[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

After watching it with subs, I don't feel that much different from my first review of the movie above. It's a great watch and I still like the movie a great deal. The dialogues are actually pretty natural for Tomino's standard. It reminds me of the dialogues in the first MSG back when Tomino's writing was still pretty "modest".

Some people who came in expecting balls-to-the-wall giant robot action will most likely be disappointed. But I really like this kind of "SoL & espionage"-approach of this movie. The last time we saw a proper SoL within the animated UC anime was Gundam 0080 which was decades ago at this point. So I'm glad that we actually get to "breathe" within the world of UC in this movie (albeit from the POV of the jet-set people instead of the blue-collar family like Alfred in 0080) and get to see what a city in UC truly looks like (we only got glimpses of Neo Hongkong in Zeta & Narrative). I really appreciate the "stop to smell the roses"-approach of this first HF movie in a trilogy. I also like the little espionage element. Watching Hath (try) being all cautious in his every step is nice. Especially when he try to find a way to deal with Gigi. Looks like he really has a knack for detecting problematic girls that he just can't leave alone.

Maybe the reason I like this movie is because I came in not expecting my "ideal Gundam movie". Instead, I gave the movie a chance to showcase its story & its action however it wanted to do. And the story was presented really well and the action was greatly directed & on-point given the intention of showcasing more realism than ever before attempted by any other Gundam anime medium.

Speaking of action, this is probably the first time the Sulawesi & Maluku parts of my country are used as backdrops for the climactic action scenes considering how "obscure" those parts of Indonesia archipelago are to the cinematic world. They even mentioned some specific cities & islands like Manado, Halmahera & Tidore. That's a deep cut right there. Those who don't know might think all of them as mere fictional regions .

Originally Posted by LoweGear

So overall, as a standalone movie, I rather rank it quite low among the various original Gundam movies in existence, because it's essentially a movie that'll require the sequels to effectively give meaning to its rather odd position as a very long and extended prologue, unlike the other Gundam movies that were able to stand on their own two feet as full-length theatrical features.

I'd still put Gundam F91 at the bottom of the list. Unlike NT & HF, that movie has no clear goal whatsoever. The story is all over the place and many of the characters are just bland and some of them have the most random motivation. Watching Gundam F91 movie is akin to watching random stuffs happening just for the hell of it. Screw Seabook. I'd rather have Hathaway as an MC. At least Hath has more personality, more motivation, more inner conflicts, more swag and more things he planned to do for himself & his organization.

Originally Posted by Tactics

I'm fine accepting whatever delivered by this movie as I got enough understanding about UC but for people expecting action stuffs like SEED or IBO, it sucks.
Who the hell is Char Aznable? What made Mafty often compared to this Char dude? Why Hathaway stealing MS sounds heroic when in SEED Kira get scolded for taking Strike Gundam? What happened to this Quess that name dropped by Hathaway several times? Who is that rainbow guy telling Hathaway to not die yet? Minovsky Particle, what's that? The list goes on ...

First 15 minutes of movie, I'm amazed by how you can easily notice Mafty already make appearances on screen just by paying attention to everyone body language (which Kenneth and Gigi noticed as well), so I thought maybe we'll get less technical stuff that requires you to have knowledge about UC through show, not tell for everything not related to Char. Turned out nope, can be said no brake to such details. Good for you, UC fans, consider it warning for casuals. LOL.

I mean, a simple google search will easily tell you that HF is not a movie for casuals or newcomers (and it has no obligation to pander to newcomers either). Just like how Avengers: Infinity War was not really for MCU newcomers, but those newcomers still came and watched the movie anyway.

Originally Posted by Tactics

I'm not familiar with source material (only followed it through SRW and summaries) but is Gigi always like this?

Gigi is your typical Tomino's eccentric girl character, really. For example, Lalah also liked to tease Char when they weren't in combat situation like what Gigi did to Hath. Then you have Four Murasame who was pretty flirty too when she wasn't off her meds. And of course, you have Quess Paraya, Hath's former crush.