Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: The Far-Away Dawn (Movie 2)
Director Mitsuo Kukada pulls out all the stops in the complex battles  that make up most ofThe Far-Away Dawn, the second feature recut  from the broadcast seriesMobile Suit Gundam Seed(2002). The  war between the forces of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT becomes  increasingly tangled as operations shift to the Terran surface. New  characters and new countries enter the conflict, introducing shifting  loyalties, betrayals, and revelations. But these political struggles  and the conflict between the human "Naturals" and the genetically  enhanced "Coordinators" take a back seat to the duel between  friends-turned-enemies Kira Yamoto and Athrun Zala. In their first  spectacular face-off, they destroy the Strike and Aegis Gundams. Both  pilots agonize over their actions, shedding tears like lawn sprinklers.  But when they obtain new, substantially stronger mobile suits, they  must decide how to use that awesome power. Cutting several half-hour  episodes into a 90-minute feature means the action careens along at a  breakneck pace, with little time for the characters or the audience to  rest. (Rated 13 and older: violence)--Charles Solomon