Evangelion Rebuild Part 2: 3.0+1.0 - Thrice Upon a Time

IMPOSSIBLY HUGE SPOILERS ARE COMING, YOU WERE WARNED A SECOND TIME.

The production of the original Neon Genesis Evangelion was notoriously difficult. Creator Hideaki Anno did not yet know where the story would end when he started with Shinji piloting Eva Unit 01 to fight the Angel Sachiel. Many endings disappeared into his drafts. But two different endings made their way to the public. Anno poured all of himself into of both of those endings. The work and his illness very nearly killed him. That struggle shows "on the page" as it were, with The End of Evangelion, the intense and controversial conclusion of the first Eva cycle.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time is the final release in this second generation of Evangelion. It is both the culmination of a four-part film series, the Rebuild of Evangelion, and also the culmination of a story Anno has been telling since 1995. "Thrice Upon a Time", refers to the fact that this is now the third - and final - ending Anno has written for Shinji Ikari. This is the farewell. This is letting go.

The Rebuild of Evangelion series has proven to be a very difficult creation as well. During the course of production, Rebuild clearly changed paths multiple times. Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance and 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo both end with Next Episode teasers which preview movies that were never made. 3.0 cuts far into the future beyond the events its preview displayed. And then none of the footage shown at the end of 3.0 made it into the fourth film. At one point the master plan for Rebuild predicted that the fourth movie would be released in 2008. It took thirteen years longer than that. Covid-19 can only be blamed for months of delays, not years.

Yet, nothing that truly matters can or should be done quickly. The wait for 3.0+1.0 has been long, and much longer than anybody thought. It has been over eight years since the last movie. Yet, I never lost faith. Most of the fandom seemed to be patient as well. We knew whatever was coming would be amazing. We could not imagine what was coming next, but whatever it was, it would be wonderful.

And so it was. 3.0+1.0 is both a response and a supplement to The End of Evangelion. It dramatically turns course but never reject its past. It's a triumphal movie of vast positivity and warmth. The End of Evangelion limped out of the darkness, 3.0+1.0 races fearlessly up into the future.

Evangelion Rebuild Part 1: The End of Evangelion

IMMENSE SPOILERS TO COME. REMEMBER, YOU WERE WARNED.

When Evangelion: 3.0+1.0: Thrice Upon a Time ended, I didn't know what to do at first. The movie had been pouring emotions into me for two and a half hours. All that feeling was choking me. There was simply so much on the screen, so much in the text, it was impossible to respond in any appropriate or sane manner. I wanted to scream, I wanted to weep, I felt like I was about to explode. I thought I would lose control and write a million words that very day. And...

...I've already begun to lose control.

Before we get to Evangelion 3.0+1.0, we have to go back to 1997 and talk about a different movie. Thrice Upon a Time is the fourth movie in the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, a very telling title of the new series' goals. Why are we rebuilding at all? At some point in the past, in spite of the sustained popularity as a brand, Neon Genesis Evangelion was destroyed. The film The End of Evangelion was that destruction. So before we get into the Joy of Rebirth, we need to watch endure the Fate of the Destruction. These two films are intertwined on many levels, which I'll get into more in Part 2.

The End of Evangelion, directed by Hideaki Anno, is still a controversial film, decades later. Considering how bold, unflinching, and strange the film it is, it would be disappointed if it wasn't divisive. A movie this difficult should not have an easy response. One of the bigger (re)-examinations of Evangelion in recent years happened on the Waypoint Podcast feed. The critics there gave a deep analysis in their first brush with the franchise. The End of Evangelion left them miserable and defeated. The movie is at times both challenging and hideous. Its grossest scenes remain notorious. All the technical artistry at work in Anno's eye for cinematography and gorgeous animation are somewhat betrayed by the twisted sexual insecurities at play on the script level. It's a hard movie to love.

Oh, and the world ends and everybody fucking dies.

The End of Evangelion is also one of the greatest movies ever made. It may sit right at the very top for me. That's a claim I'm a bit sheepish to admit to. But if I'm a critic worth anything, I should be able to back it up. This movie and Neon Genesis Evangelion have meant quite a lot to me personally. My own psychic defense, my AT field, is alarmed considering that I am daring myself to open up to such an extent. There is brilliance in The End of Evangelion. It isn't a movie that only exists to shock and appall, it is about redemption, hope, and the shaky first steps towards growth.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart - The Uninteresting Cutting Edge

Despite the PlayStation 5 being reportedly the fastest-selling Sony console of all time, word on the street is that the product is still completely impossible to find. While I'm lucky to own one at all, I'm not sure how much I need this thing right now.

The PS5 is a machine capable of incredible graphical power and processing speed, truly cutting edge. But why do I need that power or  speed or edge? Today I'm playing NEO: The World Ends With You, a lower-budget game without 4K graphical or computational demands. It doesn't have ray-tracing, and less than 1K, it's an antique! The PS5 is the Ferrari of consoles and I'm driving under the speed limit. Since the Next Generation is unfolding slowly - and getting slower all the time - I might as well relax, because the PS5's power isn't going to get used for awhile.

By that logic, therefore, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart from Insomniac Games is a no-brainer purchase. This is one of the only high-speed performance tracks you can drive your Ferrari console on. If you want to see the $400.00 to $500.00 investment you put into your PS5 white elephant, you have to buy Rift Apart. Nothing else on the PS5 looks this good, and probably nothing is going to look better for a long time. The next-gen revolution in graphics is here, and the rest of the industry won't catch up for awhile.

I'm not begrudging Rift Apart for cornering the market here. Ratchet & Clank's newest game is a technical achievement of astounding quality. In terms of raw graphical horsepower, it is the best looking game I've ever played. The awe never wears off. Rift Apart is as stunning in the last hour as it is in the first. The cartoony art style helps a lot here. Insomniac Games can fully show-off how well the PS5 can produce 4K pixels, sharp color, and ray tracing lighting effects without concern for the dull reality of realism. And as a game, Rift Apart is a nearly-perfect construct. It is a smooth, enjoyable experience from start to finish. The game costs $70, plus tax. I do miss that money I spent. But I have no regrets here.

Anyway, now that the consumer advice portion of this review is done, let me talk about why Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is, underneath all the spectacle, deeply uninteresting.