Evangelion 2.0: I am (Not) Impressed
So we start off in English. Which is weird. Because this is a Japanese movie. But oh wait, there's Mari, and she's speaking Japanese, so that's ok because she's American. Wut. They send her out in a test plugsuit and Unit 05. Now, I will continually reference the original series in this review so that you get a good sense of before/after for series/movies. Unit 05 and its pilot, who was never named but we can assume was Mari, was noted as dead in the series due to some complications. Apparently, America isn't so great with their Evas and accidentally blew up one while the pilot was in it. For the movies, however, Mari survives. Too bad, really.
Okay, so if you at least want to laugh, go listen to Kaji's voice actor speak English. He sounds like he's French with the way he chews on his words. Frapanese is the only way I can describe it. Of course, Kaji being around Mari and watching her mission automatically makes me rage. He was one of Asuka's guardians in Germany, but I guess we can forgive that since even Asuka admits he takes trips away from her.
Mari's attitude is god-like. She seems like she knows how to pilot every Eva ever with the way she talks about her test unit. And did I mention that we have no idea what she's fighting? It kind of looks like one of the Eva's skeletal units that has activated and merged with a tank, but really it just looks like some kind of reject Transformer that even the second Transformers movie didn't want. We soon find out that it is indeed an Angel that is attacking the American base, and Mari kills it by destroying its core. I won't even question why there's an Angel attacking America, because as we all know, the Angels only want Adam and Lilith (who are in Japan......... I guess Angels don't have built in GPS). The only way Mari can beat the Angel is to self-destruct her Eva in which she magically survives. Pity since she dies in the anime... but I digress.
Now, I surprisingly have no qualms with Mari. Granted, she doesn't do much and she's kind of annoying to be placed where she shouldn't be, but as a character, she's not bad. Her American suit is pretty awesome, especially her helmet, and her design is top notch as you'd expect from Eva. She's mature, which is new for the pilots, and I can respect her for that.
You would expect the US army to put her in green, wouldn't you? Good design.
Moving on, the next scene takes us to where we should be. Shinji is visiting his mother's grave with his father, and the two of them chat. They have a moment, and Shinji actually starts off the movie pretty happy. Gendo leaves with Rei on a plane, and Shinji leaves with Misato by car. They discuss Shinji's mother, and Shinji instantly goes back to being the little emo that could. Their discussion is interrupted by an Angel attacking from the water. Did I mention the Angel looks like an ornate wind chime? I think that should be noted.
The Angel takes out all NERV ships nearby. Luckily, Eva Unit 02 was on route for transfer to Japan, and it is released from its air craft carrier with pilot on board. With one shot, the pilot takes out the core--or so they think at first. The Angel pulls itself back together and Unit 02 uses a kick of doom to destroy it. Single-handedly, Asuka takes out an Angel. Notably, Rei in her Eva are standing there like "._. wut?" in surprise that a pilot could do something like that alone. The scene is pretty funny.
While Unit 02 is being taken into NERV custody after the battle, Shinji and friends watch as Asuka introduces herself from atop her Eva and declares that hers is superior to Rei's and Shinji's since hers is the first battle type as opposed to 00 and 01 test types. Misato introduces her with her new name--Euro Air Force Captain Asuka Shikinami Langley. Asuka decides to test Shinji's reflexes and trips him. Of course, Shinji just stands there like a rag doll and becomes Asuka's bitch within two seconds of meeting her.
Kaji is now at the Japanese NERV base doing what he does best--flirting with everyone around, and I do mean everyone, and pissing off Misato. Plot progresses as it does in the anime save one little hitch. Gendoooooos in spaaaaaace. Gendo is going to space to see the moon base that we glimpsed in the first movie where Kaoru was created from an Angel. Gendo and Futsuyuki notice that Kaoru can survive floating around in space without a breather mask and that he refuses to leave his own Eva Unit, instead sitting on its knee and waiting for his time to go to Earth.
Back on Earth, Asuka moves in with Misato and Shinji and gets settled in at school. The kids go to a marine base that still has animals from before the Impact such as turtles and sharks. They have a nice meal, and Asuka's jealousy over Shinji's friendship with Rei begins to manifest. Kaji pulls Shinji aside and discusses Misato's past with the Second Impact and her father to which Shinji feels a new kinship with Misato for their both hating their fathers.
Meanwhile, an Angel is hurtling towards Earth like a comet. Misato puts the three kids in their Evas and sends them running to try and "catch" the falling Angel so they can destroy it. The updated animation in this scene really stands out, especially as Shinji becomes a pilot extraordinaire--and even a bit of a badass, running on walls, doing stuff that Evas could do in the Matrix... Good scene, really. The three pilots combined defeat the Angel, but it leaves Asuka feeling useless since Rei was actually the one who had to help her get to the core. After the battle, Gendo praises Shinji for his work, and Shinji leaves on Cloud 9.
