Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: The Empty Battlefield (Movie 1)
The feature subtitled "The Empty Battlefield" is comprised of recut episodes ofGundam Seed(2002), with some bits of new animation--a practice that goes back to the originalGundamseries (1979) and the first three features. This film includes material from the first 20Seedepisodes, or about one-third of the series.In the year 71 of the Cosmic Era (rather than the "Gundam Saga" timeframe or the "Alternate Universe"), Kira Yamoto accidentally becomes amechapilot when he stumbles onto the top secret Strike Gundam during an attack on his home satellite-colony, Heliopolis. Although the war is technically between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, it's really a conflict between the human "Naturals" and the genetically enhanced "Coordinators." The movie and the broadcast series offer the ingredients of a classicGundamsaga: a reluctant warrior, a masked enemy general, and an old friend who tests the hero's loyalty. Cutting the running time so substantially moves the action along a breakneck pace, but leaves little time for character development. Director Mitsuo Kukada uses CG to choreograph some very snazzymechabattles, in space, within Heliopolis, and on Earth, often with a fine disregard for the laws of physics. (Rated 13 and older: violence, brief nudity)--Charles Solomon