Evangelion 1.11 - You Are (Not) Alone

Parental Advisory: Rated PG-13 for violence and some nudity

If you’re not a fan of good old-fashioned science fiction and/or giant monster battles, ‘Evangelion 1.11’ is a film you should avoid at all costs. But if any part of you cringed when the SciFi Channel became the “SyFy” Channel, then add it to your queue straight away. You’ll be glad you did. And then you’ll write an angry letter to those darned “SyFy” executives, threatening to boycott their programming forever if they don’t cancel ‘Ghosthunters’ immediately.

If there’s one thing I've learned from watching old reruns of ‘The Twilight Zone’ every New Year's Eve for the last five years, it’s this: The best science fiction hasn’t got a blessed thing to do with science. It doesn’t waste time trying to convince its audience to recycle, that we have to stop driving our cars, or that global warming is going to kill us all if we don’t stop shopping at Wal-Mart. The best science fiction, like all great storytelling, starts with characters – with people – and this is where ‘Evangelion 1.11’ tries to stand out.

Fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari is on his way to meet his father in New Tokyo 3, a fortress city built fifteen years ago in the aftermath of a global cataclysm that claimed the lives of half the world’s population. En route, Shinji is caught in the crossfire between the military – now under command of a mysterious organization called NERV – and a monstrous being referred to as an “Angel.” Not to be confused with the winged seraphim featured in Judeo-Christian art, these Angels come in the form of enormous shape-shifting behemoths that have more in common with the monster from ‘Cloverfield’ than they do with depictions of Michael or Gabriel.

As the film progresses, Shinji discovers that he has been chosen as the pilot of a weapon called an Evangelion (literally translated "the good news") – a gigantic “synthetic humanoid” constructed to repel Angel attacks. He also meets fourteen-year-old Rei Ayanami, the reserved female Evangelion pilot with whom he shares his new burden.

We learn that the Evangelions were created using data gathered during an encounter with the first Angel, the "Giant of Light" referred to as Adam (as in "the Garden of Eden"). There's also some vague references to the "Tree of Knowledge," and viewers are led to believe that the Angels might be holding a grudge against humanity for attempting to become God-like by eating of its fruit. Thankfully, the writers have avoided offense by treating these Old Testament elements primarily as plot devices. No erroneous arguments are made concerning the Judeo-Christian faith, nor does the film stoop to taking pot-shots against Christians (although the cross-shaped explosions might have been a bit much).

While these (non)religious elements are intriguing (Angels, huh?), the most compelling aspect of the story is Shinji’s quiet struggle with his own insecurity. Of course, insecurity in and of itself is never enough to hold my attention. Like any red-blooded American, I’d much prefer the heroic manliness of John Wayne to, well, anything less than John Wayne. But then again, nothing and nobody even comes close to measuring up to John Wayne. Did I mention I like John Wayne?

I can’t stand insecure, self-absorbed characters - the very sort of characters that have been explored ad nauseam by independent art-house films (which I also usually hate). But there is an important difference in the case of Eva 1.11’s characters, whose insecurity is rooted not in selfish nihilism, but in a collapse of family structure.

Shinji is a weakling, but he has also grown up without either a mother’s love or a father’s discipline.

Having lost his mother at an early age, and having subsequently been abandoned by his father, Shinji has apparently been living with different adult guardians for most of his young life, and this displacement has profoundly hindered his ability to relate to those around him. This insecurity has powerful ramifications, given Shinji’s responsibility as the pilot of an all-powerful super-weapon.

The boy must fight. He must be strong. He must become a man. That's a simple message, and one that isn't honored often enough when they hand out the Oscars.

On the negative side, my biggest complaint concerns the film's pacing. From one scene to the next, the plot seems to advance a little too quickly, often disorienting the audience as much as the characters on-screen. This isn't a huge problem, mind you (you haven't seen terrible pacing until you've seen 'The Last Airbender'), but there were probably a few scenes that could have been altered in the interest of a smoother scene-to-scene transition. There's also a bit of unnecessary nudity, but it shouldn't bother anyone younger than the Baby Boom Generation.

The next entry in the franchise, 'Evangelion 2.22 - You Can (Not) Advance', arrives on March 29th, 2011. Until then, consider checking out 'You Are (Not) Alone.' It's an imperfect movie, and I do hope the sequel corrects some of its weaker points. But this first entry proves that the Evangelion franchise has the potential to be one of the first great science fiction stories of the century.

And it most certainly possesses more artistic value than a big-budget 3D rip-off of 'FernGully."