Review of Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021) by Mrsandvich — 03 Jul 2022

Honestly, I'd give this movie an 8, but after seeing reviews full of ignorant or just false statements (like Shinji supposedly creating a "utopia" in the end", when in reality he only used the same plot device he did in EoE to destroy all Evas from the current world, even at the expense of his own life. No world reset, no new world, no turning back time. All events of the Rebuilds still took place, all human losses haven't been reverted and everyone keeps their memories, etc., etc. ), which ultimately award it with a 0 or something like that, I thought I'd balance things out and just throw my 2 subjective cents in here just like everyone else while I'm at it...

Now, the word limit here is simply too low for me to copy - paste the countless thousand - word essays I've written over the months on why not only Evangelion 3.0+1.0 (if anyone is interested however, do get in touch), but the Rebuild tetralogy as a whole is actually great. In short, let's just say that it's a fascinating, massive - scale, unorthodox, a lot of times messy and flawed reimagining of the controversial masterpiece that is the original Evangelion series. An undertaking directed by one of the most fascinating directors living in Japan right now, who has matured both as a person and as a creative alongside the characters of his magnum opus.

I'm going to close by saying that, even though the Rebuilds are not NGE and don't try to imitate nor replace it, they're quite similar in many ways - even in terms of the flaws they share. Therefore, if one wants to get into the Rebuild journey, I'd suggest they treat it like the original. That is, they should watch it with their minds (and hearts) open, they should think before they judge and continue trying to unravel the puzzles Eva has always posed even after they've finished watching.

Do that, and I can guarantee you'll understand where all the praise from both viewers and critics alike comes from.