I wrote this review back when I first saw this film in August of 2016 so take it with that grain of salt. A few nights ago I got around to watching the final entry in the Persona 3 film series. As you no doubt know from reading my previous review I found Spring of Birth and Midsummer Knights Dream to be rushed poorly focused and lacking in character despite stunning visuals. Ill be skipping over my thoughts on Falling Down as theyre pretty much the same as my thoughts on the other two. All the same problems are present and Id just be largely repeating myself. But Winter of Rebirth surprised me. Its certainly the mostpolarizing in the series. It somehow manages to give us both the best and the worst content. What it does right blows the previous three out of the water and what it does wrong makes their problems look completely inoffensive by comparison. 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/97135c2f77d749250e70045b3b4e6a07/tumblrinlineotcu5dlJOa1rb9lxz540.jpg Lets talk about what this movie did right to start off since this is almost all talking about the first half anyways. Just like in the game Ryoji tells the others that he will soon turn into Nyx Avatar and summon Nyx an undefeatable force of nature who will come and kill them all. However the movie handles this much differently than the game did. In the game the characters are overtly depressed for about a week then begin to discuss and explore their thoughts on whether or not they should face Nyx. In the movie however their depression is the focus of the first half and its far more intense. The group basically falls apart. This is particularly clear in a scene which Junpei yells at the others and antagonizes Akihiko into punching him while Fuuka cowers in terror. Each character is clearly hit hard but the one who takes this revelation the worst is Yukari. She not only stops eating which I found to be a realistic touch but she also loses control of her Persona which begins to try to strangle her. Sure her Persona going haywire both comes out of nowhere and goes nowhere. But its all believably dark and it leaves a strong impression of how the knowledge of their impending doom effects them. In particular I must give compliments to Aigis reaction which is surprisingly done better than in the game. In the game Aigis returns just before the others are supposed to make their decision. She expresses a desire to see Ryoji killed so the others wont have to face the pain and fear of fighting Nyx one that completely reverses over the course of a fiveminute discussion. Likely incidental implications of Aigis giving into peer pressure aside its quite jarring and feels very disingenuous. Sure there are definitely further moments exploring her motivations to make up for it but this scene still felt like it could have been done a little more naturally. In the movie by contrast Aigis is far more emotional. She tries to kill Ryoji herself once she finds that hes still alive then runs off. Makoto catches up to her and the two have a hearttoheart in which Aigis contemplates suicide. Instead however she finds new resolution when the discussion reminds of her connection with and feelings for Makoto as a reason for living. It plays out far more organically and it fixes up a scene in the original that I always took issue with. 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/50391eb3f6ea5e7ca6292dd9077f0ea1/tumblrinlineotcu5dQUMo1rb9lxz540.jpg As one might have guessed the relationship between Makoto and Aigis is definitely portrayed better in this movie than in the previous two. Instead of leaving it in the background to focus on Makoto bonding with Ken or Ryoji this movie gives their relationship the primary focus it should have had all along. Later on when Makoto leaves the group to fight Nyx alone its shown to be driven particularly by his connection with her and a smart change was made in removing Yukaris reaction and focusing completely on Aigis. Yukaris reaction had felt out of place since her feelings for Makoto had long been taken out of the foreground by this point so focusing on Aigis was far more consistent. The two of them also share a sweet and tender hug when they reunite on the final day. Yes its more or less just shallow fluff but Im an Aikoto shipper so sue me its cute. Watching these scenes was the first time I felt these movies leave an actual emotional impact and one far stronger than anything the previous three films had put together. Image Following Aigis resolution the film then skips ahead to the fight against Nyx which Im sure gives an impression of some of the first problems to be noticed. While the despair of the characters feels relatively genuine this eats up most of the time for them to find their resolve and come back together as a team as well as any buildup to Nyx itself. The benefit in the game of only spending a week focusing on the characters depression was that they could spend the rest of the ingame month and the next focusing on the characters will and determination and further strengthen the threat posed by Nyx. This adaptation just brushes over most of the resolutions and skips over January entirely meaning that the characters ultimate conclusions leave little impact. Considering how the movie also made the odd choice to shoehorn in Elizabeths outings with Makoto one must notice that the film is once again suffering from issues with focus and pacing. These issues themselves are nothing less than par with anything seen in the rest of the series. However the second half