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Film Review: My Hero Academia: Two Heroes – 2018

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SPOILER DISCUSSION

Godzillo makes his appearance.

1.As a huge fan of Godzilla (both the character and his iconic 1954 debut film), seeing the hero Godzillo was a treat, especially after learning that he stars in in-universe films. Forget practical effects, miniatures and the like; if you have a giant reptile, you use the giant reptile.

Melissa and Izuku/Deku express relief once All Might saves the day.
All Might smiles at the group as Dave struggles to find the words for an apology.
Dave and All Might look at one another as the former begins to apologize for his actions.
Wolfram bashes All Might out of the frame, cutting the heroism short.
All Might’s initial rescue is thwarted by Wolfram from seemingly out of nowhere. The sudden interruption of the jovial attitude and theme jolt the audience.

2.While the fight against Wolfram ends as we would all expect, the fake-out moments employed are fantastic points of tension. Initially when All Might makes his way onto the scene, we’re reminded of the opening of the film. He’s the symbol of peace who can save the day no matter what. His triumphant score plays as Melissa, Deku, and Dave express relief at the situation. The moment is played up as Dave starts to apologize to All Might, an event which would normally come at the end of any successful fight. We’re primed to think that the situation has been resolved. But All Might is immediately punched out of the frame by a super-charged Wolfram. The score immediately stops and it becomes abundantly clear that the situation is far from over.

All Might flies towards Wolfram with his “Carolina Smash”.
All Might’s “Carolina Smash” connects with Wolfram’s extended frame.
But All Might is stopped by Wolfram’s newfound powers.
Wolfram chokes All Might with a newly recieved quirk.
Wolfram attacks the wound All for One inflicted on All Might.
Deku looks at the situation in terror.
Wolfram toys with All Might.
Wolfram impales All Might with spires. The screen freezes and becomes red.
This jolt is repeated and made more serious as Wolfram reveals One for All’s influence in his plans. The villain’s theme plays as All Might is brutalized in front of his students.

This false sense of security is exploited once more. All Might charges up his iconic “Carolina Smash” and rushes towards Wolfram. The explosion sequence hearkens back to successful repetitions of the same. There’s no way that a head-on smash from All Might can be stopped. But the curtain drops as Wolfram reveals the presence of a second quirk. All Might’s triumphant score gives way to the sinister theme of One for All as it’s revealed that the arch-villain provided Wolfram with the additional quirk to rub the salt in All-Might’s wound. To reinforce this, Wolfram attacks the wound inflicted by One For All, the wound that stopped All Might’s career, the wound that caused Dave to succumb to devious plots that put lives at stake.

The red impact marks from the impact of the attack bleed out to the background as a close-up of Deku’s face makes it clear that hope is fading away. When All Might is impaled by Wolfram, the frame freezes and becomes charged with the same blood red from before. All hope is about to be lost. The loss is allowed to sink in. The despair is allowed to simmer.

Deku uses his “Detroit Smash” to save All Might.
All Might and Deku get ready to fight Wolfram together.
All Might and Deku use their speed to traverse to Wolfram.
All Might and Deku charge up their respective smashes.
All Might and Deku get closer to wolfram.
Deku gets ready to unleash his “smash”.
All Might gets ready to unleash his “smash”.
All Might and Deku get ready to give Wolfram the final blow.
All Might and Deku land the winning blow.
But Deku refuses to give in and prevents a third defeat from occurring. He breaks through and saves All Might. Even heroes need heroes. Together, the duo launches a “smash” combination attack that is able to defeat Wolfram.

But then the second hero approaches, the hidden eagle flies again. This time instead of Dave it’s Deku that comes to All Might’s rescue. He uses his “Detroit Smash” to break through the cube and explains to All-Might that the latter looked like he needed saving; even the hero needs a hero in his time of need. Far from a single point of peace, peace must be multifaceted, supporting itself from within itself. The two charge up their respective “smash” attacks and finally tear Wolfram down.

On another note, this is the only real moment where Deku and All Might get to fight together within the franchise, so even though Wolfram doesn’t particularly deliver, this bit of fan-service certainly does.

Dave looks at a picture of All Might/Toshio from their younger days.
Dave stares at the photo with longing.
Dave is obsessed with the All-Might of the past.

