The 4th, and possibly final My Hero Academia film asks an interesting question - what if someone with twisted ideals felt the calling to fill the void All Might left behind? A man who mysteriously looks like All Might appears in Japan with an entourage of powerful sidekicks and a fancy flying ship, declares to the world he will take up his mantle, and things kick off from there.
What follows is what we've come to expect from MHA movies - Class 1A & company taking on a villain with world-ending calamitous powers not seen before. We also get two new movie-only allies - Anna, our damsel in distress, and Giulio, her loyal butler and protector, on a mission to save her, for better or worse.
This film is almost two hours long but has a lot going for it if you're a fan of classic MHA character dynamics and action. Taking place in the throes of season 6, Japan is already a disaster zone, so any more destruction might as well be a drop in the bucket. Despite that, the film does a good job balancing bombastic fight sequences with a meaningful story - as meaningful as a story that can't affect the anime timeline can be, anyway.
Where the 2nd and 3rd films struggled to find this zen, "You're Next" feels more akin to "Two Heroes", the 1st film that came at what was likely the peak of MHA fandom, and is still arguably the best of the four.
While there is certainly exhaustion and weariness over MHA as its manga has ended with mixed opinions, if you still like the characters and the universe of MHA, there's enough here for fans - and possibly former fans - to entertain for its nearly 2 hour runtime. Otherwise, I don't think there is much here for anyone else, as the film isn't deep or nuanced enough to stand on its own. Not that it had to, but it does accomplish what it set out to do and land on its two feet in the end on an emotional high.
A shounen movie that has to exist between the pages of its parent story can only accomplish so much. There is certainly some missed potential here, but only for those reasons. The film plays to its strengths and has fun with its premise. For that, it deserves credit.
