G-Saviour (1999)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

An Exercise In Nonsense

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

G-Savior is a film based on Kidou Senshi Gundam created by Yoshitoki Tomino but nothing could be farther from the spirit of the original. Gundam is about the tensions which arise from a separation of peoples between space colonies and Earth. While I give the actors credit for doing a very good job and making the movie palatable the writers and producers had little to no familiarity with the original Kidou Senshi Gundam when they created this monstrosity. While the basic plot has much potential by attaching it to the Universal Century, the time line of Kidou Senshi Gundam, which incidentally translates to Mobile Soldier Gundam, they have destroyed any credibility they might have had. Kidou Senshi Gundam is a "real robot" series which abides by the laws of physics as we understand them. G-Savior skips out on much of this by doing things such as having space suits which are not sealed and the like. This is a good movie to play in the background of a raucous party but the film has no value as anything related to Kidou Senshi Gundam.

As an avid Gundam fan, I have seen a huge amount of the great mecha saga, but this one was the only entry in the Gundam canon which left me disappointed. My opinion, in a nutshell, was that the story didn't really work as a Gundam title, the characters were bland, stereotypical, and didn't draw me into the story, which was aided by substandard acting, and what might be my biggest problem with the movie, was that the mech action was nowhere near as good as the other series'. The mobile suits don't really enter into the story until, literally, the last 20 minutes of the movie, and though the CGI was beautiful, and the MS were very well designed, they moved in a slow, and awkward manner, and if that were any indicator, they could've been out maneuvered by a Zaku II. (which is over 140 years older) Of course some could argue that Gundam 0080 had about the same story/action ratio, but 0080 had extremely deep characters, and a much better story to back them up. So, if you're an avid fan who has to see EVERYTHING there is to see in the Gundam universe, feel free to check this flick out, but to everyone else, I can see no reason to watch it. Then again, I have of heard of people who have enjoyed the movie, so I guess its probably hit or miss.

Created by a western production company, this was Gundam's "great experiment". How did the experiment fare? While not the worst movie I've ever seen, it is by far the weakest Gundam release by a great margin.The acting is "passable", nothing noteworthy and certainly on par with other direct-to-video and cable movies.The visuals are impressive when viewed as still screen-shots. The mecha look great, and so does the set design and costumes. However, once things are put in motion it becomes apparent that this is not a quality Gundam release. While the animation is nice, and well rendered, it's just not Gundam-like in feel. Gundam shows (even the most "realistic" of them) have high-speed mobility and very exciting dogfights. Not so here. The mecha move very slow and almost clumsy, which just doesn't feel right.Also consider that this is set in the future of the UC storyline. The last we saw of UC was in Victory Gundam, which had extremely fast and maneuverable mobile suits. Here, however, it seems as though technology has regressed so that mobile suits are slower and clumsier than even the first Mobile Suit ever invented in this time-line. I've seen astronauts adrift in space with no propulsion that move better than this. And these are essentially robots covered in high-performance thrusters?UC Gundam for the most part also focused on Newtypes, except that they are missing here. Newtypes are essentially the next evolution of man. They are much like powerful "psychics" with incredible natural piloting talent, and are a core element to most of UC story lines. I can however, forgive the lack of Newtypes, as later UC Gundam shows tended to try and top the psychic powers of the previous shows, resulting in excessive mental powers able to turn people into vegetables by mere thought alone. So I don't mind a refocusing of the franchise on piloting and dogfights over mental attacks.However, as mentioned earlier, the dogfights are just terrible. Gundam shows are not new to chapters that are light on action. Gundam 0080 had very little mecha fighting, yet it made up for it with character development, story, and compelling drama. This doesn't have any of that either.This would be fine if it was some late night cable movie, and had all references to Gundam removed and replaced with generic robots.All in all, it is an interesting thing to watch, as it is Gundam's "great experiment". A live action Gundam film made by western production companies. Beyond experiencing the magnitude of the failure, there's not much going for it.If you want to see CGI rendered Gundam in all it's glory, find a way to get ahold of "MS Igloo". It is a fully CGI UC Gundam story set during the One Year War of 0079. And it certainly puts this to shame.As a side-note, Gundam Wing fans may enjoy the appearance of Enuka Okuma as Cynthia Graves. She is the voice actor of Lady Une, and performs a live-action role in G Saviour.

Have two hours of your life to waste? Come on in! G Saviour is the worst of the worst, possibly the most tainted and cliche Gundam series to date.Starting out like the bad made for tv movie that it is and ending up exactly where any 5 year old would guess it would, G Saviour's only saving grace would be it's few combat scenes, all done in rather expensive CGI. However, all of these make very poor use of the actual mecha, and show more of the colonies and outer space. The G Saviour it self moves in unexplaniable ways, making it self seem less like a Gundam and more like a "guy in a monster suit" from good old Power Rangers.If your intrested in getting into Gundam, DONT watch this movie. If, however, you want to see the horrid stunt that Bandai pulled for yet another Gundam aniversery, then by all means, watch this. Either way, you'll regret that you did.