The movie came out in late 2012, and since I've been able to revisit it and take a more detailed look on the movie. It's a bonafide blockbuster with a reportedly limitless budget only matched by the equally limitless enthusiasm fans showed before having watched the movie. Did it live up to the expectations?
Coming from a studio like Khara, which can boast a strong pedigree (and an even stronger wallet) that'd make any other studio envious, it was a given that at least the presentation would be above par. With talented composers like Sagisu Shiro at the helm, we could also expect a good soundtrack. In this area, the movie delivered well - although not as well as one would have expected. It is at least, the strongest part of the movie.
The animation is for some parts of the movie, inexplicably done in 3DCG, despite the fact that they have both the talent and resources to avoid relying on it. For some scenes, even main characters are turned into 3D constructs, and quite often the camera pans around with 3D movement, making the flat Eva's and characters appear like cardboard cutouts. The ridiculous lego-like battleships and 3DCG-angel constructs only make things worse, as there is no reference point for these things to exist in the story, making them seem like generic video game enemies with no charm or personality - only to be beaten for the next level to appear.
The designs for the characters are also very sketchy, with unrealistically long jaw-lines and increasingly unrealistic attires, only creating a jarring effect since the story being told is trying to take itself seriously. The plugsuits gets tighter, to the point where they in some cases cannot be distinguished from body paint. On the whole, the designs are either over-engineered and designed messes or comically dumbed down to the point of pointlessness.
In terms of design, the movie is a clear downgrade from the previous two entries.
The animation itself suffers from the above, having to give life to such janky and awkward designs. Although Evangelion was never at any one point known for it's detailed character animation - detailed mechanic animation perhaps, but the characters are as stiff as ever. Not that it's a bad thing, it's fitting the established style. But even the mechanical animation in this appears rigid, and in some cases like in the opening battle where the space carriage opens itself, very much appears like an amateur 3D animation project with it's linear movement - even in space. Imaishi brings his own style to the table, which may be well done on it's own, but it too ends up jarring itself with the designs and art style of the rest of the movie, being mostly 3D.
Despite all it's flaws, the overall impression is that of an expensive and crisp animation. A 5/10.
As for the soundtrack, Shiro Sagisu does exactly what he's done the last two movies - which works out, more or less. Definitely the best part of the movie - a 6/10
It's sad to say that the above are the only good things about the movie - the techincal aspects, the crafts that can be bought with enough money and man hours. What's more difficult to create, is an engaging story people believe in and can take seriously. What's even more difficult, is to create well-founded characters that live within said story. This movie does not even come close to achieving any of that.
Even if one were to close one's eyes to the abrupt change of setting where every single change is handwaved away by some external unknown plot device, one would still be left with a situation where even the established setting fails to justify itself. The same goes for it's characters, who proclaim to want one thing, but inexplicably does another. In the case of WILLE, they proudly explain themselves as enemies of NERV, EVA awakenings, and detail to the protagonist (and the viewer) how to preven them - only to proceed doing exactly what they were trying to prevent in the first place. At this point, if one hadn't lost the sense of disbelief already, this is the point where most people do like Shinji and "get off" the story. It's no longer something to be taken seriously, as the characters have clearly been turned into plot devices with no motivations, development or even detailed characterizations of their own. They simply do what the plot requires them to, regardless of it making sense or not. What's left of these characters are only empty husks with precision-engineered sexy and moe appearances to appeal to the otaku that are already attached to these characters.
The plot is contrived, unrealistic, and seems purpose-built just to achieve a singular thing:
The pointless and damaging removal of Rei's character, a principal figure in the previous two movies. This character is simply whisked away and handwaved away, despite being last seen at the same place as Shinji, as well as the "SDAT" they were holding. Everything makes it out, including the SDAT - only not Rei. This couldn't be ratified or explained rationally, but the writers were still keen on doing this - so they introduce a timeskip, and suddenly make the entire cast hate Shinji and unreluctant to explain anything. Not even to themselves or inbetween themselves. This is only the first half of the movie. The last half is worse and continues the same trend of neglecting story, character and plot in order to conjure up fanservice scenes for certain fans in the audience.
Some might comment that they enjoy the confusion and lack of coherence, citing a similar experience while watching End of Evangelion - which speaks for itself. Their lacking understanding of both 3.0 and EoE is just that, a complete lack of understanding. Those that do understand 3.0, understand that it's a surgically precise movie intended not to create a story, but rather a framework which obsessive otaku can relate to. It has no value of it's own, it is effectively void of characterization or depth, what's in it is purely what you project onto it. As such, 3.0 becomes the ultimate device for escapism - but only for certain otaku.
This is why none of the reviewers, none of it's fans have even after five years been able to produce a story that works in this movie, much less a message that is genuine, and not an unsubtle mandate from the director for which character to like or not to like. It all comes down to the creators egotism in the end, which is understandable if you know Anno. His works past EoE have been described by his peers as "masturbatory", in which he only creates works to please himself. Therefore watching his stories is like watching him masturbate live. That and many other golden nuggets concerning Anno can be read here: https://www.gwern.net/otaku
In short, there is no story. There are no real characters. There most certainly, isn't any genuine message that isn't the crude egotism mentioned above: "like my favorite characters or else". Only in the technical, strict sense are there characters, as in there is a persona with a name that exists within the story. But they do not develop or act as anything but plot devices. What's left of them is their superficial value, which is where Kaworu comes in - the character with an alleged deep relationship with the main character that does not exist in the movie. Anno proclaims their relationship meaningful, and so it is - without it actually being that in the movie. It's crafted for his own increasingly extremist cult following.
This is one of the rare cases where the story, characters and plot do deserve a 1/10. It can't receive a rating unless it's actually there.
The same goes for the value and entertainment one might get of it - it's completely dependent on the viewer already being a subscriber to the idea that a story can be demolished as long as their favorite character is portrayed positively. In essence, that is what 3.0 turned Rebuild into. It's extremely niche, but attracts an extremely loyal fanbase. For regular people, there is no enjoyment.
As a whole I'd give it a three out of ten. One point for the music, one point for the animation, and another for the audiovisual direction.
