Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED Freedom

If you watched Seed and Destiny and really liked it, this one is for you. Seed is not a great story about war, but it is a great story about the best pilot of all time, with an embarrassing love and the coolest design ever for a main gundam (Freedom, Strike Freedom and now Mighty Strike Freedom)

Is the villains' master plan the same as the one they used in the series? Yes, but at the end of the series, Durandal put this doubt in Kira's mind, and this question is still a real question... humanity always turns to war for some reason. Showing this haunting ... Kira, who never liked conflict, is very valid, and here we also see the mental consequence of placing the protagonist as the Hero who carries the team

In Seed we have Kira saving the archangel, the federation and Zaft with the first launch of Freedom. In Destiny we have Strike Freedom destroying Zaft's forces in minutes before kicking Shinn and Rey's asses in the first launch of Strike Freedom. all this with Takanori's ost.

In this one we have the first time we see Rising Strike with Freedom OP in the background, and Mighty Strike for the first time on the battlefield, doing what Kira does best, with an old TM Revolution song. If you liked the first two and didn't like the ones in the movies, you're just crazy.

If you were expecting a good story about war in a new movie, go watch Hathways Flash. If you wanted a good movie about Seed in its essence, a story about Love, watch this one and enjoy

Overall I found the movie to be a lot of highs and lows, peaks and valleys. Little moments here and there I absolutely loved, found funny, cool, or appropriate following from Seed/Destiny, and other things were even dumber than the Seed-Hater-Memes make Seed out to be.

The art design wasn't as bad as the previews made it out to be, though many times characters were indeed much too bobble-headed. I also felt something was missing in the the CG fighting - it was too smooth and lacked the "oomph" & "impact" that the original shows (and even Hathaway's Flash) managed to instill in the clashes and ... hits.

Aside from a couple of the new songs and the teases of original classic tracks which were most appreciated, I found the movie score to be very underbaked. Long periods without an emotional note or flourish, seeming different tracks stiched together scene by scene - it was giving me some audio whiplash. Compared to Seed/Destiny, where perhaps the strongest element was the music, it was a poor showing.

The subtitles I felt were not amazing in their quality. Clunky translation and delivery. I was also sad to see we went back to the "Dullindal" spelling for the former ZAFT chairman. Took me back to 2005 on that one.

There were loads of story points that I took issue with, especially since Fukuda said it was so important to keep the consistency of character from the end of Destiny, I was hoping for better from our two lead characters, Kira and Lacus.

Kira especially (and I focus on him in this review because it really is his movie) I felt was very out of character and unbelievable following from where we last saw him in Destiny. He has a emotional crisis to work through in this movie and the way he tries to deal with it was so reminiscent of SEED-era Kira when he was at his lowest/inexperienced, I was shocked and disappointed. By the end of Seed and all over Seed Destiny, Kira had developed a much greater emotional intelligence and awareness and would not have acted as he did in this movie. There was a chance to explore a much more nuanced character and romantic relationship here but unfortunately the film took an obvious and tired retread of been there done that (with this very same character). This regression of character for no reason was puzzling and reaks of plot convenience.

Lacus has some very puzzling retcons seemingly made to her, however her character feels more as if she hasn't changed or evolved since we saw her in Destiny, whereas Kira felt like he actually regressed.

The antagonists are supremely underdeveloped and underexplained, unless I missed a lot somehow in the breakneck pace of some sections of the movie. The special gimmicks and origins of the antagonistic group which are *critical* for the plot... Not explained as far as I remember. I can only make assumptions which isn't great for a movie that had near 2 decades to figure itself out.

I was reminded several times during the movie of the Code Geass Resurrection movie; only I feel that movie did all the things you could hope for - and did them well - while here there are so many narrative compromises following from Seed Destiny. It feels like the script could have done with another going over.

There is a lot of fan-service, particularly as you get into the 3rd act. When it isn't stepping on the character development/narrative, it's highly effective; Shin, Luna, Capt. Ramius, Mu, Athrun, and Cagalli all get great moments you'll love if you've ever enjoyed the Gundam Seed setting.

I do hope for more Cosmic Era animation entries, just with some more narrative care given to character consistency and development. For Seed Freedom, my earnest hope is that they can improve and massage certain aspects of Seed Freedom for the home release like they did with Seed-Destiny OG > Seed Destiny HD. Somehow they made me love Seed Destiny more than Seed when I did a rewatch, so I think there could be hope for Seed Freedom.

