The following blog Contains major spoilers for a recently released film. If you have any desire to watch this movie, please go watch it and then come back here. Unless you really don't want to watch it before knowing if it sucks or not then... Enjoy.
Well I thought I would be here later. But appearently movie goers got an early blu ray before a wider dvd release in August. Hey I'm not complaining, if it can get me away from Kamen Rider Taisen I'll take it. Any who, the 10 year specials that Toeis does to commemorate a series anniversary has been a thing for a few sentai. Kamen Rider on the other hand, didn't really see that during this period. Granted for certain series that would be impossible like with Kuuga and Den-o since the main actors Joe Odagiri and Takeru Satoh are big names now. It's kind of hard to do it without the main star's of the show. That's not to say that Hesei phase one actor's reprising roles during this period was not uncommon, the big ones were Taisen crossovers specifically Takumi Inui's actor Kento Handa playing notable roles in both 3rd and 4th taisen's, and of course in Zi-o, most focus episodes on that era saw actors returning to their roles. But major projects Hurricanger's, Dekarangers and the like didn't really happen, and with a new decade dawning on us meant that their was potential for 10 year specials now, with the first rider to get his being Kamen Rider OOO's. OOO's still remains probably my favorite rider to this day, the cast, the writing, the suits, it still stand at the peak of what a kamen rider should be and arguably one of the best starting point's for the franchise. And OOO's ending and appearences post series has left people with one major hang up. The Reunion of Eiji and Ankh after his death and the film seemed to be the conclusion of that thread left all the way back in 2011. But as the conclusion to the true reunion of this classic pair, does this 10 year special sasiate desires, or leave you greedy for more.
Ankh awakens after hearing Eiji's voice and finds himself in the apocalyptic wasteland of 2021, sheesh I knew the past few years have been bad but not that one. Out of no where a small group of fighters containing the Izumi siblings and Chiyoko Shirashi. Their foe is not only the revived Greeed but also OOO's, but this isn't Eiji, after possessing Shingo to save him from getting smushed he is greeted by Eiji who hands him his classic duds and sends him to the resistance against the new threat. Ankh learns that the ooo's they are fighting is the original OOO's who has... somehow revived in the modern age and is intent on taking over the world. Not only that but while Eiji did fight him, he was defeated and appearently killed in an explosion, which Ankh knows as not true since he just saw. What is the truth regarding Eiji and what does it mean for the fight against the king.
So Remember how I said that 10 Gokaiger's biggest issue was that it clearly had a lot more it wanted to do but its length held it back. Well unfortunately it is much, much more apparent with this movie. The pace in OOO's 10th anniversary is extremely snappy as it just plops viewers right into the middle of the conflict leaving people just as confused as Ankh. And that is especially noticeable with the King and the returning Greeed, who just show up all of a sudden with no explaination for their revival what so ever, But not long after this plot dump do we have Hina and Ankh going to the place that Eiji has been hiding. I am serious that this feels like less than the hour long runtime, it felt like 30 minutes because despite the plot dumps we get in certain moments it gives almost no time to enjoy anything.
Your King has arrived... where was I... good question
But you know one of the big things about these specials is the reunion of the cast, and you know OOO's had arguably one of the best cast from the past decade, Eiji hino, Ankh, Hina Izumi, Akira Date, Shintaro Goto, President Kougami and his assistant Satonaka, Chiyoko and the Greeeed. Unfortunately that also suffers from the speed up pace as almost all of them get almost nothing to do, sans Uva all the other Greeed do nothing and are absorbed by the king not long after. And almost the entire cast feels like they are just here, Goto and Date just exist to get pushed around by the foes, Chiyoko just shows up for no reason, the only one with something of note is Hina due in part to her relationship with the duo gives a bit more emotional connection, but really, they say only a few things and do nothing of importance and arguably the biggest offender is Eiji. So the big spoiler, the hardest thing to talk about regarding the film without explaining much about it that Eiji is actually dead... No I am not kidding. The Eiji that we initally see is instead an artifical Greeed created by the Kougami Foundation Goda, a Greeed made from Eiji desires who has kept him alive akin to how Ankh kept Shingo alive for much of the season. So technically Eiji is sort of barely in it and more a background character.
