Every few centuries, the power of fate brings together
seven mages, each with a Heroic Spirit as a servant, for a battle royale known
as The Holy Grail War. The winner of
this battle obtains the legendary Holy Grail itself and the power that comes
with it, along with one single wish that can be granted. Shiro Emiya is the sole survivor of the last
war that consumed Fuyuki City in flames ten years ago. Now he finds himself an unexpected
participant in the next Holy Grail War.
His servant: the beautiful swordswoman, Saber. His ally: the beautiful prodigee Rin
Tohsaka. His enemies: Numerous and
unseen, save for the servant who will stop at nothing to kill him. If Shiro is to survive, he’ll need to
discover a power he never knew he had…the power to challenge Fate and change it
himself.
There’s a lot to love about the Fate Stay Night
franchise. The lore is vast and
interesting. The Heroic Spirits are very
well explored and fleshed out as more than tools for battle. The girl power factor is off the charts, led
especially by Rin and Saber. And yes,
the action is pretty damn amazing. So
what happens when you make a movie based on one of the routes of the Fate Stay
Night story and eliminate more than half of those elements, or at least dumb
down three of them and put a heavy emphasis on the fourth? Well…it’s not pretty. The animation isn’t bad but still it’s not
pretty.
The Unlimited Blade Works movie acts as a highlight reel
of the arc, cutting down hours of story and character development into a just
under two hour action fest that’s 75% action sequence; 10% explanations; 10%
Shiro whining about his ideals and his dreams getting slammed on; and 5%
character moments. Yep, the action takes
the lead on this one and rarely ever lets up for more than a simple walk to the
next fight scene (seriously that does happen) or for Shiro and Rin to make a
quick plan of attack before setting out on said walk. If you need a decent example, here’s the
first five minutes: Shiro wakes up, walks to school with Sakura (who isn’t in
this movie past this and one other scene), Rin summons Archer, Archer fights
Lancer, Shiro gets “killed” and revived by Rin, Shiro accidentally summons
Saber, opening logo…THAT’S ALL IN THE SPAN OF FIVE MINUTES!!!. If you were
disappointed by that summary alone, then this isn’t the film for you and you’re
better off sticking to the series adaptation of UBW that came after this.
It’s kind of funny in a way. One of the downsides to the Unlimited Blade
Works TV series was how slow it got sometimes or how repetitive it got,
especially when everyone danced in cirlces around Shiro’s grand dreams only to
realize…he’s never going to listen so screw it.
The action was phenomenal but never came at a rapid fire pace. There was adequate explanation and plenty of
time to get to know the characters and care for Rin, Saber, Archer…even Shiro
if you wanted to. This movie gives you
as bare bones info as you need to get from one fight to the next. If you’re an action junkie that’s fine but
it’s surprising how this backfires trying to chop out the slow bits and just
try to keep the action train going. The
characters are the biggest casualties of this approach. You never get to understand why many of these
characters do what they do in the Holy Grail War. Saber takes the brunt of it as she just plays
action heroine or damsel in distress (dressed in a sexy outfit and placed in a
provocative pose that never really gels well with anything). But Kirei, Lancer, Castor, even poor Illya,
are left in the dust and cast away almost as quickly as they’re introduced. Thankfully, Rin and Archer don’t quite suffer
nearly as badly. Rin’s moments are some
of the best as the movie never diminishes her strength, determination and
gusto. Every threat she makes, you know
she’ll carry out…unlike Shiro who you could just as easily ignore cause there’s
a cute Anime heroine you’d rather have the camera on at all times. Archer’s story remains intact but that’s only
because of how closely tied it is to Shiro.
Still his moments are good, if a little rushed like everything else.
The animation is once again done by Studio Deen, the same
studio that did the Fate Stay Night TV series I just wrapped up. Again, it’s nowhere near as gorgeous as the
Unlimited Blade Works TV Series or Fate/Zero prequel done by Studio Ufotable. But at least the animation here is feature
film worthy. The fight looks great, the
characters feel like they’ve been upgraded (especially Rin). The story may have suffered from under
development but the animation is in great shape (though it may did back to the
quality of the 2006 series on rare occasion).
Also, kudos to Kenji Kawaii, who also scored the 2006 series, for
delivering a sweeping score that’s both ancient with its choir and orchestra
and modern with the occasional guitar and trance beats.
Would I recommend this one to newcomers of the Fate franchise? Probably not, or at least not as the first
title (start with Fate/Zero nudge nudge hint hint). The explanations of the world and characters
are miniscule, even if the action is top notch.
A couple of characters get some stand out moments but never the true
recognition they deserve…unless of course you’re Shiro Emiya and everything has
to be about you but I digress. It’s not
a bad watch if you know the story and just want to kill time with a shorter
cliff notes version. In any other case,
you’ll wonder how you can fill up a film with so many fight scenes that leave
you so dull and unimpressed by the end.
Rin, Archer and one or two of those fight scenes save the movie for me. For everyone else…just watch the series. It may be a slough, but it’s a more complete
experience than this movie.
6/10
Happy New Year Everyone, see you in 2017.
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