Highly Overrated But Still Good

A Disappointing Continuation

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

So, let me start out by saying I'm a Mass Effect fan. I've played all the games and I count the series as one of the best interactive gaming experiences going.So, quite what Electronic Arts were thinking when they farmed out this movie concept to Funimation is beyond me. I'm not even sure if they even had a target demographic beyond "Mass Effect fans".The animation and artwork is of poor quality, really. Certainly sub-par for a franchise like Mass Effect. I can only guess Funimation did this on the cheap. There are some scenes - shuttle flights etc, where the animation is much, much better than that used on the characters, which is a little puzzling.Whatever happened, the animation is uneven, jerky, and very much in the (entirely inappropriate) style of anime that characterizes much of Japanese animation. And old style anime, too, not the more modern style.This makes the movie hard to watch. I had it on in the background whilst I was doing other things, and that helped a lot. Listening, with the occasional glance up at the screen, made it seem better than if I plonked myself down in front of the screen and watched avidly.Voice acting is somewhere between poor and acceptable. The same actor voices Vega in this movie as did the voice work for the game (ME3), but I really couldn't tell it was him until the credits rolled, so make of that what you will.Plotwise, the story is set between the events of ME1 and ME2, with the story being a rehash of some of the events of ME2, involving the Collectors and such. It's relatively simple and, for the most part, does its job competently.However, it is formulaic and would be forgotten if not for its one saving grace - the ending.Having sat through an hour and a half of poorly animated film, our hero (James Vega) is faced with an impossible choice. A personal no-win scenario that even Kirk would blink uncertainly at. Save the hundreds of colonists, or save the girl with the information that could turn the tide of battle. He can't do both, seemingly. I admit, I expected some miraculous macguffin, or Deus Ex Machina to allow both, but, to its eternal credit, this story doesn't let that happen. Vega makes his choice, sacrificing the colonists so that the information the girl has can be utilized.And that brings me to the delicious irony of this story.Those that have followed the Mass Effect games already know about the terrible ending that was foisted off on the fans at the end of ME3. The game itself was reasonable, but the ending sucked. With Paragon Lost, the movie as a whole was weak but it was redeemed by the no-win ending to a great degree. Looking at the writer of this movie, who had nothing to do with ME3, I'm forced to wonder what sort of ending he might have come up with for the game series. It seems he knows what he's doing in that regard.Anyway, irony aside, Paragon Lost is a poor movie, mostly down to the bad animation and some dodgy voice work. It's worth seeing it once, if you are a fan of Mass Effect, but it won't be on anyone's rewatch list. If you hated ME3's endings, stick with ME:PL until the bitter-sweet end and wonder what might have been.SUMMARY: Terribly ironic addition to the Mass Effect universe, marred by shoddy animation and dodgy voice acting. It does have a good ending (at least in my book!) which redeems it somewhat, but it will never be watched more than once.

First off, let me state I only played half-way through the first game and didn't touch the second or third. I despise the cheap emotional and sex ploys employed in the game just to beef up a weak story.So when watching this amerime my sister who is a bigger fan (1st and 2nd game and novel) sit with me so I can check with her some facts about the story.So here is my impression and opinions of the Paragon Lost: The art was inferior to what other game franchises put out i.e. Halo. And sometimes highly inconsistent.The director had either very bad storyboards or was left to his own imagination on how each scene was to be played out that you will encounter a lot anime art (gestures, postures) tropes you in fast and cheap anime series.The story overall was dull and weak. There was not much on character backgrounds or settings and with even that it felt dragged out.The voice acting ranged from OK (Freddie Prince Jr, Laura Bailey and Monica Rial) to 1990s-2000s style dubbing (Jad Saxton biggest offender no offence to her). I totally blame the voice director.With all this in mind I would have right this movie a 3 or 4 but and there is a big but I follow one rule, "The end justifies the means." Which means that no matter crappy the beginning and middle of a story is, the ending if it is good will allow forgiveness for the rest.And I must say the ending did not cop out despite the red herrings in the 1st and 2nd act would like you to believe. The ending shows a realistic and only logically conclusion to the time and situation present for that I am grateful.If I would recommend this movie to buy it may, just maybe for the ending that is similar to the choices you have to make in the games time and again. But if you are not a fan then rent it. The ending is much better that most other sci-fi movies that have great 1st and 2nd acts but fails to pay off in the final 3rd act which always leaves me angry (like all the hype build up just to be disappointed when you finally see the crap product).

