I loved the intro sequence. That KnK-style music really helped setting the eerie tone that HF should have.
While the previous movies could be accused for lack of Illya scenes, this one nails them. All of them are here, and they're all great.
Zabaniya not working on Kotomine was a nice callback to Zero. Also I guess that was a cool way of implementing the Kirei flashback without losing time.
Nine Bullet Revolver was okay. It didn't include every slash as I had hoped (but hey Vita Opening has that so nothing lost?), but I think it did a marvelous job of showing the utter hell Shirou was going through to pull out Nine Lives and it did sell his speed when he did slash Herk. I guess this is as close as they could get to a literal representation of the fight without compromising on spectacle. The one thing trully against it, EMIYA should've played until the end of the fight, and not just when Shirou is "overtaking" Archer. It was nice listening to it, but it lacked the catharsis it usually has.
I noticed some slight Monogatari vibes from the way the exposition dump about the 3rd HGW was done. Which is good. Changing the location of the Zelretch summoning from the Emoya household to the Tohsaka one was an inspired decision. It allowed to give the infodump some visual flare and it just kinda feels right.
The flashback to the creation of the ritual was really well done. They managed to expand really well, lay down the plot point that needed to cross (Zolgen lieks Justeaze), and provide a rather natural way for Shirou to spot the Zelretch sword. Neat stuff.
Onto the Boss Gauntlet.
Shirou and Rider vs Saber is probably the visually coolest fight I've seen in this entire series. The camrip can only show so much but DAYUM, it was so creative and it managed to translate the events in the VN so well. Having Rider constantly using her petrification ability on Saber to even the playing field was a really f*cking good idea and it makes so much damn sense. Having Shirou start sprouting the swords from his body here was a good decision too, allows us to see more of a gradual shift from sort-of-regular-Shirou to porcupine-Shirou.
Rin vs Sakura was as good as I thought it'd be. The beamu spam from Rin looked fantastic, and they included some nice choreography while she wasted those Shadow monsters. Speaking of them, they kept the 2D look of the mini-Shadows seen at the end of Part 2. Wasn't expecting that but it's definitely an interesting artistic choice, it makes this incarnation of the fight feel distinct. The finish to the fight was verbatum from the VN, couldn't really ask for more. It's one of the most gripping scenes in the novel, and it keeps its impact here.
And finally the Fistfight. Visually I have no complaints. It looks awesome and even included some of the more complicated movements described in the VN. However, like the Berserker fight, I do feel a lack of oomph in the soundtrack for this fight. Light and Darkness had to be playing here. No other track fits. I was waiting for that moment where Shirou went "You're in the way. Get lost!" and the soundtrack boomed up and the ground started crumbling, and it didn't really come, it was much more subdued than that.
On the other hand, the final Illya scene was fucking fire. Holy shit it was so good. To see a broken Shirou struggling to even remember Illya's name, breaking down even further when he realizes what she's about to do. My God...
The Epilogue was fine, seeing Touko's back was neat I guess. And seeing how they kept Shirou "around" until they found a body for him was a bit funny, but nice.
And finally the ending. The final moment. When Haru wa Yuku started playing I actually teared up. And that was when I realized that I really love this movie. Of course it wasn't perfect and over time this hype will come to pass, but it will always remain one of my favorite things to watch. Cannot wait for the BD release, whenever that comes, so I can fall in love with the HF finale and this movie all over again.
That got a bit cheesy towards the end but it's what I think. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.