is where the film truly begins an uncontrollable nosedive. Not unlike in the game Takaya and Jin show up to stop the group from fighting Nyx. Their purpose in the original story was to represent people who would oppose the viewpoints of the main characters. But here Takaya and Jins motivations and backstory have been all but cut out making their actions lack any weight or intrigue. Theyre a meaningless distraction but whats worse is that everyone save for Makoto gets stuck fighting them. Yup thats right the entire fight with Nyx Avatar is Makoto alone. Lost of course is the bittersweet sense of accomplishment felt when the entire team gets to the top of the tower they spent the year climbing under such dire circumstances. But more importantly lost is any sense of threat from Nyx Avatar. Why on Earth would the audience buy into the fact that Nyx Avatar is supposed to be beyond defeat when theres not only such lessened development but hes also taken down not with great difficulty by the combined efforts of the team but with relative ease by Makoto alone? Nyx Avatar doesnt even come off as a real threat much less unbeatable. I suppose one could argue given the stronger focus on Makoto and Ryojis bond that the intent was to create a tragic fight between former friends. However Ryojis complete callousness and Makotos lack of expression makes even that defense fall flat. What were left with feels completely underwhelming. Thats not all thats wrong with this fight unfortunately. While Ive always been able to give these films consistent credit for their visuals this fight looked hideous. I dont know if the creators ran out of budget or what but its almost completely CGI. I have enough inherited problem with most cases of mixing CGI and traditional animation as I feel the result rarely turns out well but here the CGI also runs at a lower frame rate which makes the usage jarring and distracting. Nyx Avatar really does stand out like a sore thumb and I have to detract from this film the one consistently positive comment Ive had about this series as a result. 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/c9fe7cc3bc938610f2fe7237c8c1e67b/tumblrinlineotcu5e1UT81rb9lxz540.jpg Things get worse however when Makoto ascends to fight the true Nyx. The downright baffling choice was made to switch Burn my Dread: Last Battle and The Battle for Everyones Souls. The Battle for Everyones Souls was made for the boss battle against Nyx Avatar. Its slow and foreboding fitting the fight itself. Burn my Dread: Last Battle is the theme song for the solo confrontation between Makoto and Nyx. Fitting the games climax its fast and intense. So why the hell did they switch the two up? I suppose one could argue that Burn My Dread: Last Battle fits the movies Nyx Avatar fight okay but why would you use such a slowpaced song for the nailbiting climax? Its like if they adapted Final Fantasy VII into a film but used the Jenova theme instead of One Winged Angel for the final battle against Sepiroth. Its just inappropriate. Whats even stranger is that they actually made a catchy custom remix of Burn my Dread: Last Battle but they didnt use it at all. Sure it was a little too upbeat to be tonally fitting but why spend time and money to remix the song just to reuse the same music weve likely already heard? Whats the point? What made Makotos facing the true Nyx so intense in the game was the result of Nyxs careful buildup a moving soundtrack and simple but effective integration of the plot and gameplay. Thats exactly why it doesnt work in movie form. Not only does the scene lack the slow escalation not only has the music been butchered but theres a failure to explain basically anything about whats going on. In the game the mechanics were used to show that Makoto was attempting to seal Nyx with the foreboding notion that this would take up all his HP. This was a clever way to without clunky exposition make clear to the player what was going on. Without these mechanics and with little to substitute for them anyone who hasnt played the game is going to be completely lost as to why the hell Makoto is flying to the moon and holding his finger up to it. As if all that wasnt bad enough the problem with the preceding scene having Makoto take on Nyx Avatar all by himself completely robs this scenes power. In the game Makoto has fought alongside his comrades all throughout his journey all throughout the battle with Nyx Avatar and is now forced to stand alone far away from the others. This gave the original battle a sense that it was Makotos destiny to face these overwhelming odds alone but also allowed the voices of his friends cheering him on to break through that giving a feeling that Makoto was supported even though this was his burden to bare. The mechanics were used to show that with every exclamation of support Makoto gained more strength to seal Nyx. It was a damn powerful climax one that still gives me chills to this day. Here on the other hand? Makoto has just finished taking down Nyx Avatar completely by himself. This isnt anything special and the support of his friends doesnt have quite the same effect when its not shown so directly how it gives him strength. Ill admit that a gameplay heavy scene like this is tough to translate to the big screen but the movie does a godawful job of what should even be considered basic. The final nail in the coffin is the removal of the scene in which Makoto returns as Tartarus collapses which aside from taking out a moment of heartfelt reunion satisfaction and victory is also awkward in that Makoto is never actually shown reuniting with the others. 