User blog:Mr.Cutlery/Ultraman Geed: The Connect the Wishes - Review

Ultraman Geed The Movie: Connect the Wishes!

+Best pacing so far of the entire New Gen Era Movies

+Character developments actually become a thing

-Effects are still a little wonky

+Battles have stakes


 * First, let’s dissect a lot of things. We started the movie off with the unknown, that being the digitization of Kushia during the ancient times. With a runtime of around 70+ minutes, this is a very big thing to note of, it immediately sets up who and what we’ll be seeing for the rest of the film. The scene continues on, giving us enough time to identify with Airu, the last of the Kushia People. During all that, we were also introduced to our MacGuffin, the Giga Finalizer, still in its stone form.

It’s pretty basic as far as things go, but to be able to set up many of the plot goals this early in the film is actually very impressive. For this part, the closest one that comes is Ginga S’ movie where it starts off with Cosmos fighting and losing against Etelgar.

The movie doesn’t mess around that much, basically. Juggler helps direct our main protagonists to the location they needed to be at, Okinawa. There, we get to see Leito again, who joins the group. Not more than 14 minutes in, Airu comes into the story, someone who we’ll get to know the full story of around the 29th minute.

For the majority of the movie, we spend it developing the story, which practically completes itself with the debut of Ultimate Final, 57 minutes in.

The movie itself doesn’t have too much fight scenes, totaling in at around 6. The first one with Geed’s re-introduction, then the fight between Gukuru Shisa and Mk2. Galactron, the bar fight, post-intel, the pre-finale and the final battle itself.

Unlike Orb’s movie, which clocked in at around 25 minutes with its final battle, Geed’s final battle took around 8 minutes. For reference, Ginga S’ final fight was around 16+, X’s at 17+. But the thing with this one, is that it’s satisfying for what we got. Riku has actually gotten through enough for most of the film. Not only did he took hard of the thought that he had gotten Orb and Zero killed, he was also seemingly denied of the Giga Finalizer’s use and later, Airu gets killed. It was the last one that pushed him to the edge.

So yeah, it was good.


 * Next up, is characters.

I’ll be honest, I thought every single progress that Riku made as a character throughout the series was gonna get bombed to hell and back. Clearly, I thought wrong. Riku is actually affected by the fact that he now has to fight alone, and it’s really not doing him any favors as he still lacked any real experience throughout the entire ordeal.

Let’s just say that Koichi really understands character depth and development for this movie. Every interactions the characters made, it really sticks to their character and I don’t think there was a single moment where anyone was overplayed or goes out of character.

Like I once said, Koichi also knows how to invoke an emotion from the viewers, and this time, he not only nailed it, but brings something out of them.

Credit also goes to him for treatment of new characters. Airu really didn’t get the short end of the stick whenever she is on-screen, even getting enough development to make her a complete character. This was also done very indirectly through simple bits regarding her backstory, letting the viewers know who she is, what she is and why she holds importance. And, during her last moments, she not only fought alongside the gang, but makes a sacrifice by defending Earth’s guardian monster. In the process, she lost her life, but motivates Riku to get back up and turn Gilvallis into scrap metals.


 * Alright, before I get to the last bit of my talk, let’s take a look at the stuff I didn’t quite like. The effects, and some of the fanservice. For example, they really need to show the blast before cutting to the character that takes the blast. I mean, they only show the explosion man, come on. Regarding the second part, Emerium Slugger. Why even use ES Specium? I mean, him appearing is okay, but using his ultimate attack?

Whatever, at least it’s pretty much confirmed that Orb Origin > Orb Trinity = Emerium Slugger.


 * Alright, let’s talk about why this not-so-action-filled Koichi movie is great. The battles have stakes. Most Ultra battles do, but let’s go deeper into this matter. Like I said before, there’s only like 5 battles in here, with the final battle going only up to 8 minutes at best. Throughout the film, the battles we were brought into lets us know that the threat is very real and there are many things at stake.

In the initial re-introduction battle, the stake is that we don’t know what it is. Riku doesn’t know. But considering the opening sequence, we know that there’s something we should worry about.

We skip over to the second fight with Gukuru. Here, Riku doesn’t transform, and that’s the stake, he either couldn’t or didn’t want to, and we know Gukuru isn’t going to be able to do much. Thankfully, our heroes managed to escape thanks to REM. Oh wait, the stakes are raised, because Gilvallis finally confirms the presence of the Giga Finalizer.

The next one, with Geed and Orb, the stakes were raised even further. Now having brought the entirety of the cyberized planet Kushia, he sends in his magnum opus. Even with the combined might of Geed, Orb and Zero, the Galactron managed to defeat two of them. All of this was because the people were being digitized and it prompted Riku to take matters into his own hands. Riku may have won the battle, but he nearly risked Earth and potentially the entire universe because of it.

The pre-finale is where things really get heated. Riku is unable to transform, and thus, Juggler and Gukuru are the ones who jump in. But even then, there’s an army of Galactron out there, wrecking stuff. As if that wasn’t enough, the Baris Raiders are sent down, making trouble for Riku and co. The true stake here comes when Gukuru Shisa is downed, forcing Airu to shield him. For once, the price is paid, and Airu is killed in the process.

The final battle. Ultimate Final may have allowed Riku to override his 20 hour limit, but even after getting rid of the last 5 Galactrons, Gilvallis proves to be superior still. He continues to challenge Riku’s view all while tanking all of their combined attacks.

Let’s cut out a bit because I just want to say that while the final battle as a whole is very satisfying, it was a bit odd that they decided to just pull things out their rears when Riku was confirming Gilvallis’ view of humans as imperfect and flawed beings. They could have used things from the series; Laiha being unable to see properly and blinded by thoughts of revenge, Moa’s incompetence, Zena’s failure in keeping to his words, Leito being almost spineless. The worst part there is that Riku didn’t include much of himself. But it’s okay, because we saw how he is flawed. We’ve been looking at it throughout the movie.

That last part there is what adds to the excellence of the finale, as Riku finally shows us that he is truly worthy of being an Ultra. And because of that, he’s going to destroy Gilvallis. I admit that his power of being able to convert the cyber space virus is a bit a@$pull-y. But hey, it just further emphasizes on what the Giga Finalizer was built for in the first place, it was the perfect counter to Gilvallis.

So, in conclusion, what do I think about the film? In a nutshell, it’s:

By far the best New Gen Ultra Film. It had the right level of pacing, stuck to its themes and tones throughout the movie, provides everything relevant for plot progression. The characters were how very in-character, with every actions they did making sense for who they are and has actual weight. It was a bit lacking and somewhat underwhelming in the effects work, but they are still considered minor when looked at as a whole. The battles that occur in this movie aren’t just because they wanted it to happen, but because it was to progress the plot and develop the characters. Note that those two are very complementary as one cannot happen without the other.

Well, in short, I give this movie a 9.7/10.

It connected my wishes for a good movie, that’s for sure! I could have gone with something bad, but to find myself pleased in such an unexpected manner was well worth it. It was done so expertly, that it makes R/B look pretentious.

This is Mr. Cutlery, and I hope the R/B movie manages to top this.