Attack on Titan II: End of the World (2015)

I liked the climax. Everything else was so-so.Still not as bad as DBE

The second part of Attack on Titan, subtitled The End of the World, is much better than the entertaining but formulaic first part. This second part quickens up the pace and leads to quite a few twists and turns in a dynamic plot. Some of them might be quite predictable which speaks for the questionable quality of the source material but they are executed with vivid special effects, directional precision and overall improved acting skills. Another positive element is that the second part provides some essential background information on the dystopian universe of the franchise in form of introspective dialogues and precise flashbacks. The movie also becomes more dynamic and tense as the confrontations between the Titans and the decimated human fighters become more brutal, spectacular and unpredictable. Even some of the more shallow characters become somewhat dynamic as the numerous challenges change them in negative or positive ways. The dramatic conclusion of the epic film is satisfactory and leaves no questions unanswered. While the first part had an addicting first half hour but lost steam until the final minutes, this second part has no lengths whatsoever and entertains from start to finish.Obviously, some of the flaws present in the first part also remain in the second and last instalment. The plot is too predictable at times and seems to borrow heavily from franchises such as Divergent and The Maze Runner. The dystopian universe remains quite faceless as well and the locations are particularly uninteresting. The characters become a little bit more dynamic but are still far from being unique and it remains difficult to root for any of them.Still, if compared to the at times lackluster first part, the second part can be seen as a very positive surprise and the negative elements are rather related to the average source material than the film itself. If the first film disappointed you, you should still stick around for the much more satisfactory second part that ends the live action adaptation of the popular anime series on a very high note. Fans of dystopian science-fiction stories focused on juvenile characters will definitely enjoy this flick.

Or maybe not, as the second part of "Attack on Titan" is curiously devoid of the big people, who seem to be busy somewhere else.The first part of the manga adaptation differed a lot from the original source but was still a fun enough time at the movies, with acceptable action, passable CGI and a pervasive feeling of fear and threat, the titans and the story behind them scary enough to forget the over-the-top moments and some not very good acting. The second part, though, just feels like someone decided to fill one hour and a half of randomness. Oh, and Satomi Ishihara's Zoë Hange shouting. Non-stop. For the whole movie.We were left with a surprising moment at the end of the first movie: Eren could become a titan too. The second movie starts just afterwards, with him in chains and the leader of the army not very happy of seeing him. From that moment, any chance of the movie making sense jumps out of the window. Sadly, any atmosphere, sense of fear or cool action go out too leaving the viewer with not much.That the plot is very random and the explanation of the titans kind of really-you-couldn't-think-about-anything-else? could be forgiven if anything else made sense. It is not that the actors overact and chew through their scenes as if there was no tomorrow; it's that they don't have many other options, as the dialogue is terrible, and the direction lacking.All in all, the movie fails, and it's a pity because it could have been quite an interesting study of militarism or society control. It can be mildly entertaining, and it is short enough that it never becomes terribly boring, but it's just purposeless and empty.

The first Attack on Titan already missed the point of the anime/manga. Disregard the source material, it still delivers enough dose of delightful violence. But since it now made an even more complicated storyline for this mythology, it would be tough to gain the chance of having a compelling story. And here we are, the sequel that is suppose to make sense out of something that's already made stupid. Maybe the predecessor was sort of forgivable for bringing a lot of cool action and bloody death scenes from the Titans, but here, it's more explaining; while that's not a bad choice, the characters aren't improved, the themes are even more vague and the plot is just shallow. The action is fine when it delivers, but we witness more horribly written characters here than whatever made the first movie at least fun.This sequel is about unraveling conspiracies from tyrannical governments, and that doesn't sound so bad since it's representing its own dystopian future allegory. But every time it keeps explaining the life inside and outside the walls, things get seriously confusing. At one point, it states that life inside the walls is suppose to be some sort of a utopian facade, but we hardly even get to explore that commentary. We're just explained that everyone inside the walls are slaves from a classified science experiment. And the rest of the movie has these characters deciding which side should they choose, either to destroy the wall or kill many innocent civilians. It would be cool if this argument doesn't take forever, but it keeps going. The problem is it's not given much tension since we hardly even knew who the people they were defending. It's just a nearly unending argument of which choice is supposed to be the right thing and it gets tedious.And the story gets even stupider the more they reveal the secrets of the villains, but we'd rather shrug it off and wait for the next action scene. Too bad, it takes a chunk of every ten to twenty minutes to get there. The first movie, while dumb, does spend a lot establishing the terror of the Titans. Here, the action is much reserved, which is a shame since these scenes are the only ones that are quite glorious to watch. Now we see hand-to-hand fights between two or more Titans and that's pretty awesome, but again, these scenes are just so little compared to the dreary expositions the entirety took over. The effects still looks nice, but it's easy to overlook these merits if everything else seems boring.Attack on Titan 2: End of the World is just not trying anymore. The first movie have established too much of the terror of these creatures, but then there happens to be a greater villain, which is presented with dull verbal expositions that leads to an utterly underwhelming finale of a franchise that hardly has anything to put out to begin with. They could have made things simple, like a direct adaptation, rather than being a much shallow version of The Giver movie or an exasperatingly complicated version of The Scorch Trials. The anime/manga is already a pretty clever, and once again, morally complex material. So why follow these generic trends? Well, fine, if you want to be a mindless fun movie, then go ahead. Besides, the title "Attack on Titan" and even more so with "End of the World" are perfect to enough to indicated a mindless, but pretty cool epic. But this movie sadly justifies nothing.