This is coming from someone who loves the original series (Nostalgia), and is very interested in reading the manga (I own it).
I must say though, this is probably one of the best extra's you could get after watching the series. But I would not call this an amazing film. It's an amazing special for fans.
Lets talk about the story. It's a simple story, and I'm all for cliche stories, but it's all in how you execute it. Was it entertaining, were the fight scenes breathtaking, were the comedy bits funny, was it emotional, ect. ect.
For me, the execution of this story was not as good as the anime at all. I do not think it has the same feeling as the original series does. I'm actually amazed it's the same director and screenwriter.
In the series (Excluding the first 8 or so episodes), you get the feeling Vash has a reason for (or try) saving lives. There's this emotion that he's conveying that whenever he had to get down to the nitty gritty and shoot someone, there was this terrible sadness in his actions, like he's trying to make up for the mistakes he and his brother have made.
In this series, I did not get that impression at all, even at the end. And that makes me sad that they couldn't fully use the emotions that Vash always keeps inside.
I also get the feeling that most of this film was just action with no emotion behind it. I'm okay with that, but the action was not very stylish of breathtaking in my opinion. As action pictures come, I was surprisingly bored.
The sound is quite good. No seiyuu felt out of place or out of character.
The music was surprisingly disappointing compared to the original series, almost 40 minutes in was when I realized there even was a score in Badlands Rumble. The re-arranged "H.T. Theme" at the end was great though. They should have made more rearranged tracks for this film, such as "Never could have been worse" or "Scattered Rain".
The SFX were great as well.
The art and animation in this series is excellent, especially when compared to the original series. There's a lot of detail, and smooth movement.
Now the character here can be tricky. Most characters are introduced like they are people you have met before, like people who watched the original series.
As for the new characters:
Gasback just wants to be the best robber there is, the flashier the better.
His minions in the past Cain, Dorino, and Michio are running from him after stealing his money 20 years ago.
Amelia is the new comer that has a dark past (anymore would be a spoiler).
Vash is Vash, he's the funny Vash with no problems like the first few episodes in the series. His reasons behind saving people is just "It's better to live". but the way he conveys this is not serious at all like in the series, and that bothered me.
I enjoyed this series to an extent. Not a very outstanding film, but this is an excellent extra for the manga and series, I would highly recommend watching and reading the original before watching this. Or maybe vise versa would be better, because the TV series and manga are much better, you'll be able to know more about the mysteries of how these characters know each other. Mainly Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl, and Milly.
Overall:
Trigun: Badlands Rumble disappointed me compared to the series. But it is an extremely good special for after watching the series and reading the manga, or vise versa if you are interested in the adventures of Vash the Stampede.
I mean, you couldn't ask for a better special than this, it's definitely better than getting nothing!
