[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER BUILD MOVIE: BE THE ONE



There's a core of this movie that works so well. A narrative thread so clear, so pure, that it manages to overcome some of the dumbest story decisions this show has made during its weakest stretch. But, man, do you have to sit through some junk to get to it.

The thing that works, to get to the positive part first this time, is the second half of the film. After avoiding the maybe 300 people still alive in Touto, Build has seen Grease and Rogue captured, the country (including Misora and Sawa) turned against him, and Cross-Z possessed by the villains. He's out of options, out of friends, out of hope. Takumi is telling him that the villain is right, that Build was only created by monsters to cause harm. He's at his lowest. He can't fight back, and he doesn't have anything to fight for. But. Banjou still needs his help. Banjou, his best friend, needs to be saved from the bad guys. That's enough. That is all the reason Sento needs to find it within himself to risk everything and face the villains. There's hope that, with Banjou on his side, maybe they can still turn this thing around. It's great. It centers the story on this friendship and sells it, telling you it's bigger than all the threats aligned against them. It's beautifully done.

It is, unfortunately, possibly the only thing the movie does well.

Imagine my joy, seeing the face of Buildad as this film opens. So great to see him back for this story! He gives a laughably prophetic set of advice to Takumi that stops short of saying, "And make sure to form change into Build Genius when you fight Evolt in a field in ten years with Cross-Z, Grease, and Rogue." The idea of Better Days Buildad as a thing in the movie, I actually liked it. If I blocked out the last five episodes of his story, Sento's dad works great in this movie, as a beacon of selfless belief in humanity and its potential. It's just, if you think about the overall plot of the series for more than one second, it rings totally hollow and makes, like negative sense. It removes sense from the surrounding story elements.

Speaking of nonsensical story elements that fall apart the second you think of the TV show this movie is based on, JESUS, why in the world you'd take one-off villains from the movie (good!), tie them to Evol(t)'s story (tough, but maybe!), and then make them the secret masterminds of everything in the series, even the stuff we watched other people do, I have no earthly idea. It is far, far too late in the story to introduce a higher layer of puppet masters, and it's bonkers to try to do it in a 60-minute summer movie. It takes a story that was already too convoluted and complex, and makes it like a non-comedic version of the end of Clue. How many people were peering over Evol(t)'s shoulder the last ten years, fifty? A hundred?

But, goddamn, the last twenty minutes nearly make it all work. The friendship of Sento and Banjou is so well-established and vibrant that, once they shake off some stupid, stupid ideas, the climax of the film works great. Their friendship is solidified in one Rider that can't be beat, in a suit that I don't love but it's a movie suit and it works thematically if not aesthetically so I'm not that mad. I just hate how much of the first half doesn't work if you think about it even briefly. Worth watching for the cast and some of the gags (and that instrumental xylophone or whatever version of the theme song), hard to get past the villains and how much you need to forget Buildad and just think of Sento's flashback dad. Complicated feelings about this one!



oh also Zi-O shows up in the end but I'm not watching that series for a long while so I'm going to pretend it wasn't in this 'cause I don't want to talk about that series yet okay thanks thanks and thanks thanks