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Title: Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth
UK Distributor:
Manga Entertainment (DVD
Only)
BBFC Certificate: 15
Suggested Retail Price (SRP): £19.99 (now
deleted)
Running Time: 115 mins (approx.)
Audio Options: English 5.1, English 2.0,
Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English, Portuguese
Reviewer: Rich (Webmaster)
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Note: This version of the film is
now deleted. However, the film is still available in the Neon Genesis
Evangelion Movies Boxset from Manga Entertainment Following what some termed as a disappointing ending to the
Neon Genesis Evangelion series, disgruntled fans were heartened with news that
Hideaki Anno’s original, but unmade, ending was to be released as a film. The
film was supposed to provide an alternative to the final two episodes of the
series, which were mainly still image montages produced amid rumours of tough
budget and time restraints.
Unfortunately, the long awaited ending was postponed further in favour of the
scene setting double bill of Death and Rebirth.
Death and Rebirth is an unusual feature, basically comprising of clips of the
important events from the series. These are strung together with classical music
and some experimental visuals, with just a few tantalising minutes of new
footage thrown in for good measure.
It works and it doesn’t.
Compressing all the important information and best scenes from an action packed
and deeply involving and confusing story such as Evangelion was always going to
be hard. Hideaki Anno has made a pretty good job of it, dropping the contrived
‘do you remember the time we…’ scenarios of most ‘review’ episodes (poncy term
for rehashing old footage) in favour of a more arty approach, using the series
trademark classical music and some experimental montages to bridge the gaps in
the narrative. He effectively manages to set the scene for the long awaited true
ending (The End of Evangelion, see section) without giving much away as to what
will happen.
Unfortunately the broken narrative flow and subsequent omission of important
character development hinders the film considerably, especially for people new
to the series. There are moments where the aftermath of important events are
left out, in one of the most obvious examples of this an Eva pilot’s body is
carried out from the broken remains of an Eva and no reference is made to
whether they are alive or dead.
This is a major drawback and to be honest unless you have watched the series (or
some of it), Death and Rebirth will leave you immensely confused. However, if
you have watched the series then Death and Rebirth is an interesting and useful
recap of events that sets the scene well for the ending.
Death and Rebirth is animated well and the remastered sound is a great plus,
also credit must be given to Manga Video who have not only included an audio
commentary but also copious notes as to the terms, events and characters in the
Evangelion saga on the DVD. They have also included a useful interactive menu
that can be used to call upon this information during the film, which is a great
example of someone truly assessing the flaws in something and attempting to
combat them.
A note that must be made is that the added scenes are far more violent than the
constraints of a TV series would have allowed, and events do get very gory and
very shocking towards the end of the film.
In all this is great for Evangelion fans that have seen the series and want a
quick fix before watching The End of Evangelion, for the casual viewer it can be
confusing (although the menus and notes do help) and will also give away major
events from the series so should be approached with caution.
Best Bit:
The shocking new scenes. Worst Bit: The frequent loss
of continuity. Ratings
Feature:
Extras:
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