3.Deku’s response contrasts to Dave’s. The latter believes that All Might is the only one capable of maintaining peace and has become obsessed with preserving the status quo. He can’t help but stare at the image of All Might’s past glory with a longing. It’s what he has to cling to.

Dave tests Toshio’s quirk count.
Dave questions All Might on the low levels.
Dave looks away from All Might, clearly frustrated at the situation.
All Might looks down in response. He can’t reveal his secret.
Dave is lost in his thoughts as All Might is lost in his own as well.
All Might turns to look at Dave who’s still caught in his own thoughts.
Toshio and Dave are unable to confide or talk to one another about their worries or concerns for fear of causing more damage to the other. They can’t even look into one another’s eyes as they become preoccupied with their own worries.

Later on when Dave is testing Toshio, it becomes apparent just how deep-seated this ideal is to the former. The framing of the two bodies demonstrates how separated they are. The architecture of the room divides them in the wide shot, but even when the film moves closer to the characters’ faces, its apparent that the divide between the two friends is greater than they could imagine. Toshio looks down away from Dave when the latter questions him about his quirk. All Might wants to protect Dave and can’t reveal the truth.

Meanwhile, Dave is lost in thought. He also looks down away from Toshio because he’s obsessed with losing the symbol of peace. The two friends are unable to understand one another and the film reinforces this by physically demonstrating that they can’t even see eye-to-eye.

Toshio transforms into….
…All Might!
Dave reaches out to All Might but stops himself.
Instead, Dave looks down at his phone.
Once again, he looks at the image of All Might soaring through the skies.
Dave is obsessed with the image.
Dave’s thoughts dissolve into the present. He remembers being trapped in a burning building.
But Toshio saved him.
Toshio managed to get Dave and other scientists out of the building to safety.
The smiling image of Dave from the past dissolves into an …
… image of Dave looking down in dejection.
The photo of All Might fades to black. The hope can’t be sustained.
Dave’s obsession with the past becomes clear. All Might saved him and proved to him that a hero could establish an unchallenged peace. Faced with the potential loss of that peace, Dave’s happiness fades into despair. The light of the future threatens to fade into darkness.

When Toshio leaves, Dave initially calls out but stops. He’s unable to open up to his friend because of his concerns about the situation. Instead of reaching out to the present Toshio, Dave focuses on the past Toshio. He looks at the image of All-Might from the past and begins to get lost in thought. It’s revealed that he was saved in the past from a burning building by All Might. It’s no wonder why he’s so personally invested in his friend. However, the hope and admiration of the past has only sown the seeds for despair in the present. A younger smiling Dave dissolves to a morose sullen Dave who looks down instead of up. As he stares down at the image of All-Might, the shot goes to black; the light is fading and hope is dying.

Dave looks up at Deku.
The image of All Might dissolves into an image of….
… Deku raising his fist triumphantly in the air.
But the light is restored to Dave’s eyes as Deku and All Might manage to defeat Wolfram. The image of All Might which served as both Dave’s obsession and point of despair becomes replaced by a new image of Deku. A new hope is born in the place of the original.

As Wolfram is defeated, Dave looks up and the image of All-Might that has served as his motivation up to now is slowly replaced by a similar image of Deku. A new hope for the future has come. The fight for peace is not over. It’s being reborn. The bright light shines in Dave’s eyes once more.

Toshio/All Might and Dave look up at the future heroes.
Melissa and Dave stand at the top of the rubble.
Dave and All Might realize the future contains a spark of hope in it as well.
Melissa and Deku/Izuku look towards a bright, new future.
The old heroes, All Might and Dave, look up at the new flock of heroes they’ve inspired in Deku and Melissa. Even though the former duo can’t do what they used to, the foundation they’ve established for the future allows the latter group to pursue a bright future where justice reigns.

4.This brings us back to the title: Two Heroes. As Toshio and Dave look up, they see Melissa and Dave standing up above. The two youngsters stand in the place that the elderly duo used to stand on. Far from being squashed, their passions and ambitions have come to inspire a new generation who rises to the task, a generation who looks towards the same bright future as their predecessors. Even though the names and faces may change, heroic ideals and goals only become stronger and more refined over time.

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