TFW2005
Hisstank
Thundercats
TokuNation
Toyark
Home
News
Garo
Godzilla
Kamen Rider
Metal Heroes
Power Rangers
Super Sentai
Ultraman
All News Categories
Forum
News & Rumors
Power Rangers
Kamen Rider
Super Sentai
Other Toku Series
Toys and Collectables
Marketplace
Creative
Galleries
Companies
Bandai Japan
Tamashii Nations
Saban Brands
Bandai America
Toei
Characters
Kamen Rider Ghost
Kamen Rider Specter
Kamen Rider Necrom
Mighty Morphin Green Ranger
Dino Charge Red Ranger
Toylines
S.H. Figuarts
S.H. MonsterArts
DX Mecha
Megazords
Legacy
Shows
Kamen Rider Ghost
Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger
Power Rangers Dino Supercharge
Power Rangers Movie 2017
TokuNation.com
>
TokuNation
Integration
User Name
Remember Me?
Password
Rules
Register
Community
Today's Posts
Search
Community Links
Members List
Search Forums
Show Threads
Show Posts
Advanced Search
Go to Page...
Thread
:
Kamen Rider Die watches Masked Rider Agito
View Single Post
02-06-2020, 08:32 PM
#
170
Kamen Rider Die
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
MASKED RIDER AGITO MOVIE: PROJECT G4
This was okay! Shot beautifully, terrific action sequences, an unforgettable death scene, not a great story, and the character motivations are...
uh
.
It's a weird story, for an Agito movie. I get that it needed to feel separate from the main story, to have something that could be a complete story in 70 minutes, but,
man
. This felt like it came from a completely different show, full of mutant test subjects, government conspiracies, weaponized orphans, and mad scientists. It's not a
bad
concept, and it's something other Kamen Rider series/movies have handled well, but the scale of it felt both incongruous with the Agito aesthetic, and sort-of baffling for how it would fit into their world.
The idea of the military crafting their own response to the Unknown, and how that comes into conflict with Team G3-X, that's a good idea for a movie. It only makes sense that more than one branch of the government would be interested in stopping the Unknown attacks. But the focus of this one on the mutant kids, that they'd be trained in secret to harness their powers, that there's facilities and goon squads and all that, I don't know. It feels less like someone trying to tell a story with and for the Agito cast, and more someone who really wanted to pay homage to Evangelion.
Was I the only one getting an Eva vibe from this? First it was the piano piece that Shouichi and Mana were playing (I'm bad at/with music, you probably know the one I mean), but then it was all of the parts about using children to help occasionally-rampaging machines fight better, and how the desire to transcend the limitations of humanity risks losing what makes humanity special, and I swear to God I wouldn't have been surprised if someone shouted
GET IN THE EVA MANA
. I wouldn't say it's homaging it
exactly
, but it definitely felt a little influenced by it. I'm probably reading too much into it, though.
So, yeah, the story was alright, if a little too military-oriented for what I'd like an Agito movie to be like.
Looked
phenomenal, though. Like,
goddamn
. It's the one thing about every Kamen Rider movie that's a given, that the increased budget and better equipment is going to make for a more visually appealing product, but I thought this one exceeded that with an eye for composition and storytelling that was worth noting. Plenty of beautifully staged fights, some great variations on standard Agito stuff (
that Gills henshin where the Gills hand blocks a strike on Ryou?!
), some great exposition scenes (
the cuts between the Ozawa/Fukami talk and the Hikawa/G4 talk!
) and this all-time great death scene:
Holy shit! A great callback executed in
such
a cool way. The method of illustrating his second death, it's so awesome. My favorite thing about the character of G4, mostly since I don't really
get
the character of G4.