Asuka, in her sad state, realizes that she doesn't like being alone even if she should be used to it. That night, she decides to sleep next to Shinji on his pallet, though she threatens to hurt him if he turns around to face her. They become closer and are soon the ridicule of the class for being the "old married couple." Rei is missing at school, and while only Shinji notices, it seems that she is sick again. Really, she's just off floating naked in one of Gendo's tanks and afterwards eating dinner with him at a table that should not be that long for only two people... Anyway, Rei gets Gendo to agree to have dinner with Shinji, and she plans a dinner party.
One day while Shinji is at school on the roof, Mari crash lands into him. Apparently, she used a parachute to enter Japan "covertly," and she has a quick English conversation with someone on her phone that says she has entered Japan. Shinji wonders if she could be a spy, and Mari sexually jumps on top of him to sniff him and makes him promise not to tell anyone. Shinji agrees.
Poor Shinji is just going to get molested in this movie. While at NERV HQ, Kaji tries to kiss him and take him out on a date as a joke. Instead, the two go to work in Kaji's garden. Notably, this is the same garden that Kaji is stepped on by an Angel in one of the new Eva games. The scene is completely useless except that they discuss some more Eva-stuff.
Back to business. Japan NERV is acquiring a new Eva unit, and because of a treaty, they must put one of their Units to rest. They choose to lock Unit 02 in a prison system, leaving Asuka without an Eva.
Enraged, Asuka agrees to become the test pilot of the new Unit. Now, anyone who has seen the anime remembers Toji being the pilot of this creature, so they know what's coming. Toji dies because the Eva is infected with an Angel, and sure enough, as soon as they activate the thing with Asuka inside (complete with her new slutty outfit), it goes berserk.
Shinji is sent out in Unit 01 to defeat the Angel, but he refuses to fight because Asuka is inside. He chooses instead to die at her hands than to kill her, and Gendo, who had just installed the Dummy System, switches over to it instead of allowing Shinji to continue to pilot on the grounds that he is currently useless. Unit 01 goes berserk and rips Asuka's new unit apart limb by limb. Shinji tries to stop 01 from completely killing Asuka, but he cannot. Asuka's plug is picked up by 01's mouth, and with one big chomp, he eats Asuka.
After the battle, Shinji grows a pair and decides to lock out Nerv from his Eva. Instead, he stands on top of the NERV headquarters and threatens to destroy it. Gendo declares that Shinji is throwing a tantrum and cuts of all power to his Eva, knocking him and the Unit out cold. When Shinji wakes in the hospital, he declares that he is done piloting the Eva and leaves NERV altogether. Just as he decides to get out of the city, an Angel attacks.
At this point, we learn that Asuka is (SOMEHOW?) alive. She is under quarantine, however, for belief that the Angel that took over her new Unit has now attacked her brain and is living within her as a parasite. They fear that Asuka may be an Angel and they put her into a suspended living tank.
This is all brought up because Rei is now the sole pilot that must fight the new Angel attacking Earth. I don't really understand how it happens, but Mari gets into Japan NERV, finds a new pink suit, and takes Unit 02 out for a test drive. Even though she has never seen Unit 02 before, and it is noted in the anime that Asuka's mother was the base of humanity for her Unit (thus Asuka's belief that her Eva IS her mother), Mari coerces Unit 02 to do things that it would not for Asuka. At first, NERV is completely confused as to why Unit 02 is out with a pilot they don't know, but they soon start referring to Mari as "her" as if they already knew who she was and what she was doing.
Mari uses a code called "The Beast" to transform Unit 02 from its human form to its animalistic fighter form. Even with Rei's help, Mari is tossed aside like a rag doll, and Rei is eaten, Eva and all, by the new Angel. The Angel transforms into a female body, something that looks like Rei's giant form in the End of Eva. There is now no one to stop the Angel from attacking Nerv, and Mari, whose Eva collapsed near where Shinji was hiding, convinces the boy to help Rei. Shinji takes off to NERV and chooses to pilot 01 once more to save his friend.
After a fight in which Unit 01 awakes and becomes super powerful, Shinji dives into the Angel's subconscious and pulls Rei from it. He kills the Angel, which transforms into a giant version of Rei, and the giant Rei and Unit 01 combine into a new form of... put simply, weirdness.
Ritsuka ends the movie by telling Misato that Unit 01's transformation is the beginning of Third Impact, aka "The end of the world."
CREDITS............. and of course, you always stay after the credits, don't you? Good choice.
Just as Misato and the others fear that Unit 01 is beyond control, Kaoru in his Unit comes floating down from the moon and stakes 01 with the Lance of Longinus, putting 01 into a frozen state. While it is suspected that Shinji and Rei are inside the Eva, Kaoru promises that he will make Shinji happy "this time."
The "NEXT TIME" segment reveals that Kaoru is piloting Unit 06 while Mari will be placed in Unit 08. Kaoru and Mari become the main pilots of NERV while Shinji and Rei are stuck in Unit 01.
And Asuka gets an eyepatch (and a new suit--I can tell from the new neck piece).