Welcome to Gundam Plus II, the successor to the original Gundam Plus site.
G-Saviour
So here we are the famous (or should it be infamous?) Live Action Gundam movie. I’ve been told many things about this one, mostly which say I shouldn’t bother watching it but I figure I should see if for myself.
The Story
In UC 0128 the Earth Federation is done and the world finds its being replaced by CONSENT (the Congress of Settlement Nations). Of course, Consent isn’t all that it seems and appears bent on picking up where the Earth Federation left off in gaining full control over everything. Opposing them is Illuminati who are trying to expose ands stop Consent’s actions. Getting caught in the conflict is Mark Curran, an underwater rig pilot who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As the movie flows along over the 90mins, we go with Mark as he meets friends and enemies and slowly learns what CONSENT’s ultimate plan is and in the end use the G-Saviour to stop it.
What worked and what didn’t work
Where to begin, where to begin? Ok, it’s clear that the writer and director didn’t do one ounce of background research because it’s clear that they have no clue what the Gundam series is like in any way. Five minutes into the flick one can clearly see that. The CGI used for the Mobile Suits is downright terrible. The G-Saviour looks very clumsy and clunky not to mention what the other MS’ look like. Finally, even though it’s a Canadian production, it’s clear those in front and behind the camera were just there for the paycheque. Half the time it looks like they’re just reading off of cue cards in front of them. Not to mention the fact that it looks like they raided Starship troopers’ wardrobe. The Ms-Rai at the end looks like a bad rip-off of the Sazabi and the final fight was dull and stupid.
Final Thoughts
Ok, you read all that above? Good, now just walk away and don’t think about G-Saviour ever again. This is a terrible worst (worst than when Willie had to eat his way out of the cream corn) and proves that Bandai or those on this side of the ocean or both at the time didn’t give any real serious thought about a live-action Gundam movie. Bad acting, cheap production and crappy CGI all add up to one hoseramer of a flick. Heck, the stop-motion stuff from “Robot Jox” looks tons better than the effects in this and that’s saying something. All in all, it was an interesting try but clearly not ready for prime time.
* out of 5 stars – just for the effort, which wasn’t much.
