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01-18-2022, 03:36 PM | #321 |
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I feel like re-ray might be one of my favorite Ending themes to a Summer Movie.
I mean, Mitsuru Matsuoka's delivered so many great themes to Rider content, they're always a banger, and he already knocked it out of the park with W's...but there's just something about how atmospheric, catchy, and engrossing Drive's is. |
01-18-2022, 06:44 PM | #322 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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The line I was talking about earlier was this:
That moment shortly after Belt-san is destroyed, where Shinnosuke ends up at the original Drive Pit with the collection of classic cars it turns out are all a gift to him, from one car lover to another. That simple "ii shumi shiteru ze, Belt-san" is such a cool guy way of expressing approval, but the delivery really gets across the complicated mix of emotions Shinnosuke is feeling, simultaneously trying to process a ton of grief while at the same time being touched by this reminder that he really did have the best partner in the world. I don't know if it's something other people think back to a lot, but this is without a doubt one of my favorite moments for Shinnosuke. Naturally, I'm quite fond of the movie around this scene, too. I really need to rewatch it more often than I do. I guess I wouldn't quite call it one of my absolute favorites, either, but it's got some fantastic thriller-style drama and a lot of really strong high concepts. You seem disappointed with some of the payoffs, which is understandable, but I feel like you're way underestimating the value in the movie going for the obvious lie about Krim. I'm not sure another Rider summer movie was ever promoted in such a hype way? I mean, you've got promos with Krim calmly telling you Kamen Rider Drive is not justice and trailers prominently featuring Shinnosuke taking an axe to his own partner/belt (way before Gou would smash a belt with that thing, too!), and this sick as heck looking Dark Drive guy complete with his own car and I mean IT WAS AWESOME following the buildup to this film. Surprise Future really lived up to that "Surprise" in the title, because everything about it just seemed completely nuts, and watching that all somehow come together into a normal Drive story, it ended up being the exact opposite of a letdown for me. The movie knows that you know this all has to go back to status quo somehow, and that was part of the fun before it even came out. Again, I wouldn't exactly argue against it not ~quite~ rising to that absolute top tier status, but I think it's definitely underselling the movie to say it's just okay. Quote:
O - "Ex-Aid's font for the "HIT!" effects in his summer movie cameo would've made his show awful."
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01-18-2022, 07:10 PM | #323 |
Some guy. I'm alright.
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Wow, didn't expect to read an SPD reference in this thread. Drive must be great!
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01-18-2022, 10:20 PM | #324 |
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Not sure if you've forgotten the episodes that lead up to this movie? Krim's betrayal is actually explained, as Banno planted an evil chip in the Drive Driver's system while he was unconscious. Of course, nobody but Banno knew about that, so Paradox, disguised as Eiji, was able to use that to deceive Shinnosuke by hiding the fact that Eiji was originally Dark Drive before he stole the Driver.
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But Shinnosuke was innocent! Going back to the theme of believing in your friends, the police should absolutely have faith in him, especially after he outed Brain and Freeze (Brainfreeze?) and Nira as double agents. They owe him big time for that, so it's honestly pretty bad that they continue to treat him like some suspicious criminal after all the good he's done. I totally agree with Kiriko scolding the executives for behaving like that.
Like, yeah, sure, Drive's being framed, but Shinnosuke spends the whole movie avoiding any opportunity to explain himself to his superiors. There's not having people believe you, and then there's not explaining yourself. Shinnosuke is doing the second one! Quote:
I feel like re-ray might be one of my favorite Ending themes to a Summer Movie.
I mean, Mitsuru Matsuoka's delivered so many great themes to Rider content, they're always a banger, and he already knocked it out of the park with W's...but there's just something about how atmospheric, catchy, and engrossing Drive's is. Quote:
Quote:
Naturally, I'm quite fond of the movie around this scene, too. I really need to rewatch it more often than I do. I guess I wouldn't quite call it one of my absolute favorites, either, but it's got some fantastic thriller-style drama and a lot of really strong high concepts. You seem disappointed with some of the payoffs, which is understandable, but I feel like you're way underestimating the value in the movie going for the obvious lie about Krim. I'm not sure another Rider summer movie was ever promoted in such a hype way? I mean, you've got promos with Krim calmly telling you Kamen Rider Drive is not justice and trailers prominently featuring Shinnosuke taking an axe to his own partner/belt (way before Gou would smash a belt with that thing, too!), and this sick as heck looking Dark Drive guy complete with his own car and I mean IT WAS AWESOME following the buildup to this film.
