Kotaku has told you that this movie, same with the first one, stinks. Oggs Cruz, on his review on Rappler, said that the morbidity that it has shown on the first film has been abandoned “for the sake of acceptability.”
Rather than talking about the plot and how crappy it was, let’s talk about two characters that I liked first: Shikishima and Hanji Zoe. Mikasa is of a different level so we’re going to set her aside for now (I love you, Mikasa).
Shikishima tries to make sense of who he is – a rebel who wants to topple over the government because he was enlightened that the government itself, who experimented on humans, is sowing order through fear. He did his antihero part well, but I felt I didn’t understand why he was acting like that until the last minutes of the movie. Thankfully, he got what he wished to do.
For some reason, I was happy with the outcome of the movie. I was more happy when Hanji shipped herself with a weapon – I shout “may forever” – but that’s just me. Never mind Eren and Mikasa being at peace, I want to see more of Hanji hugging weapons and being so obsessed with century-old artillery (I love you more, Hanji).
One of the most bizarre scenes in the movie is that place with a jukebox inside it. We are not given any clear proof that it really exists underground and is not just a dream or fantasy or some sort of hallucinatory bullcrap. We’re just given the assumption that, “Hey, this room existed for a century, and it has survived the times.” That’s it.
The drinks, the remote, the simulation, the clean clothes, the yaoi (believe it or not there is one)… it felt like we watched another movie altogether. Look, if you have watched through the post-credit scene, I can feel you – What was that? Why did that happened? Was it really real? Are we being mind-raped? If you understand how disoriented my thoughts are, that means you have understood what the Attack on Titan movies are at its worst.
If there are good things alongside Shikishima and Hanji hugging newly-found artillery, the scenery and visual effects are good examples. I am, for a lack of a better word, impressed with the visuals – especially with how the characters transform into titans. I also liked the suspense part especially with the dud bomb that they plan to use to plug out a hole. Bless that dud bomb for its usefulness. At the very least, the mission to recover the outer wall became successful.
If you ask another Attack on Titan fan who the colossal titan is, if he or she gave an answer, you know clearly that he or she watched the movie series in its entirety – and that is okay. At least we have an answer for who’s who.
As long as there are titans eating people – or titan Eren kicking the ass out of his fellows – in every Attack on Titan franchise project present in this cruel world, everything should be fine.