In the first season, we came to know Dorothy, the self-proclaimed con mistress who transformed Laurent Thierry into a crime-monger. In the Great Pretender Razbliuto, meanwhile, she has suffered defeat at her own game against the Shanghai Longu Bang and is believed to be dead. However, she makes her comeback after years in a tiny coastal township. As a matter of fact, the underworld of Taipei is in search of her due to certain factors. To avoid being captured, she flies to Kyoto but what awaits her there?
I found the Great Pretender anime series rather enjoyable there. While watching the original series on Netflix in 2020, I remember being quite impressed by how unique the show was with its wonderfully developed characters, innovative animation, and music. I have a feeling that this Robin Hood-esque heist drama will remain entertaining due to the smart script and excellent conversations from beginning to end but at the same time, it has the potential to be over the top. We would only shrink away from the nonsense for the final arc of the series, where it reached a level of absurdity which caused the wires of my belief to snap.
I say this because it is fair to say that much of the enjoyment this movie allows you to feel hinges on the resonance of that final arc in the series, for this movie suffers most of the woes you would have faced while watching it.’
Razbliuto is one of the movies that completely fails to build a plot that is not stupidly absurd. I remember thinking that it’s wise to give a show at least a chance when they want to wink at the camera but trying to do so 3 to 4 times during a show that is one and a half hours long is going to leave me inefficiently irritated after finishing it. The amount of coincidences and jumps in logic contained in this film is almost devastatingly high, which completely destroys any sense of suspense the film could have had in the first place which is before even crossing the halfway mark. Many heist movies make use of the concept of a big reveal at the end of the movie, a big twist that explains why our heroes managed to get out of trouble, or why events throughout the movie unfold in such a manner. That might be an argument in support of action films, but what does it matter when one realizes how much headroom is provided for mistakes while watching such movies, it is quite ridiculous. Similar to the issue faced in this film, it was also witnessed in the last arc of the series whereby the overarching plan of the movie became overcomplicated with multiple moving parts.
Does this make Razbliuto a bad movie? Razbliuto is a bad movie without a relative consideration of its genre. The sheer amount of intertextual references and easter eggs to other action and heist movies does make a reasonable critique of the plotting. Again so what if something is bad did I say it can’t be fun? Every time I was scratching my head or palming my face I found the dialogue and the characters quite funny and the interactions rather amusing. It’s nice to see that no matter how the heists themselves go, the character writing is still a good aspect of the franchise, which is even more remarkable given that nearly all of this film’s cast is completely new.
We do have Dorothy from the series, but then there are others like Jay and Yang who had a brotherly bond which was the crux of the film. Their relationship was a very unique one which had this strange tension of the two brothers who would love to fight each other but still seem to have a reasonable interpretation of how crazy the other one actually is. There is a movie quote that says that time does change things when you have known a particular person too long. I find the comparison between their relationship and to a woman walking around with an amnesiac like literally in the movie who doesn’t even remember who is friends with her very interesting.
The script is tightly written, and the character interactions are all quite reasonable, plus I like the resolutions for all of them. At the same time, I am not a big fan of the journey undertaken to conclude. With a better sort of balance, I think we could have had a lovely film that would fit neatly with the rest of the greatest stories of the original series. Perhaps that would have even helped us long into the future the way the film was structured and the way it was presented, which probably should have been a little more about one properly made movie than several episodes. This is the second point that frustrates me in that it was not made as a single unit but as a set of episodes. Even the small title cards are shown every 20 minutes or so, seemingly to explain that the so-called episode is divided into acts. They feel more like intro cards to the next episode which in my opinion should start automatically after the previous one.
When compared to the series running episodes, Great Pretender movie visuals aren’t that impressive which is quite disappointing. But, the funny part is that Great Pretender was an outstanding show with a great art concept. The character design remains easy on the eyes and overall makes use of small details, ranging from painted nails to nose piercings, Dolls seem to be the more filthily conceited and splendidly illustrated black women I have witnessed in anime. Each of the black women is distinct in portrayal. The color used in the setting is simply stunning and the tone in each different background is breathtaking.
One thing I would have wanted a bit more of is the soundtrack. Great Pretender is known for its diverse soundtrack with regards to the genre because many countries and several nationalities are represented in the series. Razbliuto isn’t a global wanderer but we can still feel the variety of music suiting the scenes. I hope the OST more than lived up to the hype that surrounded it because the insert songs I heard were really good; too bad I only heard a little too little of them because they’re not just distinctly placed throughout the film and have a short runtime.
With all my previous criticism about this so-called movie, I hinted at the fact that I expected more from it. The film has a few funny highlights, which may serve as a springboard for whatever engagement follows should another movie come out. Great character interactions are also present, and some may find these attributes to be impressive. Still, I think this film demonstrates other concerns the series had. They just become more conspicuous because the film wants to be something else but fails to be. So, if you enjoyed Great Pretender when it ended, I do think there’s enough content here to help you appreciate the film, but if you were the type to begin tuning out by the time the series came to a close (or perhaps you don’t even recall that much of the show), then this is not something that’s going to be much of a loss for you by passing on it.
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