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G-Saviour: The Movie is an oddity: an American live-action film made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Gundam, one of the most popular and successful franchises in anime history. Although Yoshiyuki Tomino's mecha show actually debuted on Japanese television in 1979, it was the three feature-length compilations of the series released in 1981-82 that made Gundam a hit. The programs that followed are sprawling sci-fi epics that focus on teenagers whose psychic abilities enable them to pilot the splendidly designed robot-suits. The plot of G-Saviour, in which an evil general tries to destroy a mysterious enzyme that could end world hunger, is no hokier than many of the animated Gundam adventures. But the characters are all adults, and the turgid romance, in which a woman precipitates a war over her pilot-boyfriend's affections, lands with a thud. The film lacks the scope and brilliant design work of the anime series: despite the numerous CG effects by Digital Muse, G-Saviour feels like an undistinguished movie-of-the-week. Rated 13 Up: Violence, minor profanity. --Charles Solomon ... Read more

Reviews (28)

Better than you'd think.
I know what you're thinking. "Lovely, a live action version of anime. Could it get any worse?" Yes, it could. However, in my opinion, it wasn't as bad as it could've been. This movie was done fairly well, and the acting was decent. No big names, but I wasn't expecting any. The best part, of course, is the big battle between the colony Gaia and the Earth forces. All suits are done exceptionally well in CGI, and even show off some suits I don't think are in any of the anime.

Save for the colonies (Sides) and the design of the mobile suits (the word "Gundam" is never said in the course of the movie), the story, while good, has nothing to do with either the Mobile Suit Gundam series or the Gundam Wing series. It's completely out on its own. Definitly worth the time it takes to watch it. Though, I would've only given it 3.5 stars, but there's no halves here.

Sterotypical Gundam... and it WORKS.
There are certain themes that run in the classic Gundam series. Corrupt politics, corrupt military, the latest advance in Mobile Suit technology, betrayal by the one you most trusted, etc, tec...

And of course, the pilot that didn't WANT to be a pilot. But HAD to be.

In this, G-Saviour comes full circle. It's about 130 years AFTER the original series. Politics and the like are all so different, and still somewhat the same.

And a crisis is arising. The reason is pretty contrived-- but hey, face it-- the original wasn't? No, in a way, this makes MORE sense.

But what impressed ME was that the actors did this movies and DIDN'T seem lame.

No... they seemed ANIME.

For the FIRST TIME EVER we have live action actors acting like ANIME characters. INCLUDING the sometimes over the top stuff we are used to expecting from anime characters. And, in my opinion, for once it worked.

Ever seen the live action Fist of the North Star? BAD movie. (Although, sadly, it was better than the ANIMATED FOTS movie.)

But G-S WORKS.

Because EVERYONE in the flick is NOT trying for an Academy award. They are being typical Anime characters. They are pulling the SAME bonehead plays that we have all come to know and love. And for once, it WORKS.

It doesn't hurt that the computer generated mobile suits are downright real. I can BELIVE in these suits. It's scary.

90 minutes of mind-candy... not any different from an OAV... just with real people.

Perfect? No.

Good? If you like Gundam, yes. (And for those who ask why the term Gundam was never bought up-- Hey, it's 130 years LATER! Even a GUNDAM can become obsolete...)

Fair movie, Bad Gundam.
Now I want every one here to note I have seen at least one episode of every gundam series ever, in fact I have seen at least 70-80% of all gundam in my time, now this movie is an interesting concept: Live Action movie taking place in the Gundam universe, even though they never say the word "Gundam" at all you can see words like "Mobile Suit" pop up in places.

The movie lacks every thing that makes a good gundam, I can easily get past the fact it is not the best looking film I have ever seen, but the characters lack chemistry, the other UC gundam characters were so great was because they all had a chemistry and all reacted to each other in a diffrent way, and you could easily understand their situations. The characters in here do not seem nearly as tragic as in "Mobile Suit Gundam" or the kill-a-minute "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam" in fact I would go as far and saying I did not like, understand, and I can not even remember the names of most charcters, unliek the epic motion picture "Mobile Suit Gundam Char's counter Attack" the characters in "G-Saviour" are rather plain and uneventfull, the action ( I know how much you probably love action) is very low, in fact, the show lacks the "full scaleness" of "Mobile Suit gundam SEED" of which it would look like every one was involved and the war was really brutal, "Savior" on the other hand made it seem like a walk in the park. In fact, this movie was actually kicked off the UC calender, because it had WAY to many continuity problems, over all I suguest looking into it if you are curious, how ever the film falls VERY short of being what the other UC shows were.

My eyes are burning
Oh god was this bad. It was so bad that while watching it all I could think of doing was hunt down and kill whoever made this piece of crap. Let's see what else the plot for starters. Wow if this wasn't the stupidest thing in the world I don't know what is. Heck monkeys with typewriters could come up with a better plot than this. Acting: horrible. My six year old sister could act better than these clowns. All 30 seconds of CG was kind of cool, maybe if you where on acid. Whatever you do don't buy this, don't borrow this from a friend. And if you do buy this then I'm sorry my friend but God hates you and you are a born loser.

This is the kewlist live-action Gundam Film ever.
This is the live kick butt movie for you Gundam fans out there. I thinks the other fans out there thinks this movie stinks because it has no anime. O well just enjoy it. ... Read more

Reviews (38)

A great sequel to a great film.
I loved Freeway, & I was surprised & pleased to discover that Freeway 2 is every bit as memorable. Little connects the films except their similar tone, which is totally unique & almost beyond description. Equal parts violent, funny, sad, disturbing & (most surprisingly, perhaps) genuinely compassionate. The two female leads are tremendous; Natasha Lyonne in particular rises to the occasion w/ a ferocious performance as White Girl. Vincent Gallo has a brief but memorable role. Highly recommended.

aaaah, now i get it.
okay, this movie was junk, and the one that came before it wasn't too much better, but i've noticed that a lot of people haven't seen the connection between the two. basically, the first one was little red riding hood. the second one? hansel and gretal. you're welcome.

excellent
This movie was amazing, although the first "Freeway" was my favourite movie of all time. This movie was faboulous. Natasha Lyonne was great - her best movie ever . Vincent Gallo is faboulous as well. Cyclona is an obsessed freind and a crazy killer. You can't blame her. She was some what possesed by the devil. With Sister Gomez being a tranvestite killing children, putting intestines on the stairs, and making Cyclona watch her do, um, naughty things, This movie was incredibly frightning but wonderful. It was a little hard to handle.

dissapointing
freeway 2 definitely didn't live up to my high expectations after seeing the brilliant original freeway. It's alot darker, and alot pervier than the first, substituting disturbing visuals for witty dialogue. Natasha Lyonne is all right, although i definitely don't think this was her greatest effort ever. Vincent Gallo was very effective as sister gomez - horrifying. One of the many problems i had with this movie is (and maybe i'm being way too literal)that bot of the girls thought sister gomez was really a she! couldn't they see the five o'clock shadow? i saw this movie last night, and i fell asleep at 5.30 this morning, still thinking about her (or, rather, him.) don't get this film unless you are prepared to sleep with the light on for a loooong time.

Bizarre
This movie has it all...bulimia, lesbians, a psychotic latina, transvestite nun, and great dialogue.

Who could ask for anything more? Check out the original Freeway, also. It's not as bizarre, but very entertaining... ... Read more