royal.kilback - 2016-08-30 03:03:04

ebernier - 2016-03-16 04:41:14

   The Psycho-Pass movie is trully a movie; it can stand on its own (though whether it should is up for debate). I just finished watching it in theatres and its got a relatively good dub, great plot, and beautiful animation  (save for some Initial-D esque CGI cars). Above all, the soundtrack is still amazing and I strongly encourage to watch it in theatres.

oconnell.stephen - 2015-11-02 00:05:58

Personally, I try to avoid movies based on pre-existing series. Usually they come off as fanservice and do not further the main series in any way. And when said movie has tied into the main series, it is often very rushed and poorly structured(I’m looking at you Gundam 00). Sadly, the Psycho Pass movie is no exception. .

First off, this is a stand alone side story. It says that it’s a sequel to Psycho Pass 2, but that is pretty much a lie. The is basically zero connection the second season and most of the movie takes place outside of Japan. None of the characters other than Akane and Kogami makes a meaningful appearance in the movie. I guess the movie wants to stay away from the nonsense in the god awful Psycho Pass 2. The bad thing though, is that this basically makes the movie filler. Now, I wouldn’t actually mind this that much if the movie was good. But alas, it was not.

First and foremost, the thing rushed as all hell. The movie has approximately enough content to cover an entire season, but all of it is crammed into less than two hours. Everything goes by so fast that it becomes hard to care about anything that's happened. Characters come and go at a blink of an eye, ideas are dropped at a tip of a hat, and there is no theme that last long enough to matter. However, I don’t necessarily think the movie would be any better with a longer run time since the plot is contrive as the US tax system. 

The plot for the Psycho Pass Movie is completely illogical and downright stupid. The entire point this movie trying to push the point that the Sybil system is actually a good system. This seems really obtuse and stupid, especially considering this is consider this movie technically take place after season two, where Sybil kills people for no reason. In this movie, Sybil killed thousands of innocent people, allows an army of megalomaniacs to oppress millions, replaces politicians with robots, and still expects the viewer to believe it is all done for the good of humanity. What a fucking joke. And they even throw in the dictatorial government in Cambodia to simply make Sybil look good in comparison. Gen, a slight smaller piece shit is still a piece of shit. And for the love of god, Akane somehow still believe that she can change the system from the inside. Really Akane? That is like trying to passing a bill through Congress, it will never happen. 

None of the characters ever matter in this movie. All the villains suffer from “James Bond Syndrome” where they let the main characters live for no reason, explain their plan to them, and then finally proceed to kill them. As for the villains, they are just there for the sake of being cool. None of the villains ever come off interesting of meaningful. The army dudes are are just a bunch of one dimensional psychopaths and all the mercenaries that appear later in the film are just there to either look cool or to throw out pseudo intellectual quotes as if this was GITS Innocence.

Even the main characters don’t do much. Akane and Kougami are just passive observers who are just dragged along a series of events that they have no control over. And the part that pisses me off the most is that no one learn anything at the end. All the characters remain the same as if nothing ever happened. Akane is still a stoic observer, Kougami is still a bishonen rebel, and Sybil is still a bunch of hypocritical jerks. Everything remain at the status quo as if nothing ever happened.

If you want an action movie, I think this would satisfy you. It is very well polished and technically proficient and there is an abundant amount of big, blockbuster action scenes. However, if you want anything more that a dumb, action bust them up, you won’t find it here. All this movie really amounts to is an over the top gore fest that have no idea what it's doing.

raven23 - 2015-09-25 12:51:18

Note: This review contains spoilers from the first two seasons. 

The Psycho-Pass movie takes place a couple of years after the ending of the second season. Once again it follows Akane as she takes her incorruptible hue and immovable morality outside of Japan to hunt S1 favorite Kougami in SEAUn (South East Asian Union).

After Akane stops a well organized terrorist group in Japan, she learns of Kougami's connection to them and goes off by herself (with the blessing of the Sibyl System) to SEAUn to investigate. The continent itself acts a representation of two things, one, what life is like in countries outside of Japan (without the SS) and also how its used and affects the lives of those where the system is recently implemented (to an extent.) 

An issue is that the SEAUn is all we have of the world outside of Japan. It's a place where violence is common and the area is not only under constant risk of terrorist attack, but has just had a civil war. We hear that "Every place is like this outside of Japan." The problem is that we have no way to really verify this claim. 

Of course we get to view both sides of the coin here, how the city is viewing things with the newly implemented Sibyl System making things peaceful, and the Rebels who understand the dangers of the system, probably thanks to Kougami (although it's not explicitly stated except for a single line of dialogue). But it's all really what we knew or expected overall. No real major revelations. 

The movie does have some minor world things tossed in like how people who are latent criminals where collars in order to enter the city, but are often shunned by others, and how the city generally accepts the lack of freedom because of Sybil because the lack of freedom without it was greater, but those are really fleeting afterthoughts.

