Lelouch's descent hits different when you strip away everything but the emotional gutpunch. This film compresses two seasons into 110 minutes, which sounds insane, but it actually works because it removes the filler and forces you to live inside Lelouch's conviction instead of watching it happen from outside. The animation during his command sequences is clean enough to make you feel the weight of each decision before the consequences arrive. Some story gets obliterated in the process, and if you needed those arcs to care, this film will leave you cold. But if you already loved Lelouch, this version trusts you to feel what he feels without explaining it first.

Lelouch Lamperouge has led the Black Knights, his paramilitary organization, to a string of unlikely wins over the Britannian Army, and the group is now stronger than it has ever been. With military force, a sharp mind and a Geass that compels absolute obedience, he seems able to do anything. Yet new obstacles keep rising against the uprising and leave him in a tight spot. The gravest threats are the fighting skill of Suzaku Kururugi and the arrival of V.V., a mysterious child, both of which could bring his rebellion to an end. The second of three theatrical films, it remakes the Code Geass television series as mecha action and a sci-fi thriller.