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Kamen Rider Saber: The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin
So subs were quick to come out after it dropped online yesterday. Overall I found it honestly enjoyable.
It wastes no time getting into the action as it just hits the ground running and doesn't stop for the remainder of the film. And I don't know about some people but I kind of liked that honestly. It very much lives up to the Theatrical Special moniker in the title as it's runtime is only 22 minutes long. It's funny since only about 3 minutes of it is set up, about a good 15 minutes straight of fighting, and then a short 2 minute or so wrap up before the credits (which are adorable btw). It very much does the Saber thing of "We're going to fight and yell our ideals at each other while on the battlefield" and so a lot of the motivations, arguments, etc are done during the heat of battle. Some of that being some nice little motivational moments of Mei hyping up the Kamen Riders and us getting three minor recurring characters as an audience surrogate. It's a nice look back to see how everyone was before Jaou Dragon came to ruin everyone's lives. Everyone also gets their own moments to shine and we get a lot of new finisher variations for the various Riders too which was cool to see. Also we get to light the Kaenken Rekka prop on fire a few times for some really nice shots that I love. Bacht was fun and Falchion works well despite being mostly a kitbash of a Ghost suit, but hey Ghost Suits do make some of the best kitbashes huh? And Emotional Dragon is such a treat to see in like it's full HD glory. Overall it's a fun movie and if your a fan of Saber I think you'll enjoy it. |
It's really just a neat special. Nice to see everyone like how they were before they split up. Rintarou has yet to get his Eclair, Touma is showing early-ness here, and Kento literally brooding at the end there.
Emotional Dragon is a great suit for being basically an all-dragon wonder combo with the Saber's base color scheme. Gonna look forward to Falchion's return to the show proper. |
One way I've heard this movie described I really liked is that it's as though they decided to release just the last 20 minutes of a 60 minute film. A description I thought of myself that I like even more is that it's a movie pulled from the same dimension as Ghost's Legend Rider shorts. The similarities begin with the fact that I adore them both.
There's just something so utterly endearing to me about the way they go above and beyond the call of duty. It's only a simple short film to fill space before REALxTIME starts, right? No need to get fancy -- no room to get fancy -- and yet here comes Falchion laying the hypocrisy of stopping force with more force on Saber within like a minute of meeting the guy. It's great. It's madness, but it's great. There's this real sense that they tried to cram as much in here as possible in a way that is extremely on-brand for early Saber. Good intentions, and an execution that I don't think most people will enjoy as much as I do. It's almost brutally efficient in how it accomplishes that goal of having a proper story. The heroic Riders get to sum up their entire personalities in tidy single lines of dialogue before they all transform. There's no room for separate scenes of people talking and people fighting, so people simply talk while fighting. It's very conscious of that limited runtime, and I honestly think it's making the best of it to where the few moments that are allowed to slow down even a bit are in just the right spots to be impactful, like letting Touma have the luxury of a whole extra scene the other Riders don't get to transform into Emotional Dragon. The movie also makes a pretty smart choice in realizing that no matter how philosophical the angry bird man decides to get, the plot is still going to boil down to "watching Kamen Riders fighting bad guys for 20 minutes", so the central theme is instead literally about watching Kamen Rider, and how seeing those fantastic heroes struggle against impossible odds can inspire us in our ordinary daily lives. It's something appropriately simple for the length, communicated very clearly through the bookending scenes with the kid, and, small as it may be, it's a nice extra layer to a film that, again, really did not need to try this hard to begin with. The emphasis is ultimately on that action, of course, and it's a joy to behold in a completely different way from its double-bill partner, impressing less with the cinematography, but arguably more with the special effects. There is an insane amount of digital spectacle going on here, and I'm kind of shocked how welcoming I felt of it all? It all just looks so nice for whatever reason, which is not always something I can always say about Toei's VFX work. Overall, I thought this was a complete delight that came together better than it had any right to, and the thought that it's more of an early sneak preview than anything else is honestly pretty exciting. I mean, especially after hearing the additional story sounds the toy makes, Emotional Dragon is in the running for my favorite Saber form (it's the race that everyone wins!), so can you imagine how cool it'd be to see it beyond this one short appearance? You know, entirely hypothetically? The stuff in this movie is so awesome I'm going to be more than welcoming of it making its way onto TV as well. It's a short film that left me wanting more in the best way possible. |
This was fine. Honestly felt more like a special effects demo than a proper story. The villain barely makes sense and the characters mostly just stand around saying catch phrases and shouting platitudes. The action was pretty good, though, and now that I know it exists I'm really disappointed that the Emotional Dragon suit was never used again. If it weren't for the fact that next week's episode of the show picks up on some of this it would probably be a complete throwaway.