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01-20-2022, 11:08 AM | #325 |
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Quote:
That moment shortly after Belt-san is destroyed, where Shinnosuke ends up at the original Drive Pit with the collection of classic cars it turns out are all a gift to him, from one car lover to another. That simple "ii shumi shiteru ze, Belt-san" is such a cool guy way of expressing approval, but the delivery really gets across the complicated mix of emotions Shinnosuke is feeling, simultaneously trying to process a ton of grief while at the same time being touched by this reminder that he really did have the best partner in the world. I don't know if it's something other people think back to a lot, but this is without a doubt one of my favorite moments for Shinnosuke.
Quote:
I have definitely forgotten most of Drive (fun fact: I was wondering why it was taking Gold Drive so long to appear in this movie, before figuring out that he was the show's villain), but it doesn't affect my take on the movie's story. I just figured Eiji had done something to the Driver when he was wrestling with Shinnosuke in the beginning, so whatever setup was done on the show doesn't move the needle for me.
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I'm not sure He Should Be Brought In For Questioning is such a big betrayal? Shinnosuke went on the run, first because Eiji goaded him into it, then because... I guess he just forgot he could try and explain things? The police escalated their attempts to capture Drive because Drive kept running from the police. I don't... I don't think the police should give him the benefit of the doubt, considering the alluded-to casualties from the opening explosion?
Like, yeah, sure, Drive's being framed, but Shinnosuke spends the whole movie avoiding any opportunity to explain himself to his superiors. There's not having people believe you, and then there's not explaining yourself. Shinnosuke is doing the second one!
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01-20-2022, 01:39 PM | #326 |
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Shinnosuke's plot in the second half: How DARE you think that Shinnosuke is secretly an evil monster who wants to destroy us! If you have any love for humanity, you'll ignore any evidence that paints him in a negative light! Putting these two problems side-by-side maybe clarifies the main issue I have with them: it's a weird double-standard that also negates the impact of one of the main morals. Krim's very quickly executed thanks to a ton of circumstantial evidence (kid from future swears that Krim needs to be executed immediately, and isolates Shinnosuke from anyone who'd talk him out of it), while Shinnosuke actually/accidentally blew up a power plant, but refuses to explain himself. We're in a story about having faith in your friends - Shinnosuke's main arc in this movie is trying to redeem himself from failing Krim - but the movie conflates that with the police having very reasonable requests re: Explaining Why You Blew Up A Power Plant And Then Ran Away. It's... it's not really the same thing, these two plots, and it's weird to make them part of the same narrative thread. If the movie wanted to do a thing where some scheming official wanted to use Drive's accident to bring down Shinnosuke, sure, that'd be along the same lines. But Shinnosuke is being asked to ignore unreliable testimony, while the police are asked to end an investigation into wrongdoing, and those are so different in my mind that it makes a bunch of the movie not work great.
