[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Best part of the movie by far for me is Kamen Rider Arc being this super huge vampire man, and the super goofy voice of his belt.

"Kamen Rider Arc"? Good to know his name, since I don't think the movie says it even once.

Him and Rey (which I only know because of other posts in this thread, the movie never says his name either) are both decent enough adversaries for our heroes, even if they also feel totally interchangeable. They're just monsters to watch everyone defeat, nothing it's possible to invest in (we are a long way from Kamen Rider Kabuki), but they're also pretty fun monsters to watch get defeated? I didn't care a ton about the action climax of the film, with the dogfighting CGI monstrosities, but Castle Doran becoming a giant, flaming Kiva? To deliver a Rider Kick to Arc that also brands the moon?! Sure, I can be into that.

I definitely didn't care about Arc or Rey as characters, but I really enjoyed them as monsters to be detonated.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

And a bit of lore behind Rey Kivat (Takato’s belt) is that it was made by capturing and dissecting a Yeti (which are a sub species of giants in this universe).

Wow, did not get Yeti off of Rey's whole... thing. He just looked like some kind of ice spider? Nice to get some closure on that.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

One thing I love from this movie was the sequence of Wataru fighting alongside the Arms Monsters and going through each of his appropriate forms in the process.

It's really in line with this movie trying to satisfy fans, and doing an Arms Monsters team-up scene (with a returning Kivehicle Booster Rocket that the show hasn't used in over a dozen episodes!) where we also get to see all of those form changes again... it's such a gift. As with nearly everything else in the movie that I loved, I could quibble with the shortcuts (pretty sure the Arms Monsters need to get transformed into weapons by Castle Doran, they don't just do it themselves), but it's such a fun scene in a fun movie that wants you to have fun, so why be that guy? I'm gonna go see Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard tonight. I am not immune to something only being fun to watch.

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Originally Posted by dreamcastegirl

I fell asleep the last time I watched this movie, however, this was what I was vaguely arm-waving and gesturing at when you first started speaking about Kiva; the moment here between Megumi and Yuri. I found this sequence really sad and really touching, and I was annoyed that it got me like it did. I know it might just be my own personal set of issues aligning perfectly with the moment to produce an emotional reaction, but I forgive a lot of Kiva's clumsiness for this alone.

Megumi and Yuri doing a simultaneous Henshin into IXAs and wiping the floor with a bunch of monsters from mythology was pretty pretty great. I also really dug the playfulness of Yuri casually suggesting that she weighed 10 kilograms less than her daughter, and that little smirk when Megumi calls her out on it. They both come off as more assertive and headstrong than they've been portrayed as lately in Kiva. It feels more like two women who are great at their jobs and know it, which I've missed!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Their relationship is actually explained right away... in the Director's Cut! Like a lot of Rider films, the theatrical version sacrifices a ton of the connecting tissue and even some of the emotional meat for the sake of getting the runtime down. In this case, I think the difference is maybe more drastic than usual, as there's some good parent-child bonding between Otoya and Wataru AND Yuri and Megumi that's sorely missing, even before mentioning thing like missing bits of exposition.

Dang! Good to know. I'm not sure it's anything I'm going to rush to watch (no time, plus I like the movie okay enough in the theatrical version), but I'll probably poke around it during a break. Thanks for the heads-up!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I think the biggest downside is that none of the action totally wows me?

Yeah, fair. The Arms Monster fight is maybe the best one, for how much it lets Kiva's various form changes juggle the monsters by himself, and I really like the visual of Kiva and IXA charging Arc late in the film, but... yeah, most of the fights were Solid But Unexceptional, which is maybe not what you want to say about a higher-budget version of a tokusatsu TV show. Nothing was ever confusing or distracting, but it ended up being a movie where the emotional beats/fan-service just blew it out of the water.

That said, my favorite action scene in this movie was probably the one where Yuri and Otoya think Wataru is a Fangire, and Wataru is trying to rescue/kidnap the violinist. There's a lot of really fun choreography going on, with Wataru being inside the car and the violinist being outside and Otoya jumping into the car, and it's all entertainingly ridiculous. (Also! I think Takaiwa was one of the cops who got manhandled by our heroes!)