Paragon Lost was clearly made for the fans so if you are not familiar with the Mass Effect universe don't bother watching it (there are way too many references with zero explanation).Even so I find it really hard to write a review cause I am pretty sure it was meant for a younger audience. A 14 years old kid might find it entertaining, but sadly for me this movie was quite mediocre.So-so graphics, interesting, but really badly executed plot, stereotyped characters, laughable dialogue, plot holes here and there and so on.**spoiler warning**The only good thing in the movie is the Mass Effect-ish paragon/renegade decision at the end. The drama is well executed and Vega traveling back to the planet facing the consequences of his decision (combined with the pseudo-flashback of the colonists) is really harrowing....Until you take a few minutes and think about it. Wait what? So he is forced to choose between the lives of more than a HUNDRED of colonists he was living with for like TWO YEARS, and "that" intel.Keep in mind when Vega is making his decision, to the best of his knowledge the so called "intel" is nothing more than an antidote to the paralyzing venom that works at 70% success rate at best. Everything else on the disc (that might make worth it) is known only by the other characters and the audience if they played the game, but NOT by Vega(!).PLUS During the entire movie Vega never shuts the f*ck up about saving the colonists. He makes speeches about saving the colonists, whines about how Commander Shepherd would have already saved the colonists, reminds the audience every five minute that their objective is SAVING THE COLONISTS.I guess all the choices are clear. So long idiots, I hope all the colonists die in a horrible way....oh wait they did.

Oh boy where do I even start on this one, not worth seeing for anyone that actually did play the games ME1 ME2 and ME3 specially a few times. Putting aside that the graphics aren't that great, could have at least attempted a cell shading approach the story goes against ME2 and ME3. Vega's actions put him ahead of Shepard.Spoiler: The problem with this movie is that Vega single handed with a old beat up shuttle goes inside a Collectors ship, yeeees straight through their impenetrable shield and hull something the Normandy 2 with plated hulls and super shields could not achieve. The Collector ship that you could not even approach hence why you could only do that by catching them off guard in their sector and only once the Normandy and your team was 100% upgraded and focused choosing the best of the best for that suicide mission.Somehow Vega manages to just kill all the Collectors even some massive GIANT humanoid collectors (no idea where they came from never saw them in the games, same as the normal troopers but 10 times bigger) and not only that but talk with and kill the Overmid or whatever you call the General guy that takes over collectors on the battlefield and destroy the collectors ship.If I was Shepard I would have said sorry send Vega he obviously knows what he is doing with less equipment and a inferior team so why bother me and in ME3 hell just send Vega to recruit and sort out the reinforcements since again he is the best. I think because in the game they didn't quiet state how Vega destroyed the Collectors ship, how and what data he did gather the makers blew everything out of proportion. As an added minus point Vega was never asked to join N7 before ME3, he got the offer whilst working with Shepard.This is taken straight from the game so Vega's actions were left to interpretation however there was no way in hell Vega did what he did in the anime too OTT:When the Collectors attack, determined to capture the population, Vega and his squad were tasked with protecting the civilians. James narrates that his old CO, Captain Toni, a "hard-assed son of a bitch" but a "good leader" in Vega's words, was killed along with most of Vega's squad while the squad was protecting a civilian colony from a Collector attack. The leadership vacuum caused by Captain Toni falling in battle was filled in by Vega himself, and he had to make a choice between saving the colony or saving the intel the squad had recovered that could be used to destroy the Collectors. Vega chose to save the intel, but found out far too late that his choice was rendered completely unnecessary since Shepard managed to destroy the Collector threat without the intel Vega saved, which meant that Vega allowed the colony to die for nothing. Eventually, Vega asks to speak to Shepard privately in Shepard's cabin. After Shepard invites Vega to the Captain's Cabin using the intercom, Vega will explain that he has been approached with an offer from the Systems Alliance to undergo N7 training. However, Vega is unsure whether or not to accept the offer since N7 training is a lot of work, and Vega humbly wonders why he was even approached, given his past failure, hence the private conversation. He also confesses that during that mission, his team was betrayed by a colonist who was actually a Cerberus spy working with the Collectors. Vega had no choice but to kill the spy and destroy the Collector ship, which left himself and one other squad member as the sole survivors of the mission. Shepard can either encourage Vega to go for it without hesitation or tell him that such a decision should not be taken lightly.