I say bias wise its not bad if you have seen the other series beforehand as background "lore" I think you definitely have a better experience. The visuals are actually amazing, like one sequence in particular with Lancer will leave you breathless and that composed some excellent music. As a Fate Fan i would say 6/10 but still has fundamental problems as a film, like characters hahaha what is that, plot, its has a strange pace either too fast or slow.....
But objectively its lacks any explanation whatsoever, doesn't have a middle nor end just beginning it's understandable its a 3 parter film trilogy but characters do not change. I wouldn't say there are characters, the problem with this film it's not a film, its a side story OVA, this film should have just been a long OVA series like Hellsing ultimate as narratively its fails hard. The only characters with some development i wouldn't say good but some are Shirou and Sakura ( plus Shinji). I understood that cramming this route into 3 films will be a tough job but not still this feels less a film but more complimentary. at least for Zero or Unlimited Blade Works, they are can be presented standalone piece, whereas this it basically forces you to remember prior knowledge. I would say the directing is well done, i think the script still poor but the direction was really well choreographed but the emotional sequence pales in comparison to something like Zero that had a strong script. Characters just die that's not a spoiler, but you don't know them whatsoever or atleast without prior knowledge. I mean look, my friend, watched One piece gold and is has not watched any one piece prior whatsoever and he had a blast due to the good script, personalities that easily attached to and give vague ideas to know the superficial reasons for characters. Fate as a series besides Zero, biggest weakness is the characters, and this is extremely apparent for this film. The problem is that characters don't act like people, even though Shirou is much more fleshed out in this film than his own series he's still a really unengaging protagonist and contains a love story that feels more like siblings than lovers. Plus having really dry humor e.g. person a has.... size bra of ...? Really this is how low they can get.
Objectively they are some good in this movie, firstly the overall aesthetic its a pretty film, with some amazing fight choreography that must have taken months to animate key scenes for that small sequence. The art design is outstanding legit look at the food, the music does the work even with hardly any character development the music basically makes to feel some emotion. Seeing this on the big screen was a big treat and some stuff they have done kinda wants me to see the other films but I will be hesitant to watch it in the cinemas as the first film was really boring despite being pretty. Even if i never watch Game no life, I would rather watch that movie with no knowledge about the series than this film, I being harsh because no one like criticising this property properly.
Bias - 6.1/10
Objectively- 3/10- 4.5/10
So I'm gonna go straight in the middle and say overall 5 mediocre.
Also no you should need to read a visual novel, to understand whats going on. If you are a fate fan you should watch it but don't need to rush, tbh I probably suggest you waiting for the 3 films to binge it as narratively it might be better. If you never watched the property don't watch this film or only see Zero don't you'll be too confused on whats going on. It's kinda funny how Shinji has more development than most of the characters the person who's basically useless in the other routes and I would say more fun to watch than the MC.
