ALL RIDERS, LET'S GO: Kamen Rider's 40th Anniversery Review

Okay, to start off, I have to say if you aren't already familiar with these shows, then the first two minutes will be the most confusing moments of your life. Most crossover movies from Japan spend around two-thirds of the running time on introducing the characters and having them play out there own micro-movie, before they meet in the last third which is basically just a long fight. I always hated that, but I'm not sure this is an improvement. If you haven't at least seen the first few episodes of OOO's, then you're !#@$ed. I suppose it makes sense, as OOOs' was the current Kamen Rider show at the time, but it's still pretty confusing. Fortunately, Den-O is handled nicely. I haven't watched past the first part of the pilot, but I was barely confused after they eventually started to explain things. It's freakin' weird, but this is from Japan, c'mon. OOO's, on the other hand, gets no explanation at all. Honestly, you need at least a passing familiarity with Kamen Rider to properly follow this.

The effects look pretty nice. The Den Liner (a time traveling train) looks cool, OOO's and Den-O have nice costumes, and the classic Kamen Rider suits and monsters are reproduced accurately. Sadly, this means that several look incredibly cheap next to the modern suits, especially the Shocker Grunts. I really hate the Shocker Grunts. I can't take them seriously, I just can't. Every time I see one I want to slam my head against something. They look too cheap to be in a Power Rangers show, and I'm including the originals in that. Ahnk looks expresiive, which is impressive seeing as he is literally just a floating right arm.

The story is a pretty typical time travel story: A seemingly minor change to history made for selfish reasons allows the nazi's Shocker to conquer the world, and now what went wrong must be put right. The mechanics of time travel are completely screwed up in this story: Apparently despite history being drastically altered twice the whole thing is somehow inside of a fixed time loop. It doesn't make any sense, especially when one considers how the timey-whimey mess is 'resolved'. But this is Kamen Rider and thinking about the mechanics behind how stuff works is just distracting.

It's clear the the writers didn't care about the time travel side of the story, it was just a vehicle to fit in as much continuity as possible. And boy do they or what! For the first time, we get to see the original Kamen Rider suits with modern special effects, the U.N is made up of the big bad's from Kamen Riders past, the Riders invade Shockers origanol base, and despite being a cop-out, the climax gave me chills.

On the emotional side, it's terrific. Since these villains have been established as bad news previously (and assuming you can overlook they're appearance) it's easy to believe that the world is on the brink of ruin. We don't need to see random monuments defaced and cities being blown up to know that the crap has hit the fan, and the despair sold beautifully by the child actors that are a part of the new timeline. There's one great exchange that highlights that. Representing the new timeline are a group of streets rats lead by Mitsuru. Shocker for some reason cares about them, and in escaping a close friend of the boy is captured. These kids are all like, ten, by the way. Anyway, Mitsuru elects to leave him for dead.

OOO's You're just leaving him?

MITSURU: It's his fault for getting caught! We're only as strong as our weakest link. That's why we've survived for so long. Isn't that right?!

OOO's: So it's just fine to let this monsters do whatever they want?"

MITSURU: Of course it's not fine! That's why someday, I'll be more powerful and underhanded than they are, and I'll get my revenge.

It sounds a lot clunkier than I remember it being, but the kid sells it really well. The kids are the main characters far more than OOO's or Den-O are, but I think it works. Looking at all this from their cynical POV helps you feel the gravity of Shockers actions, and the hope they feel when they first see the first Kamen Rider as heroes they originally were instead of brainwashed Hench-men makes the otherwise above-average scene truly inspiring.

This is still early for Ahnk, and he's pretty self-centered in this movie. He doesn't truly start to change until the end of the series, but it's still impressive how he can be so arrogant when he's managed to end the world. I still can't help but like the guy: he's the Kamen Rider version of Loki. But this movie is not him at his best. Den-O and OOO's don't have much of an arc to speak of either: they inspire hope in the kids and keep the movie going, as well as blowing stuff up in dynamic ways. Outside of some nice interactions with the kids, they don't do a lot.

Overall, this movie is a love letter to Kamen Rider. it doesn't make a lot of sense if you look at it to closely, but that's not out of laziness, its because this is for fans. The people this is made for won't care about details, they just want to see their heroes be heroic. It delivers a nice message about keeping hope in the darkest of times, and overall even with its overly dramatic moments (they literally try to crucify the modern Riders) its numerous (and I mean numerous) plot holes I can't help but love this movie.