[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreshToku

I liked Heisei Generations FOREVER a lot more.

Same. Its message of finding the balance between escapism and fandom just... boy, that really connected with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sylarking

Those Questers look ridiculous to me. They look like they belong to a boy band or something. I thought they going to breakout and dance or something. LOL

IWAE, all caps, is a great J-Pop band name, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Nothing for him, so I?ll just close off with a fact I didn?t share in the commentary. Zamonas was originally meant to be a hybrid of The First, The Next and Amazons (similar to Zonjis being a hybrid of Shin, ZO and J), but they couldn?t figure out how to combine the aesthetics of Inoue?s gritty movies about robot bug men with Kobayashi?s gory streaming series about mutant piranha men.

The weirdest thing to me about the Zamonas suit is that the helmet looks 100% like a Sodo sticker to me. Something about the lack of gleam to it reads as incredibly flat to me. Very weird.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This is easily one of my absolute favorite Kamen Rider movies ever, and it made for such a wonderful capstone to Kamen Rider Zi-O in particular. I won't lie, it's a bit frustrating to see Die being so dismissive of it, but then, I did write this about it at the time...

(...)

...so I guess this shouldn't be too surprising. But at the same time, like, man, it's *so* hard not to get fired up about this. The post at the top still says most of what I want to, but just... like, my opinion has settled now, and I still believe with all my heart that this thing is a postmodern masterpiece. It's this brilliant story of Heisei Rider being confronted by its own sins in the form of villains based on the Heisei Riders Who Aren't, while still making that a Zi-O story about the value of choosing your own path in life. It's loaded with very considered details, some of the best direction Tasaki has ever done, and tons of fun moments with characters I love. I simply couldn't imagine a more perfect celebration of everything Heisei Kamen Rider is, and everything that makes me love Zi-O so much.

Reading you declare a movie I found to be confused and misguided as "a postmodern masterpiece" is, honestly, what these threads exist to do. I love this so much. Thank you for your dependably contrarian viewpoint. It's a bright spot for me, always.

...Which is why it was a bit of a bummer to see my dislike of this film categorized as "dismissive". I hope I didn't come off as not sincerely or fairly engaging with this movie? I definitely tried to approach it on its own terms, and I tried to be detailed in my criticisms. I never want anyone to think I'm being unfair to these projects, even the ones I have a hard time with.

To maybe expand a bit on those criticisms:

I FEEL LIKE THIS MOVIE IS YELLING AT ME TO LIKE THINGS I ALREADY LIKED

There's an earnestness to this film's call to embrace the entirety of Heisei Rider that, at points, feels like badgering. It's like this movie came in with the theory that the viewer a) didn't like modern Rider, and b) certainly didn't care for the weirder elements. In an effort to forcibly correct that viewpoint, it ended up veering too far in the other direction, making me feel like I needed to love those things more than I've ever loved anything, rather than just enjoying a lot of different parts of the franchise. It was like:

KAMEN RIDER IS ALLOWED TO BE WEIRD!

Yeah, man, I know. One of my favorite things is the Faiz HBV. I'm good with weird!

STOP DEMANDING THAT KAMEN RIDER WORK AS ONE CONTINUITY!

I-- I wasn't? I don't love the post-series crossover content. I'm totally fine with each show doing its own thing. I sort of prefer it?

KAMEN RIDER IS BIGGER THAN JUST TV SHOWS!

Dude, I preordered that Kuuga manga. I'm going to be carrying the book at my store! I'm super psyched about it!

IT'S OKAY FOR STORIES TO BE MESSY!

It... yeah! It is! I never said it wasn't!

I AM OKAY WITH THE METAPHOR; I AM LESS OKAY WITH THE METAPHOR OVERTAKING THE NARRATIVE

This movie's messaging, about the beauty of a messy, ever-evolving franchise made up of dozens of unique creative voices, is one I am 100% behind. I'm never going to be mad at a writer who wants to communicate something through a Kamen Rider property. But the problem for me is that we're left to explore that messaging with thinly-drawn villains who don't get enough screentime to develop their point-of-view; with uneven pacing that creates a middle section where too many things happen without enough context; with a gigantic finale that loses multiple characters; with a movie that takes its message and obscure references as self-evident, rather than worth interrogating and explaining.

There's a version of this film that I'd really like. It would be one that makes Barcklxs into a character that's more than just a glorified Shock Twist, and a story that slows itself down to try and better explain its thesis.

I hope this comes off more even-handed than I guess it didn't before? I'm happy to keep talking about this weird movie!