Forum - View topicI Wasn't Invoked, But It Was A Great Movie
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TranceLimit174
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So last night, I finally got the chance to sit down and watch both A Contact and Be Invoked (the 2 Ideon movies). For some reason I felt the desire to make things cinematic as this wasn't the show, but actual films. I decided to toss away (to a degree) my thoughts on the series and view these two as an independent revamped retelling (although in actuality much like Evangelion you gotta combine it all to get the complete story). I grabbed some snacks, a drink, shut the lights off, turned up the volume and got ready for the ride.
Starting off with A Contact to refresh myself, my main issue with this movie was that (oddly enough) it has the exact opposite problem that the series has. While the series moves too slowly, the movie at times moves too fast. Sometimes it works very well. The first half hour makes the discovery of the Ideon, Solo Ship, and it's subsequent launch into space one long confrontation as opposed to there being all of these "breaks" before things get under way. The events were much more exciting, and the overall movie gives a sense of tension as there is always a certain level of pressure. It's as if the Solo Ship never leaves the Buff Clan's site (in the series they would back off and regroup before chasing the Solo Ship again). The timeframe in which all of the events occur seems much shorter. As if the entire ordeal occured within a matter of days as opposed to 6 months. The condensed version of the story also limits the number of characters that appear which is very helpful as characters constantly show up and die at the drop of the hat. It's hard to really distinguish characters from one another (particularly the Buff Clan) unless they've been around for at least 5 episodes. However, while actual events happen quicker the character development is skimpy. I guess it's because we're supposed to know everyone already so it isn't needed. But the story exposition really suffers and a lot of key points in the show are missed. A lot of meaty story elements were barely grazed over in the movie (once again I assume this is because it's supposed to refresh). One element I enjoyed in the series (when it happened) is when the Ideon would show off a level of power never before exhibited. Let's face it, Ideon doesn't exactly look deadly, and it was a treat uncovering it's power (but it was a SLOW process). This element is absent from the movie. The only real display we see is the Ideon Sword (no Ideon Gun?). I'm gonna go ahead and list some of the other differences I caught since it's on my mind. 1. The arc with Kitty Kitten (crucial event for Cosmo). Granted they started Be Invoked with this part but I remember being dumbfounded as to why it was left out in A Contact. 2. Everyone seems to know a lot more about the Ideon initially than they did in the series. In fact I don't think it was until Karala mentioned the energy of "Ide" that they started to call it Ideon (I may be wrong though). 3. No black hole cannon? 4. The movie makes it seem like the Ide energy (or possibly Ideon itself), is talking to Cosmo in one scene. If I remember the series correctly, it talks to Bes. 5. You'd have to dig deep for this, but you don't really see Bes and Karala's relationship develop. And any hints at her spoiler[pregnancy] are nowhere to be seen. 6. spoiler[The death of Lin is missing.] The movie also makes Karala out to be the main character (although I remember reading she's supposed to be the "true" main character in the series). She's really the only one who exhibits significant change outside of Sheryl (who, to put it lightly snaps). It was good as a recap, but without having backround knowledge of the series I doubt it would be very enjoyable and probably very disjointed (seems to be the case with compilations) So having been refreshed on the series and in the moment I rolled right into Be Invoked. After over a year, finally I get to see this infamous ending as well as see just exactly what was explained in roughly a paragraph in the last episode (I'm surprised they managed to do that). So the first 20 minutes is more or less an abridged version of the last episode. What follows is roughly an hour of pure death and destruction. I don't think I've ever seen another mecha take such a beating en mass. And Ideon dishes it right back out. Haha just like in Super Robot Wars, it uses and abuses the Ideon Gun. I was actually amazed at both sides. The waves of Buff Clan soldiers was never ending, and yet despite that the Ideon kept destroying and destroying. It truly was never ending. With all of this though came some really interesting character moments (note Sheryl). Also it's violence became downright disturbing and horrific. spoiler[Kids who haven't even hit double digits in age having to take arms and kill soldiers. A child getting decapitated simply by a gun going off.] And then at the end of it all spoiler[everyone dies. Well really they all turn into stars but essentially they are killed. What I found interesting at this point was that A. the Ideon was destroyed (I didn't think it was possible) and B. this 'destroy the universe' ending is much more ambiguous than what I have heard. People made it sound like Ideon just rips the universe a new one with it's gun and ends existence. This is obviously not the case. And it's somewhat bittersweet that only in death and through the power of Ide can both the Earthlings and Buff Clan be at peace with one another.] I was pretty taken aback by this ending. It was as if suddenly what I thought was a whole bunch of nothing suddenly became something. A series that I thought was boring and rarely went anywhere suddenly has this magnificent finale. While I was watching the movies I will admit I got into it much more than I did with the show. Maybe it was because of the atmosphere I set up, but I was able to imagine myself being in Japan in 1980 coming home after work or school sitting down ready to relax by watching the Solo Ship crew go on it's adventure of the week. Also I had the feeling that back in 1980, especially seeing this in a movie theater, was probably very impressive and epic. So I can see how some were blown away. The series reminds me of Star Trek, in that it's enjoyment doesn't come from actual events but the drama between characters. Unfortunatley since just about everyone in Ideon is rather stoic (save for maybe one stand out trait) it was difficult for me to attach myself to them. But even so after viewing Be Invoked I realized that hoplessness was a big theme in this show and that's what these characters were facing. Despite everything the struggle was truly pointless. Dark and bleak to say the least. I also got the sense of such a film being one of those odd VHS fansubs you would get. You didn't know anything about it, but you were happy because it was anime. Needless to say my overall thoughts on Ideon are quite mixed and vary. So as it stands, I still have my issues with Ideon. It's boring, and too slow. A Contact proves that the series could have been shortened by 10 episodes easily. But after viewing these 2 movies, I'm sure I would see a lot more and knowing everything that's going to happen puts everything in a different perspective. I also sensed thematic elements on both race and male/female equality but for whatever reason they don't seem to be elaborated on much. Be Invoked was powerful enough to make me reconsider my thoughts on the series as a whole and that alone says something. Don't know why that's the case but it is. Regardless of whether or not people think the series is good or bad one thing is certain, it had one hell of a finish. |
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