[Fish Sandwich]

W Returns: Accel:

Remember earlier when I said I don't actively care about Accel, and how much of a lie that turned out to be? There's actually still one more caveat to that, and it's this movie, which is so awesome I basically worship it. Okay, I guess "worship" is a bit of an overstatement, but I think any other word would be understating it, so I'm in a tricky spot here.

The point is, this is the first, and what I'd probably still consider the all around best Rider V-Cinema. Specter's comes close, with a deeper story, and like, the best final fight ever, but Accel is absurdly tight in its execution, and a total blast to watch. The character is so suited to the concept, too. Accel always looked made for a starring role, and he got it. It's no 49 episode series, but it doesn't need to be.

Speaking of that story, though, it's good. There's a lot I like in it. I like Aoi, and I especially like the villain that ends up holding a mirror to Ryuu and showing what's changed about him over time, but there's also a lot that doesn't exactly blow me away. Honestly, Akiko and Ryuu's romance, having seen the show twice now, came right out of nowhere and didn't add a whole to the series, and as the dramatic crux of this film, it can be a little hard to sympathize with Akiko on this one. Although I'm also not even sure how much the audience is supposed to. It's not the most flawless narrative ever. But who cares about the narrative? Do you know who directed this thing? I'll give you one hint:



Aw yeah, that's right, Sakamoto's back at it again! This is in the running for most Sakamoto thing Sakamoto's ever directed, too. I mean, the guy who loves getting actors in on the action, doing a movie where the hero loses his powers for the bulk of the story? He couldn't have signed up fast enough. This is the trick to the story, too. It isn't some deep thing that's going to teach you life lessons and have amazingly complex characters, but it's very clear that's largely because that isn't what they were going for. The script is absolutely fantastic at providing clever setups for action scenes. The pacing is marvelous. The tension is ever-present. On that level, the story isn't just good, it's almost perfect.

The whole thing has this super-charged feel, and it's crazy fun tagging along with Ryuu on what turns out to be one heck of a busy day. You get to see him hit the mean streets, really diving into the Fuuto underworld as he beats the crap out of people in basically any scenario they could come up with. He's in seedy back alleys! He's got a woman handcuffed to him! He's got backup from Jinno! He's in seedy clubs taking on half a dozen goons! He's improvising lockpicks, and jumping out of parking garages from heights that should break his legs! He's even got a jetpack by the end!

That's all the movie needs to work, and it's so, so good at it. It's one of the most edge of your seat exciting Rider flicks out there, and the more emotional beats of the plot still hit more than well enough to get you invested. They're also operating on that same heightened level, which I think goes a long way towards explaining why Akiko is so exaggerated here. This is the same movie where convincing someone they can still change involves Ryuu jamming an egg in a dude's mouth and telling him it tastes delicious while pointing a gun to his head. You've come to the wrong place if you're looking for subtlety.

So I say don't do that. Just leave all subtlety behind, sit back, and enjoy the thrill ride. Trust me, it's gonna make you satisfied.

W Returns: Eternal:

Meanwhile, this one has never done a whole lot for me. I'm pretty sure I only ever watched it the one time (maybe twice?), and I was really looking forward to giving this movie another chance. Because I don't think it's bad at all. First of all, you've still got Sakamoto directing.



Which is a plus.

But beyond that, all logic dictates to me that this would be the better film out of this duology. It's a much more involved story about a group of underdog anti-heroes, and the tragedies of their past, present, and future, all done in a style that gives off very strong 80's action movie vibes. There's a ton to love here, but for whatever reason, the pulse-pounding, stylized thriller about a cop on the run, racing against time, clicks with me way more.

Trying to put that aside for a second, I really do think this movie did an excellent job at fleshing out NEVER, and Katsumi in particular, without going too far, and retroactively painting them as some kind of misunderstood heroes. In part, it gets around that by simply having the real bad guys here be that much more scummy, but there still is a sense of moral ambiguity to the whole thing, and the emphasis is more on how NEVER were not put into a great spot in life to begin with, working with what was already established in the summer movie nicely. Of course, Eternal himself was just plain cool, and Mitsuru Matsuoka is delightful, so even on that most basic level, this movie works.

The action is less intense overall than Accel, but it's also grander in scale, which... doesn't quite compensate, I think. Actually, this might be the whole reason I like Accel so much more. Something about Eternal leaves me bored by comparison. Maybe it's all the psychics running out fighting by standing around instead of doing awesome martial arts, maybe it's that scene early on of NEVER fighting random goons that goes on maybe just a bit too long, but this is definitely the thing about the movie that works the least in my opinion. But again, it's Sakamoto during one of the most consistently impressive periods in his career. It's still way better than average, so that isn't enough to explain it.

Honestly, I'd rather hear other people talk about this movie than myself. I feel like there's gotta be people out there who love this one the same way I love Accel, and it'd kind of be nice to be more sold on it than I am. It's a good watch, but it doesn't quite resonate with me the way other things do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

To me her best/coolest moment was when she told off Clay Doll about how stupid she was being.

On second thought, "by far" was a bit much, because you're absolutely right about that scene being awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and call it a tie.