Reviews

What the movie gets right in terms of visuals and artistry, is counterbalanced by it's failures in storytelling. We, as the audience, don't know what the central players in the story want. We don't really get to understand what the end goal of SEELE or Gendo Ikari is and how the different ways one would initiate Human Instrumentality and/or 3rd Impact would really differ from one another. The audience doesn't know what is at stake or which side to root for (if any) and thus it is very difficult to feel invested in what is going on on a literal level.

The movie manages to maintain some momentum thanks to it's stellar characters and it's interesting visuals. It does leave you with plenty of stuff to think about in the end, so if you want a movie that forces you to exercise your brain matter, End of Evangelion delivers. If you want a conventional and satisfying ending to the story, kicked off by the TV-series, this isn't it.

I have a love-hate relationship with End of Evangelion. On one hand, I feel like the movie is needlessly convoluted and full of itself. On the other, I admire the ideas behind it and the sheer balls that it must have taken to make a movie so intentionally unfulfilling.