If there's a weak point in this movie, aside from your feelings about telling a Sci-Fi Military Conspiracy story with the Agito cast, it's that chunks of the character work don't make a lot of sense. Fukami, for one, feels cartoonishly thin. She's just some evil mad scientist? Why is she okay with kidnapping someone to copilot G4 until they die? Why is the government okay with G4 chewing up pilots at a kind-of alarming rate? Like, what is her motivation beyond a maniacal belief in science? I get that this thing needs a villain who can get devoured by ant monsters (!) without anyone getting too uncomfortable, but for a series that made Houjou one of the most entertainingly smug sons-of-bitches to ever bedevil a hero in a Rider show, this lady was just
nothing
to me. Did not care about her
at all
.
G4, though, I
mostly
cared about. He's a character that's interesting in so much as he comments on Shouichi (a little) and Hikawa (a lot), but I don't know that I 100% keyed into his character. It's an interesting version of a Rider, someone who thought his death was imminent and now can't move past it, someone who fights to the death since life is for other people. That fatalist, nihilist hero, the selflessness of service becoming suicidal martyrdom, I do think that's a rich theme to explore. (Kamen Rider Snipe what
what
.) Where this one lost me, though, is that final fight with Hikawa. They're both defending the base from ant monsters, there's a lull in combat, and suddenly G4's like We Settle This Existential Discussion Now With A Fight To The Death. I mean,
what?!
I don't
for even a second
understand why they had to have a fight to the death, other than to give G4 a tragic death. But, like, why try to kill Hikawa? G4 bites it any other way, saving another hero or one of the kids or just taking the fight against the Ant Unknowns too far, you've still got the same story but it ends better. It's still about someone who'd rather die fighting than live after fighting. Trying to kill Hikawa, it's just some lunatic? It's not tragic or disappointing, it's baffling. I don't get it, and it made me not get G4's character in retrospect.
Weird choice, movie!
The other Riders, I don't know. Wasn't really their movie, you know? Shouichi doesn't really have an arc in this one, at least outside the Burning/Shining stuff that was also in A New Transformation and had a lot more meat on the bone. (Still good, but, like, not new!) Gills... this is still at the point where he can't even
think
of the word Henshin without needing to be hospitalized, so he's not around much. There's a thing that was killing me, though, from his scenes with that mutant kid. The kid brings him food, Ryou's all So You Stole This, and the kid's all Fine, I'll Go Earn Money,
Dad
, and then gives strangers massages (?!) until he has enough money to buy Ryou the candy he needs to recover. But, like, doesn't
Ryou
have money? Couldn't he give that kid, like, 2000 yen to get them
both
food? Also, was Ryou going to leave that mutant kid in that abandoned building? And did that kid run all the way back to Tokyo on foot to get Ryou to come fight monsters? The Ryou parts of this were
very confusing
to me.
Otherwise, it's too well shot to be too put off by. It just looks real good. The G4 death scene I'll remember for a long time, but I don't care if I forget much of the rest of this one. It was okay.
(Also, the Takeshi Hongo and Wendy's scenes took me right out of the movie, and Exceed Gills is definitely not for me.)
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on
KamenRiderDie.com
!
Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 05-20-2023 at
03:40 PM
..
Kamen Rider Die
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Kamen Rider Die
Find More Posts by Kamen Rider Die
TokuNation News & Rumors
Hasbro Licenses Power Rangers Toys to Playmates Toys
Discotek Media Licenses Mobile Cop Jiban
What's going on with CSM?
Ultraman Arc Trailer
2024 Kamen Rider after Gotchard Rumor
More New Posts
What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
What are you watching? Other Toku Series Edition
Sentai King's Sales
Super Sentai minipla appreciation thread!
Ultraman Discussion Thread
What are you watching (Sentai edition)
Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger Episode 8- "Runaway & Divide!" Discussion
Kamen Rider Gotchard Episode 32- "The Great King Appears! The Doll's Dilemma!"
FOR SALE: Various Figuarts
How is Everyone Today- New
Current Poll
How Would You Rate This Episode?
Excellent!
Good
Average
OK
Poor...
»
View Poll Results
»
Comment On This Poll
»
This Poll Has 2 Replies
Search Forums
»
Advanced Search
All times are GMT -5. The time now is
04:08 AM
.
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Powered by
vBadvanced
CMPS