Friday, October 2, 2015

Attack on Titan: The End of the World

I watched the first movie and found it rather messed up with the plot. I know I cannot expect much with the continuation but I am really interested to know how they are going to bring the messed up plot to a closure. With ratings mostly of 1 or 2 stars, I was prepared to be disappointed and hell yeah, I am disappointed at the end of the movie.

With a run time of 87 minutes and the first few minutes are spent for recap of the first movie, they could simply combine both movies into one and spare us from the agony. There are no changes on how bad -over the top and inappropriate- the acting is while the other changes are for worse when compared to the first movie. The titans and the fight against titans are absent here and we just get CGI fights among the special titans: Eren's titan, Shikishima's titan, and the Collosal titan. Boring... There are still too much talking to explain what the heck is actually going on.

I admit that the background story is pretty cool: civilisation was actually very advanced and titans were actually the results of human's scientific progress. Things took a back turn when things went beyond control and chaos swept through the land. Few people ('the government') built the walls and labelled the titans as common threat to unite the people and there was peace. The government also banned all knowledge to prevent scientific and technological advancement to prevent similar horror from happening. After hundred years of peace, the younger generations take it for granted and starts to have an idea of exploring the lands beyond the walls. Thus the government let the titans attack humans -in the first movie- to remind humans of the horror out there and unite them once more.

Sadly, they kinda butcher the plot after that. There are so many hints given which leave audience with unanswered questions at the end of the movie. There are so many actions and decisions taken by various characters which are not explained well. Just to list a few (heavy spoilers ahead):
-We are given a glimpse of Eren's childhood but no explanation or connection of that scene to the present time.
-Before his death, Souda-san mentions about Eren's big brother. Eren does not seem perturbed to find out more about this which does not make sense.
-What exactly is Eren's motives? Initially he wants to take a revenge at the titans. After knowing everything from Shikishima, I am quite amazed that he is fine with just closing the walls and doing nothing towards the government who is the mastermind behind the titans attack a few years back. Everything that he does does not make sense.
-Who is Shikishima and why can he also turn into a titan? Who is actually the General Director who turns out to be the Collosal titan?
-Nothing is mentioned about Shikishima and Mikasa. Mikasa seems in a dilemma throughout the movie but nothing is mentioned about the cause of her dilemma and this totally undermines everything she does here.
-Armin and friends' decision to follow Eren seem simply because they are 'friends' with Eren and they do not know Shikishima that well. That is quite surprising, especially for Armin who is supposed to be the smart and sensible one. In end of the world situation such as this, I am pretty sure a sensible person will want to know more about everything before making a decision.
-Why does Shikishima change his mind and fight Collosal titan in the end? What is the reason of the change of his motive? What is the fate of both of them after the explosion?

The best surprise, however, comes after the end credits. The movie makers are nice enough to hint audience to stay until the end of the end credits for extra scene. The end credit reveals the one and only bird we keep seeing is actually a camera and a voiceover over Eren and Mikasa standing on top of the wall looking at the outer world states that 2 test subjects have successfully overcome the test field. Yes that shit is bloody similar to the first Maze Runner movie and leaves me with "What the fuck is everything about?".

Although the first movie is kinda rubbishy, I still enjoyed some parts of it as a standalone movie. But after this second movie, everything is out of the window: everything is crap. And seriously who is the idiot who thinks of Eren's line: I'd rather be free in Hell than be a slave in Heaven. That is the most idiotic statement ever after all the crazy things he has seen the titans can do to humans. I really think that is fucked up.

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