There are Spoilers in this review. If you don’t want any spoilers of this movie, don’t read this article.
The Kamen Rider franchise has been saving the world for over 40 years. Over the years, the series has been split up into two different categories; the Showa Riders and the Heisei Riders. The Showa Riders were the Kamen Riders that were around from the series’ origins in 1971, all the way to 1994. The Heisei Riders are the Kamen Riders that have been around since the dawning of the new millennium in 2000 and continuing today. This year’s Super Hero Taisen is going to be a battle of the generations. Will this movie be excellent or will the outcome be unsatisfying? Let’s find out!
The Story and Characters:
The Underground Empire Baldan has awakened to bring the dead back to life and in the midst of this operation, the Heisei Riders are uniting to save one of the lost souls named Shuu. But the Showa Riders think that the Heisei Riders are the ones that have awakened the Baldan Empire and want to put a stop to them. Who will come out on top?
The story in this film is kind of similar to the first Super Hero Taisen, but I think the execution is done a little better in this case. The story doesn’t focus on every Rider but only focuses on a specific few. It is amazing to see heroes both old and new returning to the big screen. For instance Hiroshi Fujioka who plays Takeshi Hongo (Kamen Rider 1) returns to the franchise and in the action since his last appearance in the final episode of Kamen Rider Stronger and Shun Sugata who plays Ryo Murasame (Kamen Rider ZX) who hasn’t been seen since his only appearance as a Kamen Rider for the 10th anniversary special back in 1984. It was awesome seeing all these Riders return to the series.
When the ToQger vs. Kamen Rider Gaim special premiered as a prequel to this movie, it kind of left me scratching my heads to why the Showa Riders didn’t like the Heisei Riders. Now that I have seen this movie it makes much more sense to why but at the same time, it makes the Showa Riders feel like bad guys without being the bad guy.
I did see some weird plotholes that were never explained in the movie. Mainly in the final fight against Baldan. For example, how did Gabutyra (KyoryuRed’s main Zyudenryu dinosaur) was able to transform into a train and how was the Den-Liner also converted into the Den-O Ressha? It still left me scratching my head, but at the same time, the scene still made me chuckle.There were also some scenes that made me chuckle involving Kaito Kumon (Kamen Rider Baron) and Shotarou Hidari (Kamen Rider Double/Joker) searching for a lost dog, cat and turtle.
Interestingly enough they do have some character dynamics that actually work to this film’s advantage. There is the dynamic between Takeshi and Kouta Kazuraba (Kamen Rider Gaim) as it more focuses on the opinions of two different generations, and Tsukasa Kodoya (Kamen Rider Decade) and Shuu which focuses more on Shuu’s backstory. The one that I think really shows how this is done really well is Takumi Inui (Kamen Rider 555) and Jin Keisuke’s (Kamen Rider X) dynamic. In fact it gives some good character development for Takumi considering the theme that this movie is trying to convey.
Then we have our main villains in the form of Underground Empire Baldan and Kamen Rider Fifteen. Fifteen is Shuu’s father who is working with the Baldan Empire to try and bring his son back to life. It’s interesting considering the events of the White Wizard in Kamen Rider Wizard as it does feel very similar but condensed for the length of the movie. I think Fifteen was definitely the highlight as the best villian of the movie as he uses the powers of the Fifteen Heisei Riders Lock Seed. I also think that it’s an awesome design having the armor being based on a skeleton. Pretty creepy if you ask me.
The interesting thing about this movie was that the ending to this film was all chosen by you. Fans voted on which generation they liked best and the winner gets their ending played in theaters. But I will not say who won. Though I will give my opinion on which ending was better. I personally thought the Showa ending fit the ending pretty well than the Heisei ending. I will not dare spoil what happens in these scenes.
To me this movie felt like a mix between both Super Hero Taisen and Super Hero Taisen Z when it comes to the story and characters. The plot felt more like the first movie, but the character development felt much like the second. It was a pretty decent blend.
The Fight Scenes and Music:
The fight scenes in this movie were pretty good. One thing that I liked in this movie is the way they upgraded the transformations to the returning Showa Rider actors. They actually look pretty good and feel pretty reminiscent to the renewed transformation for TyrannoRanger Geki in Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters. It was interesting seeing the differences in how each Rider fights from each generation. For example, the fight with Kamen Rider Stronger and Kabuto. It does show how much has changed with the franchise.
The music I think is alright. The main theme in this movie is called “Dragon Road 2014”; a remake to the theme to the 10th anniversary special from 1984 done by Akira Kushida and the Kamen Rider Girls. I like the original version of Dragon Road. It was a pretty cool disco theme when disco was slowly starting to die out. This version I didn’t think was good to be quite honest. It was more on the lines of techno mixing in a bit of auto-tune. It didn’t quite seem to work in my opinion.
Final Verdict:
This movie seems to feel more in the middle between two different Super Hero Taisens. The story I thought was okay, but the characters and character development was pretty interesting. The fight scenes I thought were cool, but the music was OK at best. My final verdict for Heisei Rider vs. Showa Rider: Kamen Rider Taisen featuring Super Sentai is a 6.5/10. It’s better than the first one, but not as good as Super Hero Taisen Z. Another war is done for Kamen Rider Gaim, but his next film adventure may take him to somewhere he thought he would never go; the Fifa World Cup.
Beyond American Shores 