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:
Kamen rider Heisei generation forever
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05-16-2019, 07:12 PM
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Xtreme RX
Member
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 345
I thought the movie was equal parts very good, and equal parts mediocre.
As the last movie and final tribute to the Heisei Era though, it was successful enough.
The main plot is different from a standard team-up film, and the pacing is refreshingly slow. They take their time with scenes, the use of music is sparing and effective and the cinematography is fantastic. The slow build-up helps accentuate the appearance of the Riders at the end. As a result, even though we've seen this kind of team-up fight many times before, it still feels exciting and worth the wait because they are introduced so effectively. And while we don't get many returning actors, the use of archived voice clips makes it sound very authentic. Like it's really Tendou saying "Naive" or Godai yelling "Horyaaaa!" (Kuuga was surprisingly silent otherwise).
Turning the Kamen Rider's into fiction by erasing Kuuga from existence is a great plot that allows for a lot of nostalgic call-backs, even if it doesn't make the most sense. I have to give props to Shingo's actor for not being even slightly grating or badly acted. He's a great child actor (can't say the same for some of the kids at the end) and writing him as a Singularity Point allowed them to tie in the story and cast of Den-O seamlessly. Ataru, who is essentially a Rider fanboy, is also written to allow them to explore the meta storyline of Kamen Rider existing only as a television show. There are some great scenes that take advantage of this, like him mistaking Kazumi as Otoya from Kiva, or when he excitedly tells Sougo about Fuumen and the potential of meeting W. Becoming Another Den-O was an interesting twist as well.
The only problem with the Ataru character is that it seems the film was written around getting many returning actors back, which just wasn't possible. It's disappointing to build up a cameo by telling us that he attracts Riders and setting up scenarios like eating at the Fuumen stand and then not having any pay-off for it. I suppose it makes the Den-O scene more effective but I still felt blue-balled. But as the film stands, it really seems like Shotaro or Philip and even Godai were meant to appear at certain parts.
Some of the action was excellent. A stand-out scene in the film is the Den-O tribute sequence. I love how Den-O cycles through all four of his base forms before taking out Another Den-O. And it's the first time in the series that we get to see the returning Legend defeat his Another Rider counterpart.
Now, that being said, most of the action felt... bland? The choreography and camera movement needed some work. Ghost's fight scene looked less like him floating and more like someone was wheeling him around; Hibiki, Ryuki and Wizard's triple flame attack seemed to lack visual effects to make it seamless; Agito and Kiva used moves that weren't really from the original show. Other parts just felt like they needed to do another take, like Drive clearly not hitting anyone while speeding through the crowds or how slow some of the bike stuff felt.
And then the CGI. Oh boy. I think this hit a new low. Tridoron, Dragredder and a Disc Animal (why was it so big?) appearing to aid the Rider machines at the end was a great idea, but looked awful. The Time Mazin fight as Kuuga Armour had decent motion tracking but was lit unrealistically (pretty terrible debut for Kuuga armour, honestly). Another Kuuga and the Ultimate version had decent designs but were modeled very poorly.
And that final Rider kick compilation: What the hell. In concept, it's pretty awesome. I loved seeing the creativity in how the kicks were delivered, especially Drive's Type Speed finisher, seeing Ryuki do his flips in one seamless motion and having Kiva and Wizard do a stylish pose upside down in front of the Moon. Having Kuuga finish off Tid with Zi-O and Build should have been such a special moment. But this is all marred by the presence of truly awful CG. The TV show effects aren't even this bad so I'm not sure how it got to this point for the film. The shot of them posing after the kick with the massive explosion behind them was epic at least.
I have praised the story for its originality; seeing all the different kinds of toys is part of what makes this film nostalgic. It highlights a very important part of the franchise in a meta way. But the villains absolutely sucked. Tid is portrayed well, but despite his complex plan of getting rid of the Heisei Kamen Riders, he is nothing more than a cookie-cutter villain. While Ataru becoming Another Den-O is an interesting twist, nothing really comes out of it (They literally go on the Another Den-Liner for like five seconds before it gets blown up. Why did they even build a set for it?). And Another Double is the biggest disappointment. He looks great and it's cool that he can form-change, but we never learn his identity and he is not important in the grand scheme of things.
I guess, to finish off my review, I will talk about how this film did as a tribute to Kuuga, Double and Den-O respectively.
For Kuuga, it was great to hear some recurring leitmotifs from Sahashi. It was nostalgic to see the Kurogatake mountains and Riku's tomb was recreated very accurately. Aside from that, Kuuga armour didn't actually fight out of Time Mazin and I already expressed my dislike of the CG fights so I give the Kuuga tribute a pass, but just barely.
For Double, it honestly felt very phoned-in. I guess Fuumen Master counts as returning cast but him being the one to hand over the Double RideWatch is so disappointing. We see Fuumen, the Futo Tower and the Gaia Library (how did Woz even access it lol, it felt like a scene written for Masaki Suda but they didn't want to remove it when he wasn't able to return) but it all rings hollow. Another Double isn't important, Double's entrance at the end of the film has no fanfare and Double Armour sucks. It moves so slowly and the finisher, while creative, looked awful with the film's terrible CGI quality (though Another Double splitting into two was kinda neart). Double tribute gets a thumbs down for me.
What this movie really wanted to be was a Den-O tribute, and you can tell. The plot revolving around concepts introduced in Den-O is already a good use of the source material, and the new Imagin Futaros is actually quite charming. I like that he managed to stand on his own as an original Imagin, and they didn't have to rely on Momotaros and crew to sell that aspect of the show. His sand form and contract fulfillment visuals looked very true to the original show.
Of course, Den-O's cameo scene is brilliant. Momo, Ura, Kin and Ryu have been in literally every movie starring Den-O so their inclusion was a no-brainer. But we got to see Owner again, who hasn't aged a day. And of course, the main surprise is Takeru Satoh returning as Ryotaro Nogami after 10 years. While I agree with others in wishing that he was not possessed the entire scene, I understand why they did it that way and respect their decision. Regardless, the way his eyes flash back to normal at the end of the scene seems to imply that it was the original Ryotaro speaking the whole time. It was really exciting to see him return, and also bittersweet to hear Momotaros say that they'll never forget him. It's a great call-back to the last episode of Den-O but also feels like a true farewell to Nogami's character.
And I'm a fan of returning themes, so to hear a remixed version of Den-O's battle theme was truly a blessing to my ears. The scene with Den-O walking through the crowd while reciting the lyrics to Climax Jump was badass as well. As a Den-O tribute, this gets two BIG thumbs-up.
Regarding Build, it seems they acknowledge the original series ending as well as the Zi-O tribute episodes so nothing feels contradictory, just confusing. I guess you could just head-canon that this was the point in which the original Rider stories stopped being erased.
So overall, it's a decent tribute to Kuuga, a terrible tribute to Double, an excellent tribute to Den-O and a nice farewell to the Heisei era of Kamen Rider in general. I don't think it's on the same level as Heisei Generations 1 or FINAL but it was still entertaining and I will definitely have to pick up the Collector's Pack at some point.
Xtreme RX
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