Moments - 07 - Promare (Deus Ex Machina)

Promare is an odd film from a conventional point of view, however it is very much a distilled synthesis of everything Studio Trigger. It is kinetic, loud, colorful and completely unapologetic in its presentation. At its fastest the pacing is that of a formula 1 car at top speed, at its slowest it is a sports car at top speed, and it never let's up. The art style is very much Trigger at its core as it very much resembles Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Kill La Kill. What we are going to be talking about is something very particular that happens towards the third act of the film.

By this point the heroes are at their low point as a result of having been defeated by the film's villain. So low to the point that when they fall into a lake outside their city they sink to the very depths. While the lake the protagonists fall into was established earlier on in the film, nothing of what was deep on the floor of the lake was even alluded to. Quite reminiscent of Kill La Kill. The main difference being the presentation of what comes after the fall.

A giant base hidden from everyone else in the city neighboring the lake, all built by a scientist that was ostracized and presumed dead by the rulers of the city. From a technical point of view he is dead, only his consciousness survives in the form of binary in the base underwater. Spending years building a giant mech that will one day rival the technology that is under the villains disposal. As this is the first time any of this has been revealed, in any other narrative this would be considered a Deus Ex Machina.

Let's talk briefly on what a Deus Ex Machina is. In its simplest sense, it is when a critical piece of information is revealed in a narrative without any prior setup from the part of the film. Where it seemingly came out of nowhere to aid our heroes or villains when the writers have written themselves into a corner that they could not get out of. It usually occurs as a result of poor planning, a product of a first draft, or due to the writer being less than proactive in their efforts to make the script as cohesive as possible. In essence, anytime a Deus Ex Machina arrives in a narrative it is bad.

Within this film, the lake has already been established as a location multiple times, it is the context that we are missing. So the fact that the location of something so important was revealed goes to show that this particular subversion was already something that was developed, and thought of for the purpose of making a humorous moment manifest as a result of addressing the poor writing flaw. As such, the usage of a Deus Ex Machina in the following moment is not one that is utilized as a result of poor writing, but of purposeful execution.

As a result of the execution of this plot point and joke in tandem, it highlights how a writing flaw can be used to a narrative's advantage, while simultaneously calling out the humor of it when it is used. This requires an innate understanding of how narratives function to be able to use when writing a script and I can only commend the writers for managing to make it work so well within the film itself. As such out of all the insanity that took place in the film, that was the moment that stood out to me the most and what I still remember in detail.