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/afa15124063e8f98fa445ca75ca15d83/tumblrinlineotcu5e0jcc1rb9lxz500.jpg As for the ending theres not much to say about it except that its been spedup. Were given a scene to show us that peace has returned then were thrown to the final day. The only implication were given that anything is wrong with Makoto is a bit of stumbling which is far cry from the tense three ingame days of dialogue and musical foreshadowing that made the player feel something wasnt quite right. Theres the hug between Makoto and Aigis that I mentioned earlier but otherwise its just a choppier version of what happened in the game. Aigis final speech about the meaning of life is sort of in there but its shortened immensely and hardly has any of the same effects as a result. It goes by so quickly that theres no time to savor anything. Considering the film also ends with Makoto still awake the subtle yet still inescapable implications of him passing away are pretty much absent. Its yet another part that would probably fly over your head if you havent played the game. Ultimately as horrible as the films second half truly is I might be able to give it a pass for the good in the first half and still call the film overall okay or perhaps even decent. At least I would be able to if it wasnt for the final and fatal flaw that plagues both halves once again: the character development. Yes the first half of the film does have realistically and memorably dark reaction scenes exploring their depression at discovering that they will soon die. However in terms of the characters individually the film pretty much pisses all over quite a few of them. Junpei is a great example. The scene where he shows a small amount of anger at being provoked by Yukari turns into him yelling and antagonizing the others and while I stand by my earlier praise of it being a fairly powerful scene it still removes much of Junpeis sympathy. He doesnt do much afterward and certainly not anything to redeem himself for this. While his bonding talk with Makoto is still present in an altered form it lacks the heart from the original and his character just leaves a bitter impression. Akihiko is in a similar light. Aside from a brief bit in which he offers Makoto some ramen he doesnt do much worth remembering past punching Junpei in the face. Which also cheapens his punching Shinjiro earlier on but thats less important since it happened in a different movie. My impression of him wasnt quite as bitter but it was still rather negative. 220https://64.media.tumblr.com/ec445cea2838e188d32a0add75a03d4d/tumblrinlineotcu5f1riP1rb9lxz540.png Mitsuru Ken and Fuuka dont really do anything except for moping in the first half and given that their resolutions are only briefly touched upon theres not much to say about any of them. Takaya and Jin are the same. As I mentioned earlier the explanation of their backstory and motivation for wanting Nyx to arise has been removed leaving them to feel pointless and disconnected from everything else. As for Makoto he just continues to be bland and onedimensional and the others gossiping about him as if hes deep and tragic doesnt make him so. The worst however is Ryoji. For some completely unfounded reason the writers decided to discard Ryojis turmoil at discovering his connection to Nyx and have him embrace it instead. Just forget about the Ryoji who never wanted to hurt anyone who wished to be able to fight a fate that was inevitable for him who cared for the others and the pain he could cause them. Nope just replace him with a Ryoji who attacks his former friends blows up a bridge because he can and shows little remorse or regret for what hes been fated to do. He still gives them the choice to kill him though because of reasons. This film took a tragic and sympathetic character and turned him into a generic villain. Ryoji was supposed to put a sympathetic face on the idea that death could save the group from suffering making the question of whether or not to face Nyx more complex. Instead were just given a complete jackass to make it all seem so much less thought provoking. It doesnt strengthen the story one bit and its frankly inexcusable. While Aigis character is handled well the rest of the cast are just not given enough focus and what focus they are given fails to do them any justice. This flaw is one seen throughout the movie and kills any chance it had of making up for the trainwreck that is the second half. Persona 3 is my favorite video game of all time. Its a journey one that draws the player in allows them to become comfortable with the characters and the setting then takes all the time it needs steadily building to an intense emotional and satisfying conclusion. Its not perfect as there is a good deal of strange or otherwise limiting gameplay choices but its one of the precious few games I have come across that is able to deeply immerse the player and create a trueexperience. Adapting video games into movie form will always be a challenge but seeing such a unique and unforgettable game be mashed into an unfocused choppy and anticlimatic mess does no justice to the story and nothing to push the bar forwards. These movies are a total blur in my mind completely unlike the memories of the game that I hold dear. The best that this series can do is to give a greater appreciation of what made the original game so great. Past that theres nothing worth a serious watch.