Last week when I was reviewing the Japanese anime epic “Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone,” I suggested the film was not as complicated as it seemed.
Whatever mythology swirled around the characters, the action came down to something easy enough to follow: an adolescent kid piloting a giant robot in order to save mankind.
Now we get the second part of this saga, “Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance,” and, all right, things really are more complicated. I can’t pretend to have followed everything in this episode, but the incredible visuals were still very much in play.
Like the first film, this one is a distillation of a Japanese TV series that proved popular a few years ago. Young hero Shinji is still clambering into his huge cyborg machine, a defense system invented by his remote, brainiac father.
The mysterious Rei returns, as a moody teenage fighter, and she is joined by another girl, Asuka, who appears to be American. At least, her dismissive comments about Japanese customs and habits make her an outsider to this culture.
She wants to fight every battle and kill all the invading extra-terrestrial “Angels” (also giant robots, duh) single-handedly. Which ought to make her a good addition to the team, especially since Shinji’s teen angst is growing to Godzilla-like proportions.
Mind you, the future of mankind is hanging in the balance, so there’s a lot to worry about. And in the final reels of “Evangelion 2.0,” we begin to move into territory that opens up a new range of possibilities about what’s happening to mankind, some of which is pretty trippy.
The world of “Evangelion” is the brainchild of creator Hideaki Anno, and it definitely has a distinct vibe. This second part lacks the freshness of the first film, and let’s be honest: There are only so many ways you can draw a battle between giant robots, no matter how many different forms those invaders take.
But Anno and his team certainly work hard to keep it interesting, and these movies qualify as must-see stuff for those obsessed with anime. To outsiders, it might better be described as controlled craziness.
“Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance,” two stars
Second part of a Japanese anime epic, about an angst-ridden adolescent boy who pilots a giant fighting machine in battle with huge robots from space. This installment expands upon the mythology to the point where it gets fairly mystifying, even if the visuals continue to be trippy. In Japanese, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated, probably PG-13 for violence
Showing: Grand Illusion
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