by feeding her an apple. So not Levi.
Yeah ok there's so no need for this romance. I understand that times are tough for you when you're on the verge of extinction and risking your lives to save humanity, but why must we see this? Really? That just ruins the movie. I'm glad that titan shows up. More titans follow suit, and the Survey Corps get ready to battle and defend the explosives. Eren just seems to be running to the rooftop whilst the Captain and Misaka take out 3 or 4 titans in the same amount of time. One crazy guy wields and axe and attacks a titan's feet, whilst another guy steals the explosives. A girl whose boyfriend was killed goes crazy too (everyone seems to be going crazy) lights the explosives and fights with the thief in a suicide attempt to kill the titans. Eren finally reaches the rooftop just as the explosion occurs. He sees Jean who is wimping out and uses the gear. He is somehow good at using it, but dodges all the titans. The Captain then tells him how to kill a titan. See if this was a school lesson, you'd understand what the teacher was telling you more than just being told it. But just as it looks like he's an expert, a titan gets him by the leg and rips half of it off, making Eren fly off onto another rooftop. Captain shows no sympathy.
Crazy axe guy runs to Armin and makes him face the rooftop where Jean is surrounded by titans. Armin comes up with a plan a couple of seconds later. Somehow Jean is in on the plan as he is able to finish the titan off. And where did the bow and arrow come from? Now Armin is caught by a titan just as he asked Jean where Eren was, who told him he's probably dead. Eren sees Armin, who is seen by Mikasa who decides to defeat the titan behind her rather than tend to Eren who's crawling along the rooftop. Sasha and crazy axe dude, you're not helping! Jean can't defeat the titan either, so Armin is eaten. But not entirely, because Eren is able to grab him and throw him out of the titan's mouth before his extended arm is bitten off. Ew, did we have to see the inside of a titan? Armin shows Mikasa Eren's arm, but she goes off to clear a path for the group to escape. But the gas in her gear runs out, and she falls to the ground. There the titan that ate Eren appears, and Mikasa gets ready to fight. The titan seems to be holding its stomach in pain, and out comes an arm. Yes, Eren transforms into a titan and starts attacking the other titans. Crazy Survey Corps member might get a heart attack from seeing this fight. The remaining titans retreat, and Eren turns to face Mikasa who seems to have appeared on the rooftop too. He grabs her when she realises he is the titan, but then puts her back as he collapses to the ground. Mikasa then cuts the nape to get Eren out of the titan, but it makes me question how that guy knew Eren would be absorbed into the titan if he wasn't taken out in time. Captain is just standing on the rooftop eating an apple. Why? Eren opens his eyes, and the movie ends. Mid-credit scenes show that there will be a sequel to this.
So, that movie was ok. Story wise, it pretty much stuck to the original but it could have been delivered better. Action wise, it was pretty meh. I only enjoyed Eren and Jean's second fight, when the crazy girlfriend fought the explosives thief, and the end battle when titan Eren fought the other titans. Otherwise, I didn't enjoy the action scenes. Also, the actors could have been more themselves in terms of the characters in the anime which would have added to the story. And why replace Levi with a captain that likes Mikasa? I don't understand.
In all honesty, people who haven't seen the anime but watch the movie first would have enjoyed this more than those who saw the anime before. The movie had so much potential to be just as good (if not better) than the anime, but it wasn't.
Comments
Post a Comment