So, I finally watched Gundam Seed Freedom. I honestly never thought I’d ever see this film. This is a movie that’s been talked about ever since Destiny ended back in the 2000s, yet nothing ever came of it for decades. I thought this movie would never be a thing. So, when I first saw the trailers for this over a year ago, my first thought was “Really? This is actually happening?” But, my second reaction was indifference.

If this movie had come out ten to fifteen years ago, I would’ve been extremely hyped for it. I was a massive Gundam fan ... back then. I still am now, but my hype for Gundam was at its peak in those days. I loved the original Gundam Seed. Even now, despite my several issues with the series, I think the original Seed is a decent show, especially if you watch the remastered version. It has a really bad reputation because it’s linked with Seed Destiny, which really sucks. I didn’t like Destiny back then, and I definitely don’t now. That, and the fact that it’s been so long, my interest expectations for this film were pretty low. The fact that it’s taken me this long to finally watch it should say enough.

Yet, I still found myself disappointed. Yeah, I don’t like this film much at all. I won’t say it’s the worst Gundam movie ever. F91 still holds that spot for me. But I will say it’s the worst of the three Gundam movies based on an alternate-universe franchise, being this movie, Endless Waltz and Awakening of the Trailblazer. I’m one of the few Gundam fans that loves Awakening of the Trailblazer. I think that film is great, and a worthy end to the 00 franchise. I would even say a necessary one.
This film is much like Endless Waltz in that they’re both rather unnecessary, tacked-on sequels to stories that had completed, and had nowhere left to go. But I would rather watch Endless Waltz over this.

There are some good things about this movie. The art and animation are both good. All the constant recycled animation both Seed and Destiny are infamous for is pretty much gone here. There are some, but they feel more like homages rather than laziness. The music is good. That’s always been a constant strength of this franchise.
Kira and Lacus actually go through arcs in this, and are actually allowed to show vulnerability, which was sorely lacking in Destiny. They actually feel more in line with how they were characterized in the original Seed. The mobile suits all look cool, old and new models, save one. The Destiny Gundam actually got a better combat showcase here than it ever did in Destiny. I would argue Shin got the most badass moments in the film, even more than Kira.

That’s it for the compliments though. The worst part about this film is that it’s a complete rehash of destiny. The movie starts with the heroes fighting the same terrorist group from the first half of Destiny. The main villains have the same goal as Durandel, the main villain of Destiny. They even recycle the same superweapon from the end of Destiny. The climax is pretty much identical to the final battle of Destiny, with the same stakes.

The new characters, on both the hero and villain sides, are all nothing to speak of. The main villain is pretty much a lame mix of Durandel from Destiny and Azrael from Seed. He’s a worse version of both characters.
Athrun has criminally little screen time. Cagalli has even less and does little to nothing. Murrue and Mu are…there. Shin, while having the most badass action bits, is still treated like crap from pretty much everybody for the entire film. It’s sad because Shin could’ve been a decent protagonist in Destiny, as the first half of that series was actually somewhat decent. But, they completely screwed him over at the end of that show, and here he’s treated like an idiot and a joke by everyone.

People complain about 00 and the Witch from Mercury and how many of the battles feel very Shounen-like, but they have nothing on this film. The fights in Destiny already felt too Shounen-like, but this took it to another level. Some of the Gundam battles in this finale would be right at home in G Gundam. Honestly, this film feels like a Gundam movie and more like a Shounen movie. You know, like the old DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece movies. This feels like one of those. Gundam is supposed to be a war story. Seed felt like a war story. Even Destiny felt more like a war story than this does.

I wouldn’t say this is a horrible movie. I just find it a nothing burger. Maybe if this had come out in the late 2000s I would be less hard on it. But as a film released now, it just feels like a cash grab, capitalizing on nostalgia, like a lot of things nowadays. This feels a lot like the code Geass Resurrection film we got several years ago, and I’d rather watch that than this.

This film really isn’t for anyone except diehard fans of everything Seed. If you don’t like either Seed or Destiny don’t watch this. If you like Seed but not Destiny, don’t watch this. If you’re someone who’s curious about Gundam Seed, then just watch the first series, and pretend nothing after that exists.