Ah, Psycho-Pass. I still remember a particular scene from 1st season, which was very thought-provoking. Even though it's been years since I watched it. The new movie in the franchise is not bad, but I think it revealed or, perhaps, cemented a crucial flaw with it.
You see, the movie is placed before 3rd season of the series. But I did not know that before watching, and thought it was a sequel to 3rd season and its "First Inspector" follow-up. Nothing, and I mean nothing, prompted me to think otherwise while watching the movie. And that's the flaw: I remember almost nothing from the series besides 1st season and bits and pieces of the 2nd one.
1st season was thought-provoking, as I've mentioned earlier. It introduced you to this new concept and asked profound questions of how society would work if Sybil System and Pscyho-Pass with Dominators existed. And it clearly showed the brutality of how complacent and inert society can become. Brutality was the key aspect of the show. It worked as the common trope of "every heaven has a dark side". It actively questioned the established system and whether it needs to even exist, let alone exist and stay unchanged.
2nd season was less brutal and less thought provoking. We learnt secrets of the Sybil System already, and we were looking at how that knowledge was affecting the main protagonist, Akane, especially, after she meets another inspector, that's almost a carbon copy of her past self. This was less exciting, but still posed a valid question: how would you evaluate your past self, knowing what you know now, while also knowing that being like what you've been in the past is what led you to your current knowledge?
After 2nd season it all went downhill. Not entirely, because the movies and then 3rd season were still pretty good overall, but they seemed to be more focused on politics happening around the Sybil System and inspectors' job. It felt a lot like "Irregular in Highschool" with constant talking and way less exciting fights. As standalone stories they were still good: there was a clear plot, there was clear progression, there was even a certain moral, when you reached the end of it all. Doubly so with 3rd season and "First Inspector", which were trying to reclaim similar sense from 1st season, but, essentially, focusing on a very different topic. But they did not have that feeling of uniqueness. The only thing that made them stand-out would be Dominators, because they are cool, but that's not enough.
"Providence" continues doing the same thing. It's politics, more politics, even more politics, an awkwardly close-combat fight, some "plot twist" to enable use of Dominators in a place where they are not supposed to be used by people who are not supposed to be using them, and then even more politics. All of that becomes just a blur, because there is nothing your mind can latch on to.
Did I enjoy this movie? It's more of a "yes" still even despite uneven quality of animation and CGI. Do I regret wasting 2 hours on it? Also more of a "yes", because it did not bring me any new ideas or any food for thought. Would I recommend it? Probably only if you want more Akane (or Kogami) in your life.