Look I don't hate the idea of what is going on here, its a moment that is shocking not only to the cast but the audience in of itself that I thinks works, as Ankh feels like he quickly goes from the 5 stages of acceptance regarding potentially going on without Eiji, with both actors, Shu Watanabe and really Miura Ryosuke, at their best acting, showing the former's acceptance at dying what he loves doing and the latter's innate stand offish nature giving to the emotional peak. In a much better film, this would be a moment that defines it. But unfortunately. it is mired by the same issue of pacing, we are given very little time to process stuff before we begin the last fight, as Ankh and Hina still hold out hope for Eiji's recovery we know will likely not happen and then Goto and Date stating they don't trust Goda and say he will never be like Eiji. and Goda himself is like with the rest of the film, interesting idea, undercooked execution. Despite having the interesting concept of being an Eiji without his good nature and sort of becoming a version of Ankh who was not reigned in, like the rest of the villains little is given about him and his betrayal at the end, while not shocking feels like it could've been the end of one movie that continued into the other, but likely got cut down to the singular one and I sort of get the feeling that the film had far bigger ambitions than what is shown. The opening scene shows a small army of people confronting the Greeed's and later the king but after that very little is shown in terms of life outside of primary cast members, making the film feel more empty like its post-apocalyptic than anything else. This could be due to Covid causing issues still and maybe the original intent was a two part story like Zero one, with the first film being about fighting the old king and ending with the twist of Eiji and Goda which would lead into a second film and its fallout, but maybe it ended up getting cut down just to this. There is of course no way of telling if this is true. But as it stands like the other villains, Goda is a cool idea, just not done justice.
Really that also sort of applies to the overall production, as mentioned the lack of any people in resistance is one thing, but just the way that none of OOO's insert themes make any sort of reprisal, not even Time Judged all which would have been perfect for the finale with Tajadol eternity debut. Which while a nice callback to the finale of the show feels rather shallow despite what it means for the climax despite how it looks, and while the same can be said for Birth X in that it look goods, it just comes out of no where (Yes there is a net movie, but it is not in this movie and even then it does nothing outside of getting its butt handed to it) And the less said about either Kamen rider Goda or the King ooo's suit outside of hey hope you forgot Tamashii because we are reusing the body for both suits, yeah the same film has the reuse of the same suits, again it is taking his power but it kind of undercuts what this film is, and it just kind of ends. Goda is destroyed Eiji passes on and Ankh and Hina just stare off as a more somber reprise of Anything Goes just plays before doing the standard version. Talk about mood whiplash.
I mean, at least unlike the King, both of Goda's Gauntlets and Greaves are matching
CONCLUSION
There's no denying Medal of Resurrection's ambition and what it wants to do, and in certain instances it gets those emotions going of having to say goodbye to a good friend. But unfortunately, it is that same ambition that is fighting with a length that doesn't do it any favors. As the film rushes towards it conclusionary battle without a care for any of the characters or giving an backstory to its world where it could build it. And those emotional payoffs feel lesser since we have not had the time to think about. What makes this hurt more is the build up across numerous movies about this reunion, nearly 10 years after it finished airing, the reunion of Eiji and Ankh has been teased for an entire decade and this is the end of all of that. A bittersweet pill that left me feeling nothing, no anger at this twist that some would arguably had, no sadness compared to the ending of the main show, no happiness at the reunion. Just a shocked revelation that the film is over and it only felt like 10 minutes. Their are flashes of brillance here, but unfortuneatly, Medal of Resurrection is a dissapointment of under utilzed ideas mixed with glimmer's of what made OOO's great.+
FINAL GRADE: D
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