Let me start by saying that I love Decade. I really do. It's a massive fanwanky experience the likes of which I'm still surprised ever actually got made. Decade hops from one Rider World to the next, meeting with many of the Riders who came before him, fighting against them, and then ultimately teaming up with them against a stronger foe every couple episodes. And the whole thing ends with an epic war that involves every Rider in the franchise facing new iterations of their most classic adversaries.
I also HATE Decade. Because, for all of its fantastic fanservice, when you get right down to it, the writing just isn't very good. Characters feel vastly underdeveloped and underused, plot details take far too long to be revealed (and not in a fun way, as is the case with many other Rider shows), and there are several instances where the story just doesn't seem to quite know where it's going.
For the most part, "All Riders vs. Dai Shocker" takes on all of the qualities of the TV series, good and bad, and simply amplifies them for the big screen.
We begin with the first in a long string of kickass battles, featuring Decade facing off against Amazon. And considering we got a two-part arc devoted entirely to Amazon in the TV series, I have to wonder who among the writer/producer team had such a hard-on for Amazon. I mean, I like him as much as the next Rider fan, but damn.
In any case, we are launched from the battle to a few days earlier, when Tsukasa's crew first arrives in their latest adventure, in a world that Tsukasa finds familiar. He soon realizes that this may indeed be the world from which he was born. It doesn't take long for some of his memory to return, leading him to the home where he grew up with his sister, Sayo.
It's a confusing reunion between the two, made all the stranger by the appearance of Tsukikage, whom I assumed at the time was some kind of servant to the Kadoya family, looking after Sayo all this time.
And this is where I start to wonder exactly where in time this story takes place. See, we weren't shown the key moment in which the mural in the photo shop drops, which has always been the signal that a new adventure has begun in a brand new world, Quantum Leap-style. And the TV series seems pretty clear about which world we come from, and go to, at the beginning and end of each story arc. Which forces me to assume that this entire movie is taking place in-between scenes within one of the TV arcs. A lot of people assume that it's sometime during the Amazon World arc, which again is amusing to me since the movie kicks off with a fight that features Amazon.
In any case, Tsukasa's reunion with his sister and return to his home sparks memories of his former life and he has a sudden realization. That he was not only the "Destroyer of Worlds" that people had called him all this time, but he was the Great Leader of the multi-dimensional army known as Dai Shocker.
I love this idea for a period of about five minutes. Tsukasa makes an appearance in a truly awesome set of "bad guy clothing" with the Dai Shocker symbol and pink and black leather, and yet another crazy hairstyle. He sits on the throne and crosses his legs as his friends Natsumi and Yusuke look on in horror. He watches as the two of them are whipped and dropped into the gutter, even tossing a sword at them before they fall. It's later revealed that Tsukasa is only joining Dai Shocker because he believes defeating the other Riders is the only way to save the worlds from merging.
And that in itself is a head scratcher of an idea. So, the Riders' very existence is destroying the worlds? And that's why Tsukasa set up the tournament to decide the strongest Rider of them all? I guess it doesn't matter, since it is soon revealed that the Riders aren't the ones causing the collapse of the worlds. But the fact is that Tsukasa was willing to not only fight and defeat a whole slew of fellow Kamen Riders, but to watch his friends get attacked and almost killed, and he doesn't seem the slightest bit upset about it. To say the least, it's a jarring transition.
But hey, at least we got some crazy fight scenes out of the whole deal, right? Switch off your brains, kids, because ZX is facing off against Ryuki!
When I first heard about the tournament between Riders, I honestly assumed that this would take up most of the movie. Like the entire plot would revolve around this long series of battles, with the dramatic elements leaking in from behind the scenes, as Tsukasa and his friends slowly realize the true purpose of the tournament is simply to exhaust the heroes enough to make it impossible for them to rise against Dai Shocker once it was all over.
And now I really wish that they did my version instead. Not that it wasn't fun seeing the tournament as it was, but it felt a little too much like an extra gimmick thrown into the mix than a really important part of the story. Especially seeing as how the damage done with the tournament doesn't seem to stick for very long...
Meanwhile, Sayo reveals herself to be a lot more bitter and angry than we first realized. It seems she was the one who first bridged the gap between worlds, which Tsukasa then stepped through. Since that time when he left her all alone, she suffered, and Tsukikage was all too happy to comfort her.
