HEISEI RIDER VS. SHOWA RIDER: KAMEN RIDER TAISEN FEAT. SUPER SENTAI (2014) was evidently not well-liked in Japan, as reported in the "Reception" section of Wikipedia's page for this film, nor by longtime stateside fans of Kamen Rider, judging by the one previously published IMDb review for this title. I happened to enjoy it a great deal, but I can understand why Kamen Rider devotees would balk at it. Just think how American Batman fans would react if there had been a movie around 2005 where all previous and then-present incarnations of Batman showed up on screen together in costume, a lineup that would include Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale, and out popped the original TV Batman, Adam West, also in costume, but as a bad guy leading a fight against the later Batmans. It wouldn't have bothered me, but I don't think it would have gone over well with die-hard Batman fanboys. However, my exposure to Kamen Rider over the decades has been limited to sample episodes from a handful of different seasons, occasionally in subtitled form, but more often in Japanese with no subs. So I don't have much emotional investment in this franchise. My interest in a film like this is purely in witnessing the visual spectacle of dozens of Kamen Riders and various monster antagonists slugging it out in effects-filled martial arts battles staged almost entirely on actual locations in and around Tokyo. And this film more than delivers on that promise.
The copy I have of this does not have subtitles, so I used a synopsis from Wikipedia to help me keep a score card as to who's who among the many and varied Kamen Riders. It left out a lot of major details, so I'm not sure I could adequately sum up the plot if asked to. For instance, if there are good reasons why the older Showa Riders (Hirohito era) would turn against the younger Heisei Riders (Akihito era), they're not really evident from the synopsis. Or the actual reasons could just be as lame as they sound. Japanese fans insisted that the older Showa Riders acted completely out of character and I can understand that, although I'm wondering if it was simply the choice of the filmmakers to present a generational divide between the era when older and tougher looking actors were cast in the Kamen Rider roles, e.g. Hiroshi Fujioka, the original Kamen Rider from 1971, who has a role here, and the more recent 21st century versions where the Kamen Rider actors all look and sound like refugees from J-pop boy bands. Of course, once they're in costume, it's all stunt men of about the same age and build taking a whack at each other.
If, like me, you're an aficionado of Tokyo locations, there is much to savor here. A lot of the locations seemed fresh to me and I speak as someone who's seen dozens of sentai episodes, which generally use a lot of the same locations as Kamen Rider episodes. On my trip to Japan last year, I even visited some of the commonly-used locations. In this film, there was one sprawling office plaza early in the film that hosted a major battle and I wish I knew where it was. Midway through the film, when the boy, Shu, remembers where he lives and takes one of the young Kamen Riders with him to see it, it's in a sparkling clean, seemingly brand-new suburban development, complete with a beautiful bridge and park in the middle of the place. Sure enough, the bad guys show up and a major fight breaks out in this picture-perfect setting. The climactic battle involving warring factions of Kamen Riders and the monsters from the Badan Empire takes place in a wide modern plaza somewhere in Odaiba with the modernist Chuo-Ohashi bridge in the background. The action even shifts to the bridge at one point. The high point is when the underground base of the Badan Empire emerges to the surface, smashing through various landmarks of the site. It's all quite spectacular and offers much excitement and imagination. To make things even better, the Super Sentai participants include the Ressha Sentai Toqger team and the Red Ranger from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, along with his red T-Rex Zord. Their Zord combination is really clever and I only wish there had been more shots of it in action. I'm sorry that Kamen Rider purists are put off by this film, but the rest of us can just wallow in the colorfully costumed heroes and villains on display and their furious exchanges of blows and sword thrusts, plus the occasional effects-created combat tactics. Some of the Riders even have hand devices that can turn into motorcycles. (Paging Capsule Corporation!)