But at least that boy got motivated to play soccer. Apparently that was the major lesson to be learned here. |
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Primarily because he's right. All his talk about hurrying the world along to its inevitable destruction is proven right very soon after this, in episode 15 of the show and the whole third Calibur plot. And by turning his claims true, he goes from a stock nihilist to someone who legitimately wants to prevent unnecessary suffering because he knows it doesn't matter anyway. Obviously, the special isn't really able to deliver something big here but still does well enough for the limited timeframe. And honestly, given Bacht's "We'll meet again!" line, this very much feels more like an intro to the character than anything else. Got the feeling we'll get a good bit out of him in the show. |
I get his philosophy, but what I meant was that the character made no sense because he was just this random nihilist who came out of nowhere with little in the way of a backstory to justify his actions. I'm glad he's going to be showing up again on the show, though, because I like the actor, love the suit, and am curious to find out more about what his whole deal is.
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Yeah, I'm gonna agree with Switch here, this movie feels very very condensed and like a lot of stuff is missing. It feels kind of like a summary of what the show is and its mission statement. The lack of arcs for any of the characters is weird, everything just sort of happens.
Edit: I do think there's more to Bacht, it just wasn't in the film, it'll be good to see him again and figure out his deal. |
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Pretty much just watched it to get some backstory for this upcoming new episode. It was fine, nothing overly amazing but its inoffensive and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Emotional Dragon is a great looking suit though. Wish they could find a way to bring it back |
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I'd say less editing error and more the shot they grabbed was likely a transition shot from Elemental to Emotional.
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The preview scans also showed normal Emotional so we might just have both
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It's not an error. We literally have scans of it happening, and it's even written out as "Elemental Emotional Dragon". I'm thinking Emotional Dragon won't be powerful enough to do what needs to be done, but it's too soon to debut Saber's final form, so he just gets a bit of a power spike, here. Like Kurona said, we're probably getting both. |
Just finished watching the movie, and yeah, it's short and not much going for it, and yet I enjoyed it very much.
First of all, Falchion and Emotional Dragon look fantastic, the latter probably being one of my favorite suits in Saber, and the former, I now just realize, bears a strong resemblance to Elemental Dragon in a way. We already know he's returning to the show proper, but given how much the movie (which might not be the best term for it) covers, what with the pandemic and Zero-One's movie (which I've yet to see), makes me think he'll play a slightly major role from here on out. The fight scenes were really fun to watch, a nice balance of CG and practical action made each fight different enough from each other. Really glad there were some Rider Kicks. Overall, it was something fun to watch, and still gives us a taste of what to expect later in the season. Wonder if we'll get a summer movie... |
Small detail about the film I like, but is very silly: Touma is reading a copy of his own book, and I don't know why he's doing that, but it's very funny.
Edit: So I finished the movie, and despite that it's definitely "here's the third act of a movie," I really enjoyed it! The second half really did cement my idea that it's "here are the themes of the show" let's make a quick sort of showcase film to give everyone an idea of what we're about and what the characters are like. Also! how did none of you mention the credits sequence! That was so fun! |
My favorite part of the movie was the group henshin we need to see that again in the show whether it be their base form or everybody using their strongest form but yeah....it was def one of those special henshins you mainly see in the v-cinemas.
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Overall, this would be something I would show someone if they wanted to get into Saber, or Kamen Rider in general, as some people would probably enjoy seeing men in suits doing action sequences from start to finish. |
My thoughts exactly, Bacht
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88...9DpAKcXGiLPgSY This movie was definitely fun, but it sure didn't make a whole lot of sense! I especially enjoyed the mass battle with all the Shimi. Saber seems to mostly save its mooks for major events, so even though they were getting cut down like they were nothing, just their presence gave the fight more of a sense of scale. Also I just really like their design. |
I feel it made perfect sense - the plot and themes are pretty basic, pretty stock toku stuff - but I still feel "what is happening?!" absolutely applies to this movie. For admittedly obvious and understandable reasons of its runtime, it's very rapidfire and doesn't take a minute to slow down that it can feel both very rushed and like it's skipped over an important moment or two
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That group henshin reminded me of Avengers (2012) with the camera circling round.
I just skimmed through the movie mostly. |
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Imagine skimming through a 20 minute special LUL
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I mean, you could watch any random 5-minute clip of this, and it would give you an epic fight scene and no less understanding of who Bacht was or where Emotional Dragon came from than if you watched the whole movie!
On an unrelated note, does anyone know what the heck those creepy spike things sticking out of his cheek were? I thought they were just a scale texture, and that was already weird, but seeing they were 3D objects made them even more disturbing. I'm kinda glad they're gone when he appears in the show proper, even if I don't know why they're gone either. |
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Why's it such a big deal I don't watch the whole movie. Yes, it's the length of an average episode, so what, I don't feel like watching it all the way through when it's mostly fights and just watch the important parts. Besides, Bacht gets proper backstory in the show, so in the movie, he was just some random guy who was sealed, got out, and wanted to suck the world in some black hole.
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