Reviews

I am a big fan of the series. Let me just say, if you do not know what this series is about, there is no way you will understand what this movie is talking about.

That said, this last installment was not consistent with previous two. I think what has happened is that they started off very well, how ever half way through making the third movie they realised "oh shit, at this rate we will never finish the story with only three movies..."then they cut out all the little details which would really flesh the story out a lot more.

This is the over all feel I had when I walked out of the theatre, I could really appreciate what they were trying to do and the embedded message of it. However it had too many compromises and the whole thing feels wrinkled and uneven. Hopefully there would be a director's cut version of it.

As a fan, was it a master piece that I wanted? No, not by a long shot. But, was it grand and enjoyable? Hell yeah.

When the story telling is bad, no amount of culture background is going to save it. Background is just that, it's background, it sits in the back. You still need what's in the front to carry your load. Mandarin is my native language, I have seen better cartoons than this ... *movie* ...

The setting was too grand, the amount of substantial topics the story was trying to cover were too many. The movie makers of the story were too ambitious, they touched on so many things on so many levels all the while ignored their own limited understanding of the philosophies behind them. The ideologies were so confused and many parts of the story were logically challenged in terms of its own premises ...

The end product was a grotesquely thrown together short stories of weak characters with no emotional strings viewers can grab on to. The names of the main characters can literally be replaced by a random set of names and it would not have made a difference. You can praise the visuals all you want, but I paid money to watch a story of legendary characters in an epic tale, instead I got a generic Hollywood wanna be that I will forget the instance I finish typing this review.

I do not understand the low rating. I am a native Mandarin speaker, and an avid movie goer. I had always found Chinese movies weak in their writing and directing. I was very pleasantly surprised by this nugget of a comedy/drama/adventure movie.

The humour were dry but not so they flew over my head, if you spend a second they were very very funny! The messages were strong and well delivered. The plot twists and arrangement were so masterly done that there was not a scene that did not have a purpose. I strongly recommend this movie! You will laugh, you will cry, and you will leave the theatre wanting for more!

There are two major camps of views for this movie. One simply says the movie is bad. The other criticizes the first camp for not understanding metaphors and therefore the movie is great.

Well, I am of the minority. I see this movie as a mediocre attempt on copying what's already in the Bible. It replaces all the characters's name and setting from the Bible with what modern audience is adjusted to. Almost everything happens exactly as the stories in the Bible. There is barely any original metaphor. If this not plagiarism, I am not sure what is.

The series of films and anime was built on an interactive novel published by TypeMoon. In which through different reading path and interaction the main character Shirou Emiya would end up in a romantic relationship with a different female lead. Each season of anime or film focuses on one route of the ending a novel reader would end up with in one of their read through. This movie is the second part of a three-part film that focuses on the relationship between Shirou Emiya and Sakura.

What is constant in all these parallel universe endings is the endless fight amongst masters and servants in pursuit of the holy grail. The larger questions revolve around why magus chase the holy grail, what undying wish these historical heroic spirits have they want to realise so bad that their ghosts linger in our world, and the ultimate questions what is the holy grail and is it worth it?

In order to really appreciate the delicate story lines this series have woven, in particular this second part of the Sakura story line, viewer is advised to gain prior knowledge of the settings of each character in this fictional universe. Because the way the stories are told is in a way that all characters' retain their history and backgrounds, only in each different alternate universe they interact differently. Basically viewers are watching the same period of time in a universe with different historical event turnout.

Other than that, it must be said, answers to a lot of the major questions the whole Fate/Stay Night franchise has built up are getting slowly revealed. There is a real sense of satisfaction in learning those answers. Comparing to Evangelion series, Fate/Stay Night reveals its plot in a very well thought out and methodical order, with a back drop of philosophical and existential provocation, and not handled heavy handily like EVA does. No preaching, which is always a plus to Japanese anime since their characters usually monologues a lot.

Visual wise, the character design may not be everybody's cup of tea. But the scenes are absolutely stunning and the fighting sequences are edge of the seat style breath taking, because the story makes you care about the characters. It is a must see for the fans. And to anyone wants to get into the series, you won't be disappointed.

After seeing last years "Your Name", I had hopes for this movie. That is actually my fault.

Based on the title and its synopsis this was premise with huge potential. The depth it can reach is ambitions, however after viewing it felt flat and came across as pretentious. Reason being it makes attempts on so many idealogical arguments and never even raise the questions right... let along answering them.

I am not saying this movie is a waste of time, because it does occasionally has nice drawn scenarios... but it certainly doesn't live up to its promises.