[Kamen Rider Die]

REVICE FORWARD: KAMEN RIDER LIVE & EVIL & DEMONS



Golly, was that not a very smart movie.

It works emotionally, at several points, but it’s such a phenomenally dumb movie at so many other points that it’s hard to say this one ended up working for me. Most of the revelations are just things we already saw the characters overcome on Revice (or Dear GaGa), and the end result is, like, a Director’s Cut of a finale to the character arcs of Daiji and Hiromi.

The one fresh thing in here is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the best thing this movie has going for it: Rumi and Hiromi’s bond. Way more than new suits (hideous) and an EP’s worth of new songs (not my thing), the addition of a niece for Hiromi is a legitimate evolution of his character, and an exciting concept to explore in a film. We’ve seen Hiromi as a son, and as a Work Dad, but what is he like with a child to protect? What does that do to his sense of responsibility? How does that interact with his new outlook on supporting others, rather than charging recklessly into battle?

Sadly, we don’t get nearly as much of this as I’d like. Rumi ends up getting yoinked for good by the villains/Kagerou (...it’s complicated) midway through the film, which gives us a huge chunk of the story where the best part is absent. But when the story slows down a bit for Rumi and Hiromi to connect, it’s ridiculously watchable. The way she calls him Uncle, because he’s old! The way he keeps trying to say he’s only 28! It’s adorable, and I wish these two had been the entire movie. They are the spark that kept me watching this movie, even during its darkest moments.

Which would be the majority of this film’s mystery/plot, which was at once blindingly obvious, and absolutely absurd.

Like, I never for a second thought Muramasa was Hiromi’s devil. For one, everything Kagerou (forever the voice of reason) points out via flashbacks: Hiromi’s devil was seen and destroyed in the first episode of Revice; while some people can generate a new devil, it’s not heart-on-their-sleeve goodies like Hiromi; we never saw it happen, so why are we taking Muramasa’s word for it. For another, the Chameleon Vistamp is right there in the opening sequence. The Chameleon Vistamp, which was integral for switching out Wakabayashi with a duplicate in Revice. It all adds up, and it’s frustrating to watch the movie insist It’s Definitely A Devil for so long when it’s obviously not. It requires no one to trust Hiromi, which is a huge thematic thing in the film, and it also requires multiple characters to be morons, which is not as much of a theme. (It’s more of a motif.) Sakura, Hana, and Tamaki watch a Hiromi that’s dressed up like a gangster change his hair and eye color while calling a wounded Hiromi a devil, and they’re all like YES KILL immediately. It’s dumb, and most of this plot is dumb.

Until it becomes absurd, like when the answer turns out to be clones?! Clones, everyone’s clones, the mystery was clones, I hate it. I get why it’s clones thematically – the point is that there’s a difference between a duplicate and a part of you, which is integral for Daiji/Kagerou’s arc. It just feels unbelievably out of left field, and nothing that necessarily feels logical to guess from earlier in the story.

The idea of a movie that’s about seeing characters like Kagerou as an aspect of Daiji, rather than an evil twin or whatever… I don’t think that was a thing we needed to learn? I feel like that’s a huge part of Daiji’s arc from Revice, and the introduction of Eviltytlive is built on the idea that Daiji now sees the value and necessity of Kagerou in his life. I don’t know why Revice Forward thought we needed to hear that lesson all over again, alongside Wakabayashi yet again becoming a Force Ghost to tell Hiromi the same lesson he learned back on the Revice TV show, but I guess it fits alongside this film’s use of so much footage from Revice.

Jesus, it’s so much archival footage. Characters couldn’t get two sentences into a story without a clip show being generated. If the producers had felt like the characters needed more of their backstory explained (I disagree, but) I wish they’d’ve found some way to make it organic to the scene, rather than making me sit through Ikki and Vice’s final battle, when Vice isn’t even in this movie. This story’s emotions did not need nearly so much explanation.

So, yeah, I don’t think this one worked, structurally. Hiromi and Rumi are fantastic, but the character arcs are retreads, the villains don’t make a lot of sense, and the new suits are garish in the wrong ways. It’s also at least ten minutes too long, for what the narrative requires. Hopefully the inevitable Revice Forward: Jeanne & Aguilera & Over Demons comes up with a plot that’s a little smarter!