Danny Reguinho

Back when this film came out, I was in pre-production on my own *Gundam-inspired* film (check out [*Angels of Asgard*](https://youtu.be/YHizUeOczRw) on YouTube or Amazon Prime) and chose to avoid it at the time, but with the release of the second film in this trilogy this weekend, I figured it was time to catch up on some *Universal Century *Gundam... and I'm glad I did! I loved the vibes through and through. The political thriller espionage stuff is super well directed, the dialogue and machinations of the war feel very rich in detail and all the locations were so beautifully rendered, I loved seeing the characters in and about Hong Kong and the Philippines and on planes and whatnot. It was also interesting to see a Gundam film so modern in its influences (like Mamoru Oshii films, *GAINAX*, Contemporary* Bond* etc..) while being rooted in the very storyline/story that influenced many of those franchises itself. One homage I found particularly effective was how the *Penelope* Gundam was designed to appear a lot like the apocalyptic weapon *Zetton* from *Ultraman*, as well as evoke it's sound whenever it's flying about, making the key Mobile Suit of the formerly heroic Federation feel more like a harbinger of devastation. My biggest hold up is how, even though this film was sent to Netflix due to pandemic complications, the incredibly low contrast dark aesthetic of most of the action in this is totally lost to streaming compression and makes most of the night scenes difficult to parse. Otherwise, I am very excited to check out the sequel to this at some point soon, hopefully in theatres but I fear I may not find a window of time to make it with my work schedule. We shall see!

Back when this film came out, I was in pre-production on my own *Gundam-inspired* film (check out [*Angels of Asgard*](https://youtu.be/YHizUeOczRw) on YouTube or Amazon Prime) and chose to avoid it at the time, but with the release of the second film in this trilogy this weekend, I figured it was time to catch up on some *Universal Century *Gundam... and I'm glad I did! I loved the vibes through and through. The political thriller espionage stuff is super well directed, the dialogue and machinations of the war feel very rich in detail and all the locations were so beautifully rendered, I loved seeing the characters in and about Hong Kong and the Philippines and on planes and whatnot. It was also interesting to see a Gundam film so modern in its influences (like Mamoru Oshii films, *GAINAX*, Contemporary* Bond* etc..) while being rooted in the very storyline/story that influenced many of those franchises itself. One homage I found particularly effective was how the *Penelope* Gundam was designed to appear a lot like the apocalyptic weapon *Zetton* from *Ultraman*, as well as evoke it's sound whenever it's flying about, making the key Mobile Suit of the formerly heroic Federation feel more like a harbinger of devastation. My biggest hold up is how, even though this film was sent to Netflix due to pandemic complications, the incredibly low contrast dark aesthetic of most of the action in this is totally lost to streaming compression and makes most of the night scenes difficult to parse. Otherwise, I am very excited to check out the sequel to this at some point soon, hopefully in theatres but I fear I may not find a window of time to make it with my work schedule. We shall see!

Back when this film came out, I was in pre-production on my own *Gundam-inspired* film (check out [*Angels of Asgard*](https://youtu.be/YHizUeOczRw) on YouTube or Amazon Prime) and chose to avoid it at the time, but with the release of the second film in this trilogy this weekend, I figured it was time to catch up on some *Universal Century *Gundam... and I'm glad I did! I loved the vibes through and through. The political thriller espionage stuff is super well directed, the dialogue and machinations of the war feel very rich in detail and all the locations were so beautifully rendered, I loved seeing the characters in and about Hong Kong and the Philippines and on planes and whatnot. It was also interesting to see a Gundam film so modern in its influences (like Mamoru Oshii films, *GAINAX*, Contemporary* Bond* etc..) while being rooted in the very storyline/story that influenced many of those franchises itself. One homage I found particularly effective was how the *Penelope* Gundam was designed to appear a lot like the apocalyptic weapon *Zetton* from *Ultraman*, as well as evoke it's sound whenever it's flying about, making the key Mobile Suit of the formerly heroic Federation feel more like a harbinger of devastation. My biggest hold up is how, even though this film was sent to Netflix due to pandemic complications, the incredibly low contrast dark aesthetic of most of the action in this is totally lost to streaming compression and makes most of the night scenes difficult to parse. Otherwise, I am very excited to check out the sequel to this at some point soon, hopefully in theatres but I fear I may not find a window of time to make it with my work schedule. We shall see!

Back when this film came out, I was in pre-production on my own *Gundam-inspired* film (check out [*Angels of Asgard*](https://youtu.be/YHizUeOczRw) on YouTube or Amazon Prime) and chose to avoid it at the time, but with the release of the second film in this trilogy this weekend, I figured it was time to catch up on some *Universal Century *Gundam... and I'm glad I did! I loved the vibes through and through. The political thriller espionage stuff is super well directed, the dialogue and machinations of the war feel very rich in detail and all the locations were so beautifully rendered, I loved seeing the characters in and about Hong Kong and the Philippines and on planes and whatnot. It was also interesting to see a Gundam film so modern in its influences (like Mamoru Oshii films, *GAINAX*, Contemporary* Bond* etc..) while being rooted in the very storyline/story that influenced many of those franchises itself. One homage I found particularly effective was how the *Penelope* Gundam was designed to appear a lot like the apocalyptic weapon *Zetton* from *Ultraman*, as well as evoke it's sound whenever it's flying about, making the key Mobile Suit of the formerly heroic Federation feel more like a harbinger of devastation. My biggest hold up is how, even though this film was sent to Netflix due to pandemic complications, the incredibly low contrast dark aesthetic of most of the action in this is totally lost to streaming compression and makes most of the night scenes difficult to parse. Otherwise, I am very excited to check out the sequel to this at some point soon, hopefully in theatres but I fear I may not find a window of time to make it with my work schedule. We shall see!