The story really wants to go everywhere and touch a lot of points that fans have been asking since the end of season 1. The problem is that it does not have enough time to fully explore any of it or the story put restrictions where we don't get accurate depictions. It's pieced together well, but only at the seams and seems pretty shallow overall. I suppose it did a good job for the time frame. If it feels like I dislikes the story, I didn't I actually thought it was decent, but they should have focused more tightly on a couple of things instead of simply trying to answer every question. 

Akane has always been the constant of the show and she has true main character status here. But as much as I like her as a character because the story gets in the way of her and in some cases just screw her over. It almost seems like they go out of their way to establish how badass she's become only to completely erase it later on, and then reestablish how she's able to almost easily force her views onto the Sybil System at the end. There are parts made to make Akane contemplate her decisions with the Sybil and her actions, but he moral and personal beliefs are so strong that the time the movie dedicates to this is nowhere near enough to have an effect. What worse is that if this was a full season instead a movie I fully believe that Akane would have subverted these "story" elements that hamper her character in the movie. 

Much more interesting is Kougami. It's not even as his character really develops a lot throughout the movie, it's more where his character is now since we last saw him. He's in essence the leader of the resistance against the Sibyl System and has taken on several traits of S1s antagonist, Shougo Makishima. But his hows and whys are fundamentally different. Which raises an interesting point, if his ends justify the means and the audience agrees with him (as I expect a lot of us do), are we being unfair to the Sybil System because in almost every case life for those under it are better?

The villains are pretty lame and kind of obvious what they are doing. Not much else to say about them except that the Sybil System is involved somehow. There is an interesting part where the villains basically offer Kougami to step over the line and become a Makishima, and not without obvious benefits. 

That leaves the other characters and not a lot of them really do anything of significant note. I suppose I should mention Ginoza, who has since forgiven Kougami and now even seems to respect his actions despite not agreeing with them. The other is Mika Shimotsuki who pretty much represents a faithful dog to the system. If Kougami represents Destruction (The system must be destroye), and Akane represents Change (The system is needed but so are humans), she represents Order (The system is perfect) to a point where she has an extreme view of the ends justify the means and it shows a couple of times within the film. 

I do need to address her interaction with Akane. It's no secret to those within the anime that their approaches and viewpoints deviate significantly and it often results in arguments (more like Mika yelling at Akane) as it's not in Akane's character to really argue her points in the heat of a moment. But when she does it here it just seems like it was tossed in only to make sure we know this girl has an opposing viewpoint. The problem is that her credibility ended at a very low point in S2 and we don't see any of her development since then so her word hold little meaning against Akane who has single handily changed more than anyone else in the series. I understand they want her to have a foil, but Mika is not compelling. 

The art and animation in the film are generally very high quality. The action sequences are very well animated and some of them even have this weight to them where you almost feel the characters movements and the impacts. It also has some Akane fanservice tossed in. But at times it does feel more like an action show rather than the more drama based stint that the series really is, although I suppose that is to be expected with a movie. 

Overall the Psycho Pass movie is like a surface view of the benefits and downfalls of the Sybil System and the viewpoints of some of the key players within the anime. It's not really any mind blowing twists or sudden character revelations but a solid frame work that was built from the previous two seasons that hold this movie together. Even so, it does raise enough questions and adds enough elements into the mix to hold its own.

6/10

delbert.mueller - 2015-08-16 00:08:33

Sibyl-system expanding overseas, that's about everything to say plot-ways without spoiling. Characters are the same as before with some new additions. All you Akane x Kougami fans will be serviced as well. Overall it doesn't go in same depth of humanitarian and philosophical issues as first or even the second season went but it's still a good action flick to enjoy if you are a fan of the earlier seasons.

allie.borer - 2015-07-17 03:49:26

The long wait is finally over. For months, the wait for Psycho Pass Movie was endured, as news of the showings in Japan with positive feedback wafted over to the West. Yesterday, the Blu-Ray was released, and I wasted no time in not watching it. Here, a mostly spoiler-free, comprehensive first take review of Psycho Pass The Movie.

First of all, right after Psycho Pass 2 finished airing, I wrote a review for it. Psycho Pass 2 was a nice follow-up; it wasn't received as well as Psycho Pass, probably because it was different. Shorter, less episodically and and it was Kougami and Makishima-less. Personally, I still enjoyed that season, but enough about that. 

Psycho Pass 2, in retrospect, essentially sets up the story for the movie. The first season explored the Sybil system on a personal level, the second season explored it in terms of a society, and as you've probably heard, the movie takes it to an international level. The last monologue by Tsunemori in season 2 is essentially the idea behind the movie; the law does not protect the people, but people protect the law. Or something like that. 

