[GodSpeedLove]

So, this movie...

I will say, I was really digging it for the most part. I kinda like the Phase 1 summer movie vibes! In fact, according to the wiki, Eiji's actor's favorite Kamen Rider movie is Paradise Lost, so it was a fun callback to that! I like the focus on Ankh, and the initial eerieness of Eiji's return. The uneasy alliance of Ankh and Goda is a really fun inversion of the original premise. I enjoyed pretty much everything about this movie until the last 10 minutes (I could even ignore the return of King OOO and the bungling of the Greed cameos)

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room.

I could talk for hours about how Eiji's "sacrifice" is a complete slap in the face to his lesson at the end of the show, or how awful it is that Eiji of all Kamen Riders get this seemingly permanent death, and all the other things that come with the movie's ending, but there's one specific, ever so small part that really, REALLY bugs me.

It's the part when, after Eiji and Ankh defeat Goda in the final battle, Eiji pushes Ankh out of his body so he can posess a completely unharmed Shingo.

HELLO?

I actually like the idea of Ankh possessing Eiji! It's not a terrible way to keep both characters in the franchise while still keeping this movie relevant, and I like the tinge of blonde hair Eiji gets. I'm not sure why we couldn't just end with that? I'm not sure why Eiji decides he has to die, so Ankh can forever possess poor Shingo? Now Ankh can't use the OOO belt, Hina loses her brother, and the world is down a Kamen Rider to stop whenever King OOO decides to come back, because I guess that's just something he can do now.

I guess what really bothers me is how the movie just ends, literal seconds after Eiji's death. We get a single shot of a dejected Hina and a crushed Ankh. He's alive, but is he really happy about it? Um, I guess Eiji got what he wanted, maybe? How am I supposed to feel about this ending? There's no "thank you Eiji", no "we have to live on", no optimistic message at the end, or really any message. Life's a bitch, and then you die, and then you come back, except everything's worse now. Also, that part at the very end where Satonaka brings out the girl Eiji saved was hilarious. How did she find this nondescript girl? And she's still all dirty and wearing the exact same clothes she was on the day Eiji died? They really did all that just to have ONE last Eiji reaching out scene - which, along with that shot of Ankh closing his eyes with his hawk hand, is the closest I've ever been to groaning while watching Toku. It's so overwrought that I almost kinda love it?

I'm having trouble figuring out where they think OOO goes from here. Obviously you can never tell what's going to happen in the future - any of the actors could be busy or unwilling - but did they really have to close the door like this? If they want to do an OOO 20th are they just gonna have to spend half the runtime undoing everything this movie did?

Anyway, that's just about all my thoughts on this movie lol. I had a lot to say, can't say I liked the movie (or more specifically, liked the ending), but I guess I won't forget it? Could be in the running for "The V Cinema of All Time."