Attack on Titan The Movie (Part 1) Review

SPOILER WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THE FILM. READ AT YOUR OWN WILL. 

100 years ago, titans suddenly appeared on Earth. Soon, human civilization veered on collapse due to the titans. Humans then built a giant wall to defend themselves. Within the giant walls, humans lived in peace, but, 100 years later, the giant wall is broken. 

When Attack on Titan live action movie was first announced I was excited. Like many otakus I waited in anticipation, to see another good live action film based on anime. Sad to say that I'm going to have to keep on waiting. There is so many things wrong with Attack on Titan movie. However I don't have all day to list them all. First I want to start off on what I enjoyed about the film. For the budget the film has, the special effects are pretty good. The Titans actually are played by real actors with great makeup. Instead of using CGI for all of the Titans, the use of real actors makes the attacks and appearances of the Titans feel more threatening. The environments and cinematography are beautiful. Each action scene feels like a lot is at stake and the characters have more to lose than their lives. However at times you can clearly see it's green screen usage. With the addition of  knockout score to set the tone of the action scenes you feel invested. 

Unfortunately this where the praising stops for the film. A movie can't succeed with just action, beautiful set pieces and a fantastic score. A movie needs a story with well thought out pacing, flush out characters and a reason for us to be emotionally invested. Attack on Titan fails in all three areas. I'm not one of those people who complain if an adaptation is not exactly like the source material. However Attack on Titan doesn't even get basic characterization right from the main characters. Key characters, scenes, moments are missing from the film. Eren's mother who plays a major reason why he hates the Titans is not in the film. Instead of dying in front Eren eyes like the manga and anime. She died when he was little and he doesn't even remember her. The Eren in the film doesn't have any real motivation to hate the Titans. His reason is because of the Titans existence he can't go beyond the wall. This makes him feel imprisoned. That's just one major change that fails the film. You can't connect to Eren because he has no weight on his shoulders, no connection. There is no real driving force behind his rage or anger he shows in the film. How can I connect to a character without a proper backstory?  

Mikasa is another character that suffers from changes. Instead of establishing and building a relationship with Eren as his adoptive sister. She is actually his girlfriend/love interest. Not much is explain on her character either. She doesn't get much screen time and there really isn't much on her backstory. Unfortunately this also applies to Armin, who is very close to Eren and Mikasa. He is the heart and moral compass of these two when it comes to the manga and anime. In this film he's just in the background, doesn't say much and when it comes time for him to be in danger you don't care.

The main problem with the film is the story and characters. You don't know key members of the military squad beside the names.  When the death of those characters come, you have no emotional connection because you don't know them. You just go oh their dead who was that again. The pacing jumps from one underdeveloped plot to the next. Eren and Mikasa love story, but wait Eren has to find a reason to fight. In comes a mission with the Titans. This constant sloppy pacing is like watching a child run back and forth in your living room. When the big scene of Eren's Titan transformation finally happens at the end. You're left confused because it's just thrown in there and it seems out of place at the end. Fans of the source material will pick up on some key scenes from the manga and show. However an average film watcher who has no idea about the manga will be confused. The film jumps from set piece to set piece and sometimes time jumps with no explanation of what happen in the previous years. It's frustrating because you know it has potential but the film seems to be rushed.

The acting is so/so depending on the character. However you can't blame the actors. How can they act if there is really no weight to the characters? Attack on Titan had potential but fall flats due to not adapting basic information for the characters, establishing a world for us to care about and rushing the pace. If the first 30 mins would have properly introduce Eren, Mikasa and Armin it would have done wonders. Explore Eren's rage and hatred towards the Titans. Show us why Mikasa has such a cold heart and only connects with a few people. Let us see Armin struggle with courage and insecurity of being weak. Let us relate to the characters we love. Finally how the hell do you not have LEVI? Part 2 is due in October. Hopefully it will fix the problems of the first.