I have to say that, since I didn't catch the obvious name pun ("Tsukikage" = "Moon Shadow"), I wasn't expecting Tsukikage to be revealed as the infamous ShadowMoon. I guess I should be thankful that I forgot all about him, considering how Toei shoved the idea of him down my throat with the billions of trailers and re-edited opening credits sequences they had going before the movie's release. For me at least, it was a nice, welcome surprise. As was Sayo becoming Bishium from "Kamen Rider Black."
I thought the fall from grace that Tsukasa underwent was well done. However, I do take issue with how quickly he seems to remember who he really is and the way he just expects everyone in his life to forgive him for what he did, despite the fact that he showed no remorse for it. Even for Tsukasa, this felt like too much of a leap. I mean, he wasn't the darkest of dark, but he was still pretty much a bad guy. And now, because he gets kicked off his throne, he's suddenly normal again. WHAT?!
Finally, Tsukasa comes face to face with his buddy Yusuke, but not in the way that he probably hopes. Because Sayo has given him the most useless power-up I've seen in quite some time.
Seriously, what was up with that? Obviously, they wanted a new toy to pimp for the movie, because it seems that no Rider movie can be released without at least one new Rider figure for toy vendors to sell. The problem isn't the new toy. It's more in the fact that he shows up for five minutes to kick Tsukasa further down the gutter, and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the movie. But that goes along with another complaint of mine toward the climax of the movie, so I'll hold off on that for a bit.
With Tsukasa out of the way, and all the key Riders (apparently) defeated, Dai Shocker launches an attack on all the worlds (or at least some of them, given a bunch of Riders seem perfectly fine with leaving their individual homes for the big battle at the end). Natsumi and Kaito take this opportunity to try and recruit some of the Dark Riders. For some reason.
Here's the thing. This sequence doesn't need to be in the movie at all. And it's always nice to see Ouja and Kick Hopper and all those guys again. But like a lot of things in this movie, they just show up because it's SO COOL to see them, and then they vanish before they can advance the plot at all.
I find it ironic that a similar scene takes place around this time, and it happens to be one of my favorite moments in the entire movie. Major recording artist Gackt makes his cameo appearance as the newest iteration of the classic Riderman character, giving some encouraging words to Tsukasa about what it means to be a Kamen Rider. In this moment, his backstory harkens back to another era for this show, and his words speak to the very heart and soul of the Rider franchise. It's just a perfect moment. And it's made all the sweeter by the badass attitude Gackt displays as he points that crazy cybernetic arm toward the army of monsters about to attack him and gets ready to fire.
Which is why I find it so sad that this character only exists from the start of this scene to the end of it, and is never seen or mentioned in the entire rest of the movie. It would have been great to elude to the character beforehand, or even see him fight alongside Tsukasa, as Decade regains his confidence in his former self- the person he was before returning home. Aside from all the more overt fanservice, this is the type of scene that will get me to rewatch the movie.
And now we come to the big showdown, where Decade faces off against a horde of monsters from many different Rider shows throughout the franchise's history (though most of those suits obviously came from the more recent era of the show).
Watching the first three Kamen Riders fly through the dimensional wall on their cycles was easily one of the most vivid images of the movie for me. The fact that they're on their bikes suddenly seemed like such a big deal, because the fact is, we hardly see these Kamen Riders actually RIDING things anymore. Having the most classic of characters fly in, with all the lead Riders that came after them follow on foot, is still surreal.
Of course, the fact that these people are here still forces me to wonder about several things. We just had this big tournament that was apparently designed to get rid of the major Rider threats. The baddies even ask how they can still be "alive" and the only answer they get is that the Riders will "always be alive to fight evil" or something. Am I the only person who is not just totally cool with that explanation?
I mean, yes, I understand that there's probably a more concrete answer. That these particular Riders are from completely different worlds than the ones we saw in the rest of the movie, and TV series. That they may have some awareness of what's going on that goes beyond what Tsukasa & Friends seem to know. But if that's the case, then I'm again confused as to why they don't at least tell us that much by the time we get to the end of the movie. That these guys are "special" and they didn't just magically appear out of nowhere because justice demanded it, and that's all. Maybe if this was a cheap 15-minute special, I would be fine with that, but this film obviously was meant to provide a more substantive experience, so I'm baffled by this.
