Great Pretender: Razbliuto

Great Pretender is back for a final movie and... honestly, it's a bit underwhelming. For a series that blew me away repeatedly over its run, this felt pretty tame, focusing its attention instead on some of the inner workings of a drug smuggling mob element as a central character finds himself drawn away from his life of crime. We don't get a lot of backstory on these characters, and since we've only seen Dorothy before, that makes it difficult to get invested in what's going on. And it really does feel like a side story rather than a capstone to this series, with a couple ... of main characters from the series only making small cameos at a few points. In that respect, it does feel like we missed out on some opportunities here, since Dorothy had some interesting relationships with the crew and none of them get further exploration here.

That being said, this is Great Pretender and, even if it's only surface level, I'm still fond of the elements that linger. The color palette in the movie pops, the character models are all great and dynamic, allowing for some solid comedy that wouldn't feel out of place for Lupin III either, the machinations are many and there are some double-crosses thrown in for good measure (even if they feel like shadows of what the original series pulled off), and the adventure ends in somewhat satisfying fashion... even if everything feels way too neat. Sure, it doesn't reach the heights of the original series, but it succeeds in being an enjoyable time with a little bit of a nod to the audience. It's a good time, and even though it doesn't satisfy my cravings for more of this series, I enjoyed the ride one last time.

To start,rewatch the great pretender before watching this,personally i havent watched the original for a few years now and i spent way too much time during this film thinking "whos that?".

Overall This was a decent film, comparing it to the original series... it just doesnt have the high points that the original has,its consistently good, not great. The original had amazing and absurd climaxes that this just didnt have, the climax wqs anti climactic, confusing (partially because of the reason above) and just wasnt super satisfying.

The film takes a different approach from the conman style of the original its kind of an action ... drama? Not a lot of conman stuff beyond on character. Which less focus on grifts and tricks could be good,but there isnt really anything to grab onto, if you drop what the series is known for you need to replace it with something equally strong and they just dont do that leaving the characters, plot and pacing feel aimless

Also why is edamura in this film? Did is something or did he just do nothing.

As for visuals,its great pretender, this film is beautiful and I recommend watching the film just for the beauty of it alone, its a style i cant get enough of and if this film exiated purely to give us more of that id say it was worth it.

Overall this is a mixed bag and i cant say it lives up to the original, however id recommend a watch if you just finished a watch/re watch of the series or if your really hankering for more GP, i know i was.

At first I thought it would be interesting as people relevant crossed path once again. However, unlike season 1 the plotting are terrible. Ending are too rushed, incomplete and too convenient. There were no surprise element nor anything relevant to that make sense with what the role were intended to be. It's just like they just appear there out of nowhere, ohh its the ending, oh he/she is just.... that's all to it. Honestly, I don't understand what the directors are trying to convey or pull off here. It's nothing spectacular, as if they just make this short movie just because they got paid ... for it. Again, comparing to season 1. It's very poorly made, I would rather they did not make this, Or at least spent more time working on the plot, make it 20mins longer to make particular role more relevant to the series instead of rushing it like that.