Anime On the Big Screen: “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection”

Venue: Dendy Cinemas, Level 2, North Quarter, Canberra Centre, 148 Bunda Street, Canberra City, ACT
Date: Thursday 16 May 2019
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Format: Digital Projection, Japanese dialogue with English subtitles
Length: 112 minutes
Production Date: 2019
Currently on Home Video in English (as of writing): No

Between the last time I reported on the last anime film I saw in the cinema and now, there literally has been no anime in cinemas at all. Half Symbolic haven’t announced any more anime films after distributing the two recent Science Saru films and Madman has only really hinted at a number of forthcoming films but given no firm release dates. I was rather pessimistic of the future of anime in cinemas due to dwindling audiences, especially with the very poor attendance of the “Love Live! Sunshine!!” screening, but was really surprised when around 50 people showed up at this screening. Unfortunately Dendy is still scheduling anime films to be shown only once per day, now at the slightly later time of 7pm. For me this is a somewhat more convenient time to go into the city, but I still had to fight traffic on Commonwealth Avenue as I managed to get caught up the evening traffic heading home to Belconnen.

The other problem I have is everything shuts around 6pm or earlier. I still managed to get some food in the mall just before they closed and then wandered off to the supermarket to get dessert. I still had plenty of time to kill, so I just sat in the food court until 10 minutes before the film started. I sat next to this really chatty bloke whom I thought would never shut up. I think the increased audience just goes to show anime fans will turn out for the right films. I must say though that Madman’s advertising outside social media was virtually zip. No posters in the cinema as per usual and oddly the film is not even mentioned in the “In Cinemas” section on Madman's website. With that out of the way I guess it’s time to discuss the film. Please note I am going to reveal some minor spoilers in the next few paragraphs (though nothing that you possibly hadn't figured out already by watching the trailer).

Set one year after the events of the final episode in second series of “Code Geass”, we are reunited with the  Black Knights, most of whom are visiting a Zero themed café run by some of the ex-members. Generally it seems the world is at peace since Suzaku, dressed as Zero, apparently assassinated Emperor Lelouch. Nunnally, now the Empress of Britannia, has traveled with her personal bodyguard, Zero (still Suzaku in disguise), on a goodwill mission at a UN refugee camp near the nation state of Zilkhistan. A large group of enemy Knightmares appears on the horizon and eventually surround Nunnally’s security detail and abducts her and Zero.

C.C. is also wandering through the region, travelling with an unidentified male, both of them searching far and wide for something. C.C. arrives in a village and pays for a room in an inn. It is revealed that the man travelling with her is none other than Lelouch himself. However he is but a shell of his former self. Lelouch seems to be non-verbal, only takes directions from C.C. as he can’t do anything himself and has infrequent panic attacks when frightened. During the night, a team of Zilkhstani forces enters the village. Fearing that they have been tracked down, C.C. attempts to hide Lelouch and prepares to take them on. Much to her surprise she discovers that the Zilkhstani forces are actually hunting down Kallen, Lloyd and Sayoko who have infiltrated the country as Zilkhistan is the prime suspect in Nunnally's kidnapping. Shocked at the revelation that Lelouch is still alive, C.C. explains to the group that she has resurrected Lelouch against his will. However in doing so his memories are trapped amongst the collective unconscious within C's World.

As the group attempts to leave the village, they are confronted by Zilkhistan operative Swaile Qujappat and his assassins. A Geass user himself, Qujappat uses it on Sayoko who now believes her allies are her enemy. C.C. and her comrades eventually gain the upper hand, neutralise the situation and Qujappat along with his assassins retreat. It order to return Lelouch to normal, C.C. needs to enter C's World via a thought temple located in the basement of a desert prison. The group enthusiastically agree to help C.C, in order to resurrect Lelouch so he can once again lead the Black Knights. Traveling across the harsh desert country, first disguised as a food delivery truck then as a prisoner transport van, the small group manage to infiltrate the prison. They quickly subdue the guards, C.C. decides to free the prisoners and the group set about gaining access to the basement levels in order to enter the thought temple.