In any case, with all the Riders (whoever they are) gathered together, we're treated to a pretty nice action sequence, with more combinations of Riders and special attacks than I can even remember. Great to see little touches thrown in such as the wrist-flick of Kamen Rider Faiz and Kabuto's victory pose as he points to the heavens. Though I do wish that they had taken some audio clips from past episodes and inserted them into the fight mix, instead of relying on completely new voice actors to play the older Riders. I can't imagine that would have been too difficult.
As the battle rages, Tsukasa is finally able to get through to his little sister, and she releases Yusuke from her spell, so that he can get his ass kicked by ShadowMoon thirty seconds later, despite his new upgraded form. And this is where that problem with the climax comes in that I was referencing earlier.
It looks as though Rising Ultimate Kuuga and Decade are about to take on ShadowMoon, when suddenly a new Rider shows up.
I knew ahead of time that this was going to be the debut appearance of Kamen Rider Double, and that he was going to get an appropriately huge introduction. But damn... Since I've already seen sixteen episodes of Double by now, I know full well that this Rider isn't nearly as strong as they made him out to be in this movie. I mean, how does one Rider do THAT to Shadow-Fucking-Moon? After fighting him for probably less than two minutes? Shenanigans!
I think the payoff is that, once Double leaves, ShadowMoon is stuck inside the wall of the Dai Shocker base, and the other Riders proceed to perform a giant group Rider Kick to destroy the entire base. The effects work here is just beautiful, and it's probably my favorite action moment in the whole movie, for both the visuals and the simple fact that ALL RIDERS are doing their trademark finisher at once. Not something you see every day.
And because the first two climaxes weren't enough, the enormous King Dark emerges from the rubble, and Kamen Rider J gets at least one more chance to show off his painfully awkward ability to grow to Ultraman size. DiEnd randomly morphs Decade into a giant DecadeDriver, transforming J into a giant version of Decade Complete.
The only thing I truly love about this is the fact that every Rider leaps into the air and becomes the card symbols that Decade flies through during his Rider Kick. Just as in the defeat of ShadowMoon, it's an awesome visual coupled with an awesome combination of heroes.
Once every enemy has been destroyed, the Riders just... kind of walk away. Not that I was expecting them to explain themselves, but it would have been nice to at least hear them say something about where they came from, or why any of this happened the way it did, or at least let us know that there IS an explanation coming up in the future.
Still, there was one moment in this scene that I absolutely loved, and that's the moment when Kamen Rider Agito turns back and becomes the original character, Shoichi, as performed by the original actor. Agito remains one of my all-time favorite Rider shows, and seeing him again was the only thing in the whole movie that I knew nothing about beforehand. I almost cried. >_>;
In the end, Sayo goes off on her own adventure, finally unburdened by the bitterness she harbored after Tsukasa left her. A nice way to cap her story, though I still honestly question how everyone can forgive Tsukasa so easily after everything he did in this movie.
And then there's the fact that Natsumi's grandfather was apparently the evil Dr. Shinigami this whole time, and yet no one even bothers asking how any of that happened. They all just seem to assume that everything is fine now, and they're not the slightest bit curious about what made him do and say all those things. I realize that there are probably answers as to who/what this guy is, but I find it rather sloppy that we don't even show the characters' confusion over it. I mean, if my grandfather became a murderous madman for a week, I would want to ask him about that at some point.
And so, just like the Decade series, we have a number of questions answered, but a bunch more left open for some other story. And a whole slew of little nagging tidbits that will probably never get fleshed out as much as some of us would like them to be. But I guess that's just the way Decade is. If you can find a way to set aside all the strange curves in the plot, you'll find yourself with a ridiculous, yet fun story that uses the entire Kamen Rider franchise as its sandbox to play in.
The second Decade movie has already dropped, but even with all the complaints I've got, I still find myself hoping that Tsukasa's story will continue in some way beyond that point. He's one of the few characters whose story is so broad that it could take them literally anywhere, and I'd probably never get tired of it. Even if it infuriates the hell out of me!
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