ATTACK ON TITAN (2015)

ATTACK ON TITAN is a 2015 Japanese post-apocalyptic action film based on the manga of the same name created by Hajime Isayama. The film is directed by Shinji Higuchi, written by Yūsuke Watanabe and Tomohiro Machiyama and stars Haruma Miura, Hiroki Hasegawa, Kiko Mizuhara, Kanata Hongō, Takahiro Miura, Nanami Sakuraba, Satoru Matsuo, Shu Watanabe, Ayame Misaki, Rina Takeda, Satomi Ishihara, Pierre Taki and Jun Kunimura.

In the film, Eren Jaeger and his childhood friends Mikasa Ackerman and Armin Arlert join the Survey Corps, a military corporation to fight gigantic humanoids called the Titans after their hometown is attacked by a Colossal Titan. The film is split into two parts, with the first part released in Japan on 1 August 2015 and the second part (subtitled End of the World) released on 19 September that year.

The film received mixed to somewhat negative reviews from critics, who praised the Titans designs and the B-movie style, but criticized the script and deviations from the source material.

PLOT:
PART 1
One hundred years ago, the Titans appeared and decimated most of humanity. To stop their advance, humanity built a series of walls and continued to live in peace. In the present day village of Monzen, Eren expresses to his friends, Armin and Mikasa, his desire to leave the confines of the Outer Wall and see the outside world. After a failed attempt to approach the wall, Souda, the captain of the Garrison, explains to them that the military is assembling a scouting regiment to explore beyond the walls. However, the wall is suddenly attacked by the Colossal Titan. The wall is breached and Titans enter the village, eating people and regenerating when injured. When Mikasa tries to rescue a baby, she is separated from Eren, and is presumed killed.

Two years later, Eren and Armin enter the Scout Regiment, along with Sasha, Jean, and others. The team, led by Military Police Commander Kubal, move out into one of the towns of the Outer Wall. The group is then attacked by Titans but are saved by Captain Shikishima and Mikasa, who survived the attack from two years ago and is now part of the Scouts. Mikasa refuses to talk to Eren, acting like he is a stranger for no reason. Eren eventually confronts Mikasa and she reveals to him that the experience made her realize the world is cruel. After realizing that Mikasa and Shikishima are most likely together, Eren is once again devastated.

When more Titans surprise them, Kubal retreats, leaving the Scouts to fend for themselves. Lil, who had just lost her lover, sacrifices herself. Jean attempts to convince Eren to flee, but Eren chooses to fight back before losing his arm in the process. Eren manages to save Armin from being eaten but at the cost of his own life. Though crushed by Eren's death, Mikasa fights until she runs low on fuel and comes face-to-face with the same Titan that ate Eren. However, a Titan emerges from within it and begins battling the other Titans. Souda and Mikasa realize that the Titan is Eren. After he starts to collapse, Mikasa frees Eren from his Titan shell.

PART 2
Years before, a young Eren is forcibly injected with an experimental serum by his father, but soon after Eren's mother discovers this, a military police squad break in, taking Eren's parents and burning the place. Eren survives with the help of Souda. In the present, Eren is captured by Kubal and his squadron, believing he is a threat to humanity. Mikasa does nothing to defend him. Armin and Souda try to persuade Kubal to spare Eren's life, but Souda is killed. Before Eren is executed, a Titan busts in, killing Kubal and his squadron, takes Eren, but spares Mikasa and her comrades.

Eren awakens in a mysterious bunker with Shikishima, who reveals the origins of the Titans as a military experiment gone wrong that soon developed into a virus that turned people into Titans and decimated humanity. Shikishima plans to launch a coup against the corrupted government who has been oppressing its people with the walls and with fear of the Titans. Eren learns that Shikishima has stockpiled some of the pre-Titan War weapons, and agrees to help.

Hange, Mikasa and the others retrieve an undetonated bomb in Eren's hometown with the hopes of using it to seal the outer wall. They encounter Shikishima's troops and reunite with Eren. However, Shikishima attempts to recruit them into his coup, revealing that he plans to use the dud bomb not to seal the wall but to blow up the capital and let the Titans overtake everything, freeing humanity. Realizing that more innocent lives would be shed, Eren stands against Shikishima. As they fight, Sannagi sacrifices himself to bring down a nearby tower that falls on the weapon stockpile, blowing it up while the others escape with the bomb. However, Shikishima reappears on the truck and stabs himself revealing himself to be the Titan that took Eren earlier. The gang attack Shikishima, who smashes Eren into a wall, but Eren transforms into his Titan form and defeats Shikishima. Titan Eren climbs the wall and plants the bomb, reverting to his human form while Armin sets the fuse.

Having survived the earlier attack, Kubal wants the group to give up Eren and return to the interior, but they refuse. Kubal shoots Armin, but is shot by Sasha and falls, transforming into the Colossal Titan which actually breached the outer wall in part 1. When Eren, Mikasa and Jean try to jump on the Colossal Titan's back, Jean is killed. The bomb does not go off, so Mikasa tries to get the bomb fuse working again, but is confronted by Shikishima. Eren tries to break into Colossal Titan's nape but is knocked down. Shikishima sacrifices himself by transforming into a Titan and lodging the bomb into the Colossal Titan's mouth. The detonation successfully closes the hole in the wall and Eren and Mikasa stand at the top of the wall overlooking the ocean.

In a post-credits scene, footage of the battle with the Colossal Titan is analyzed, in Shikishima's bunker, by an off-screen character, who says that Eren and Mikasa's unpredictability is what makes them "fascinating".