Story

A group of foreign terrorists infiltrate Japan, and is taken down in spectacular fashion by our beloved group of Public Safety Bureau members. When interrogating one of the terrorists, Kougami is found to be part of their group. Tsunemori goes outside of Japan to administer justice, and the plot thickens.

Keeping it spoiler free, that's as far as I'll go. The story was very well done, especially closer to the middle and the end. It had some parts which I question the necessity of, however the variable pacing works well to contrast Japan and the chaotic outside world. The ending was very satisfying, and leaves me with no regrets. Some minor parts of the story did leave me some unanswered questions though, but in 2 hours, there's only so much you can do.

Animation

Ohhhh man. If you like good animation, you're in for a ride. It is incredibly smooth. Season 2 had a few dodgy episodes in terms of animation, especially the remote control episode, but I have yet to find any flaws with the animation in the movie. Expect animation quality from season 1, but with a ton of beautifully choreographed action scenes. CGI plays a heavy part, and its instantly recognizable, but blends in very well. Almost all of the drones, planes, Dominators and the like appear to be CGI, but its done very well.

The colouring is absolutely amazing, setting the mood immediately. The show has a bunch of different colour palates for different settings, such as the familiar blue hues of the Public Safety Bureau, and the vivid neons of the slums... 

Being a movie, I picked up quite a few subtle cinematic techniques they put into the movie. The attention to detail is simply amazing; every still frame is background worthy.

Japanese Department of Defense Logo

This logo is on the side of the plane. It appears, as far as I am aware, just once in close up, and it lasts just one frame. Although you see the logo again later, its a smaller and you'd be unable to make out the details regardless. It amazes me the animation went to such lengths for detail. This lasts one frame! Well, budget well spent I guess.

Sound

Hnnnng. The sound. Soundtracks from seasons 1 and 2 make a comeback in this one, with new music. I had no idea how much I'd missed those soundtracks until they played; goosebumps everywhere. The music blends in when it needs to, and stands out when it needs to. It compliments the film in so many ways.

Voice acting is pretty top notch, and I got a few good laughs out of the Engrish. Even if you don't speak Japanese (as English subs are yet to come out at the time of writing), you can get maybe 1/3 of the story due to the amount of English spoken... if you can decipher what they're saying. I honestly found it harder to understand the Engrish than the rest of the film, but props to them for trying. Tsunemori speaks pretty good English though!

As for the Japanese parts, I fail to see a single voice actor out of place. Kana Hanazawa once again nails it with Tsunemori, and Seki's performance as Kougami is as good as ever. Good to hear his voice again after a whole season's worth of waiting.

New OP, sounds great. As for the ED... I'll just let you listen to it. Couldn't be happier with the sound (Engrish was at least pretty funny).

Character

If you're hoping for lots of side story on the other Enforcers and Inspectors, give up. This movie is about Akane Tsunimori and Shinya Kougami. Their characters gets a good fleshing out. Despite everything, Kougami is still as mysterious as ever, but we do know a bit more about how Tsunemori thinks. Karanomori is awesome, as per usual. Nothing too spectacular about the characters, but its done as it should. 

Mika... gets more bearable. Looks like she got a little better at thinking, but there's still some dodgy stuff going on with her. 

We also get some completely new characters, but their stories aren't too well fleshed out. After all, its a movie! Not enough time to give everyone a story. Despite that, I was left feeling very satisfied with the main characters.

Enjoyment

Well, wasn't that one hell of a ride? I most certainly enjoyed the living daylights out of it. Thank you for reading my review, and if you haven't watched it, watch it. If you've watched it already, consider rewatching it, because that's what I'm going to do now.

blockman - 2015-01-22 03:02:42

 i͕̘̼̹̹͈̔͊̄̽̂͗ͧ̕͢ ̤̼̹͇͕͔͗̉͑ͣw̷̛͎͖͕̣̣̆̌͑ͫͫͮ͐̏a̸̻̦̼̯̤̭͐͐̓́́ͥ͞ͅn̻̖̙̆̕t̷̝̰̼̫̬̰̹ͯ̃̎͛ ̧̡̟̝̗̔͒ķ͈̳͇̣͇͉̰̝̇̋̂ͯ̽o̭͉͈̜̳ͤ͘͘̕ų͖̔ͯ͊̇ͣ͘͠g̎̀ͬͧ̅͏̶̰̲a͍̫̠ͪ̂̆̑̐̅̕m̷̵̧̼̗̲͎͓̄ͩ̈́̂ͪͭi͚̩̓̐͠ ̋͏͚͇̜t͍̲̩͍͇̽̃̒ͅͅȯ̯̯̪͕̻̰̼̤͝ ̪̩̩̮̟͉͋̌̆r̷̰̟͙̤̈ͪ̕͝u̗̠̼͗́̏ǹ̼͖͍ͫͫ̈́͌̈́͞