But C.C.’s decision to free what she believes were political prisoners was an ill-fated one as most are actual mercenaries for the Zilkhistan government. They begin to track down the group and engage in combat with them. In the midst of all of this, Suzuku is found. He was being tortured for information in the bowels of the prison. While he has been rescued and many of the mercenaries have now been killed or are out of action, the group find themselves trapped inside the prison as Zilkhistan forces gather outside with heavy machinery. C.C. enters the portal to enter the collective unconscious but is have enormous difficulty trying to reunite Lelouch’s memories with his body. She eventually exits the portal, seemingly having failed.

Back in late 2016, on the date of the 10th anniversary of the original broadcast of the first episode of “Code Geass”, Sunrise hinted at the fact they were going to resurrect the franchise. Their plan later became clear with the release of a trilogy of compilation films in 2017 and 2018, which included a fair chunk of new animation, some of which changed the motivations and fates of some characters completely. This brand new film was later announced along with the revelation that pretty much all of the staff who worked on the original series, including director Goro Taniguchi, would be working on it. Though considered to be a spoiler, it was been made pretty clear in the film’s promotional material and on Sunrise’s social media accounts that Lelouch would be making an appearance. In fact C.C. explicitly says in the film’s trailer that she has resurrected him (hence the film’s title).

Of course this just begs the question; how? Taking the final episode of the second series at face value, Lelouch's resurrection just seems absurd. I wrote nine years ago that there was no way in hell they could resurrect this series. I was dead wrong. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. “Code Geass” is an over the top, sometimes absurdly melodramatic franchise where just about anything could happen, no matter how fanciful. To be utterly honest, I still don’t quite exactly understand how Lelouch survived. I admit that I haven’t seen the series for a couple of years and quite honestly should have watched it in its entirety before seeing this film. However the film’s plot can be quite confusing and requiring an encyclopaedic knowledge of how C's World works at some stages.

The audience is also bombarded with a huge cast. The staff seem hell bent on giving every character previously seen in the two TV series some screen time regardless of the fact if the character in question is actually integral to plot or not. I do find this type of screenwriting particularly annoying. Why do we need to see these people? It’s as if the creators think that if the audience don’t see thier favourite characters (no matter how insignificant they are in the franchise) they’ll feel short changed. It’s utterly pointless and impedes the story that is being told. Its fan service at its worst in my opinion. Adding to the issues this film has is the new animation found in the compilation film trilogy which, as I said before, does change the fates and motivations of some characters. The problem here is that if you haven’t seen those films (and many western fans don’t watch or like those type of films at all), you’d be utterly confused as to why characters who were dead or who received radically different fates in the series appear in this film.

There are also a number of new characters who are quickly introduced and are integral to the story, but generally don’t have much meat to them. The key one to the plot is the queen of Zilkhstani, Shamna, who is also a priestess and a user of Geass. Though she and her power plays a central role in the movie’s climax, I did find her usage of Geass in the story to be rather tiresome and a little bit predictable. Lelouch’s ability to bypass and defeated her Geass was also rather unbelievable and predictable. The second major new character is Shalio, the very young king of Zilkhstani. He is even more short changed than Shamna in terms of development. Honestly I can’t really tell you anything about him except his appearance. There is little personality in his character except for the fact he is vaguely portrayed as someone who is “evil”. Taking away the numerous appearances of superfluous characters, the main plot, while somewhat unnecessary detailed and complex regarding the C's World, is pretty damn interesting and intriguing. The other element I liked was the action. The battle sequences with the Knightmares are really well done with all of the mecha looking as if it was hand drawn, not CG. The hand to hand combat scenes, especially those involving Sayoko were exceptionally well choreographed, if a little absurd. Most of the CG was good, but a couple of shots with helicopters looked a little shoddy.

In conclusion, I sort of couldn’t get into this movie as much as I would have liked to. I mean, I am fully aware the franchise as a whole is absurdly over the top, but I think at times it was all a bit too silly. Yes the core plot was pretty good, but the cameos of literally dozens of characters who really had little to do with the story bogged everything down. The action was pretty damn good, but in the end, the story basically comes full circle before the end credits begin. I sort of wondered what the point of it all was. This film does feel underwhelming. Some fans have made the point that the original TV series ending was perfect, so why bother with this film? A post credits sequence predictably hints at further sequels, confirmed recently by the series’ producer Kojiro Taniguchi, who says there is a decade long plan for the franchise. That news honestly fills me with dread. On balance, I can only give this film 6.5 out of 10.