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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Satria Heroes: Revenge of (the) Darkness

Did you know that this movie was actually available to English speakers via Netflix up until very recently?

Wait, you mean they took it down? That sucks. Netflix was a great opportunity to introduce Satria to the west, so now I'm concerned about it fading in to obscurity once more.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

The biggest sin of the movie though, I feel, is that it is very much meant to be a bridge between BIMA-X and a third BIMA show that never came to be, and at this point sadly likely never will. The after credits scene all but confirms it too, what with the appearance of an all new Satria like how new Riders used to premiere for awhile during the Neo-Heisei Era of Kamen Rider.

A third Satria show, but not Bima-focused. Satria Naga Kai, who as Mesnick mentioned above got exactly one episode. Then the staff basically decided, "screw this Tokusatsu, we'll make a Bima animated series and call it Bima-S instead". Maybe DreadBringer can explain a little more about this when he catches up with the thread.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

The pacing and flow of the film is weird too. It's essentially three episodes of BIMA-X glued together into a feature length film. To the point that all three acts of the movie have different title cards(with "Revenge of Darkness" being the final one). And let's just say that the transition between story beats and moods of the three acts isn't exactly the smoothest; with the very somber and melancholy atmosphere of the second act being the biggest standout.

The Movie War format is actually one of the things I thought was pretty cool and unique about this movie! I suppose the tonal clash is kind of hard to get around when you have to switch from Dimas' comedic Japan adventure to Wira's tragic road to evil, but I could argue that it keeps the movie fresh and interesting, which is the appeal of conventional Movie Wars like Ultimatum and Megamax for me. The transition between thirds also led to that cute humorous moment of Ricca angrily stabbing the Torga-shaped icing due to Dimas leaving her behind in Jakarta. Imagine how mad she'd be if she knew about Saeko crushing on him!

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Despite me not having a big gap between this and BIMA-X like how I did between, well, BIMA-X and BIMA, it was nice to see a reunion of the cast.

It was awesome to see Ray's return by throwing his cloak! Uh, what did you think of that weird Ray/Rena scene though? Feels like Hayase had some unfinished business there.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

The visual effects were even better than what was in BIMA-X, and the final act did feel appropriately epic for a final battle, especially given who's involved. And speaking of that, the big star of this movie is very much Iron Mask, or as he's know here, Osiris. Or, if you want to go by his name back when he was human, Wira.

The entire climactic fight sequence of Bima-X, Azazel and Torga VS Osiris was amazing from start to finish. We get the return of Ultimate Dark Mode, a bullet energy finisher, Satria Naga Kai showing up to buff the heroes while promoting his non-existent upcoming show, Osiris trying to drop the Revenge of Darkness in the cauldron, a new griffon mount made from the combined spirit weapons and the triple Satria finisher in the apocalyptic sky above Jakarta!

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

I was really into that middle act, which is all about Iron Mask reminiscing about the events that lead to him becoming a Satria filled with hatred. Long story short, it's the tale of a boy getting in way over his head, and never getting the chance to learn how to process his emotions and move on from his pain; Only ever running from it via pointing the finger at others. What happened was a freak accident, but Wira was never able to let that pain go. He somewhat mirrors Reza in that regard, but Reza eventually allowed his family to help him, while Wira never did. And it eventually lead to Iron Mask being the very evil he felt he was fighting.

I certainly wasn't expecting to get a whole episode-length story about Topeng Besi's tragic backstory, but after all, he is the franchise's most iconic villain and I have to appreciate how this movie is as much an encore for him as the main characters. As exciting as that Torga VS Evil Torga fight was, this movie really brings to the foreground his rivalries with the 3 heroic Satrias and that just feels right, especially after seeing the aforementioned tragic backstory that spawned his undying hatred for them.

The plot of Wira training to surpass Torga Legend so he can get revenge on the monsters who orphaned him and Arsya reminds me of the Oni from Hibiki, with the message about using your powers for good and not becoming consumed by hatred, which escalated during the events of this part after Wira recklessly borrowed Torga Legend's Power Stone (which is ridiculously still called Oranye, even though this is in the ancient past!) to become Torga himself, causing the death of Arsya. His hatred was then misdirected to the Satrias when Noir refused to let him bring back Arsya from the dead.

In his defense though, Torga Legend was kind of unsympathetic for coldly demanding Wira to give him the Power Stone and Arsya, while he was grieving for the only loved one he had left. Noir deciding to lock him up outside of time for millennia was maybe also detrimental to his mental health, but I can understand why Noir did that after years of fighting him, since he was clearly a severe danger that needed to be taken care of quickly. I liked the cool detail of how their fight resulted in Evil Torga having the cracked visor.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Seeing everyone else in the movie is great too, of course(even if Reza's' appearance is never properly explained), but man, Iron Mask really did just steal the show here.

According to the wiki, Reza was revived as a darkness construct by Power Stone Hitam after Black Lord destroyed his body, so it seems that he can no longer hang around for too long or he will die again. Honestly, I'm surprised by such a bittersweet ending, but I guess, other than calling Master Green's miracle delivery service, it makes sense that Reza can't just be brought back fully after what happened to him. Seems like both he and Ray have come to terms with it though, which is a small consolation.

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

But I also enjoyed Dimas' adventures in Japan. And in general, purely visually and in terms of action, the film is a real feast.

Dimas got to fight ninjas, so that was cool!

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

By the way, about the new Satria: he really doesn?t have a show, but the first episode was still filmed. Are there any plans for a review of it?

It was subbed by FlameSubs and I did watch it a few years ago. Definitely feels like the Kamen Rider ZX of Satria.