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01-20-2022, 07:38 PM | #327 |
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DRIVE SAGA: KAMEN RIDER CHASER
Self-improvement is laudable; self-actualization is necessary. That’s the premise of this Chase Becomes A Real Boy story, and it’s a good one. There’s a messiness to it (it’s a very messy film!), but that’s probably in keeping with how difficult it can be to disentangle who you are with how others see you. A lot of what Chase goes through in this movie is what every human being goes through: seeing the ways you don’t fit in, don’t measure up, and working to change yourself into something that does fit, does measure up. It’s not some edict from outside, it’s a lack of contentment and a sense of personal dissatisfaction. It’s a pressure Chase places on himself. So when Angel shows up with a quick fix (delivered via an incredibly suggestive Chase Becomes A Real Man sequence), it’s natural for Chase to view this as solving his essential problem. He’s fixed, he’s happy, everything is great forever. But self-improvement… it’s not a thing that ever really ends, which means it’s not a fix that can be bestowed. Angel can provide contentment, but it’s a contentment that relies on Chase’s feelings of outside judgment. It’s not really solving Chase’s problem, because Chase still looks to others for validation, still measures himself up against his imagined failings. Self-improvement isn’t the same thing as finding happiness, even if it’s still something to strive for. Heart’s there to remind us of that. It isn’t wrong to try and become a better person, so long as you’re doing it because it makes you happy to do it. Heart wants his friends to become more themselves, not become someone else. (Well, except for the ones he reprograms into executioners…?) Twisting yourself into someone other people like better might provide a small burst of happiness - it’s nice to be liked! - but it doesn’t change who you are inside. Fixing the things you don’t like about yourself can bring about happiness, but real contentment only comes from accepting yourself as a valid person who deserves to be happy. It’s nice to see this movie play around with these sorts of themes. Angel’s initial pitch is all quick-fix life-coaching and haphazard pharmacology: Follow these steps, take this medicine, and everything’s great. But it’s not, because there isn’t some one-size-fits-all path to happiness. Chase and Heart and Brain and Medic and Angel all need different things to be at peace. Flattening personal growth and contentment into An Easy Path is bullshit, and it reduces people’s needs into obstacles along a road they shouldn’t be on. Getting better is hard work, and it starts with understanding what Getting Better means to you as an individual. Being able to recognize things that are broken, and things that you think are broken, is the first step to really being happy. So, yeah, a movie that ends with Chase being okay with himself (as demonstrated in an incredibly bloody monologue on Feelings Beach) and realizing he doesn’t need to be anything more than a Chase who’s okay with himself? Absolutely. And then there’s also this ridiculous team-up between Drive and Mach and Accel! For some reason! It’s hilarious, which is the likely reason. I laughed a bunch, so mission accomplished. Terui showing up for some weird Office Politics subplot was delightful, and it’s neat to see Shinnosuke have to wrangle a disrespectful Go while trying to solve a case. Having a little story with two Cop Riders is clever, especially when they could not be more dissimilar as men. (I mean, up until the Mach movie, when Shinnosuke will also be a dad.) Just the Very Official Terui having to work with/against a Very Friendly Shinnosuke, it’s a good idea! The whole thing’s almost bizarrely dropped into this movie, though, in a way that seems like it’s just Legend Rider plus Some Reason For The Main Cast To Not Be Around. Thematically, it’s got nothing to do with Chase’s story. It’s also… I mean, the Accel stuff isn’t really about anything? It’s a cameo gag that somehow blows up into 15 minutes of screentime (or, at least, that’s what it seemed like), and it feels too half-boiled, I guess. It either needed to be a shorter segment, or its own film. It needed a deeper plot, something that says anything about Terui and/or Shinnosuke. There’s some fun writing with the character interactions, but there isn’t a ton that’s interesting about their story. (I also love Go’s incredulous anger at the cheap turn of there being two identical Roidmudes. He’s right, it is confusing!) But that’s okay, because the Chase part of this movie is more than interesting enough. The Roidmudes as a species were always entertaining, what with their Humanity In Miniature thing going on, and Team Roidmude was the shining example of that. They were monsters that could’ve existed completely separate from the title character’s storyline, and it’s the same way here. It’s not a Kamen Rider story about defeating monsters; it’s a human story about defeating our own self-loathing. That’s maybe a better story to tell?
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01-20-2022, 08:34 PM | #328 |
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Was this the film where all of the main cast, Mr. Belt included, did a collective spit take at Chase? Drive's humor was always hit and (mostly) miss for me, but I loved that gag.
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01-20-2022, 08:41 PM | #329 |
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Quote:
(Also, I knew this was going to be the first thing someone else brought up about this movie. It's why these images were ready to go!)
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01-20-2022, 09:27 PM | #330 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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...And yeah, honestly, 90% of what I remember about this movie from watching it years ago is just that scene, which makes it hard to contribute much insight beyond that. (The other 10% of what I remember is that it was a totally serviceable if inessential Chase story. Well, like 9% that, and then 1% Accel being there.)
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