Reviews

A disappointing send-off for Takeru Satoh in an otherwise merely OK Den-O movie

*pulled from my LB review*

Weakest Den-O movie so far perhaps, or at least not as good as the previous, feels very low energy for what was SUPPOSED TO BE Den-O’s last film. The story about letting the past die and moving on with the future is fine on paper, but the storytelling feels kind of emotionally removed - Ryotaro and Sora barely interact, the latter just kinda mentioning she died long ago, kinda saddened by Shiro attempting to reverse life and death for her sake (funny that Kobayashi pretty blatantly recycled the Ryuki villain’s name and motivation here lmao), while Ryotaro just hears out her super minimal story, barely tries to actively break through to her, little in the way of gravitas to anything.

Even the whole dilemma of Ryotaro being possessed by the villainous Imagin is undone just by willpower eventually and a not-so-suspenseful fatal injury to Momo which leads to a quick turnaround, just kinda whatever. The historical stuff is very tepid flavouring, plot details seem kind of lost, everything just boiled down to moving things along for indistinct structural beats. Even the focus on either lead character, Ryotaro or Kotaro gets kind of put off to the side, while the 2 characters themselves get little time to interact until mostly just at the end, a lot of it is just the Taros driving everything forward, quite a shame that Takeru Satoh as Ryotaro’s final major Den-O role is mostly eclipsed by the Taros, who have basically become the real Kamen Rider Den-O themselves (mainly Momo ofc). Ryo and Ko’s few moments to shine are nice I guess, and having each Taro form in that big lineup brawl was kinda nice, but this movie’s highlights are kind of fleeting.

A mild disappointment as Ryotaro’s farewell and a weak Den-O story, but it’s passable I suppose.

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A few nice complementary Zi-O details, but mostly whatever.

*pulled from my LB review*

Wonky structure with a both overlong and kind of truncated (or at least, kinda boring) initial objective, feels like a casual, extended Zi-O episode than a movie in the first part, and then the main conflict becomes apparent about 1/3 of the way through for a pretty fun and over the top excessive Heisei tribute.

That said, it feels especially jarring how incongruous that first third kinda feels with how slack it is and having Go being the only real legacy Rider we see outside of the suit in this one, it’s meant to explain how Sougo properly got the Drive watch when it is kinda glossed over in-series until the actual tribute comes after Sougo gets Grand Zi-O form and all, feels awkward trying to have that portion and only Go there really before he gets kinda overshadowed later on.

Some of the information about the evil alternate Sougo and such further validates Geiz and Tsukuyomi’s passivity with trying to kill Sougo and instead befriending him and all, meanwhile Woz makes a big betrayal before he starts to reassess and reflect on his values and all, as does Sougo with remembering why he desired to—and believed himself to be—a king, nice reaffirmation there.

The big Heisei Rider battle is what it’s all about though, and it’s a lot of fun, the style in this film is pretty enthralling even if it’s just a sort of maximalist spectacle compared to the precise ebb and flow of a Kamihoriuchi directed film.

Has some awkward parts that hold it back from pure unfiltered joy, but still a mostly another fun mass tribute and send off for Heisei.

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Yonemura delivers the best of Den-O again and ends it on a high note.

*pulled from my LB review*

Genuinely impressive that in spite of featuring one of my most hated Riders, this wound up being the best piece of Den-O side content.

I was a bit wary because Shoji Yonemura would be taking the writing credit over head Den-O writer Yasuko Kobayashi and apparently most of his credits outside of stuff that is originally his own is not good (most of the Movie War stuff I hear sucks). Then again, his few episodes of Den-O were ironically the funniest of the entire series, so I could've had some better expectations running off that precedent, but Daiki as the star of this one was still a big red flag. Meanwhile this winds up being one of the most energetic and THE most structurally sound of Den-O side content, with Daiki's enigmatic qualities, the cat and mouse dynamic with him and Reiji and all the twists and turns greatly propelling the narrative.

Daiki is a character who SOMETIMES, KIND OF does the right thing in a very antagonistic, roundabout, tsundere way, but a lot of times, it is usually a passive, complementary result of him selfishly going after what he wants, or just never dropping his tsundere, uncooperative schtick ever while being a bit well-intentioned, but it is typically that wall to him which never comes down which makes him so annoying. In this story, it does play up to Daiki's qualities bit by bit, suggesting he would literally kill himself to protect one of his treasures that he managed to steal but got damaged and would rather he not have the treasure at all by killing himself than to take it at less than perfect condition (or so he claims) and it still feels perfectly in-line with his ridiculous character, but also winds up being a perfect red herring to the story.

The major reveal while again circumstantially excusing his bullshit also thematically distills the major character motivations and inner conflicts of himself and Reiji with how things pan out and what those images represent, and leads to a genuinely touching shift in the story, it is done remarkably well.

Where Kobayashi's more "transparent storytelling efforts" (to phrase it somehow) in her Den-O films feel like they are motivated to get to a certain point of conventionally be driven by your usual heroes to some more black and white end point but results in a lethargic feeling of inevitability and indifference, here, Yonemura filters the story through an actively cryptic and suspect protagonist constantly clashing with a perhaps more morally earnest antagonist (even if their practices give grey areas) where the lead character's role is in part meant to deceive and annoy you, but ironically, it results in a big rug pull that is so much more narratively and emotionally coherent and powerful than Kobayashi's more direct efforts (even though Chapter Blue is confusing, it still feels like it is working towards a clear moral rather than feeling like a shitpost and then becoming a dramatic story as this does).

Genuinely solid, has me wondering if Den-O could've been better if it was Yonemura's story all along with how much potential this shows in spite of starring an irksome protag; strange way to end off the trilogy, but surprisingly good!

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Kobayashi ends her Den-O tenure on a pretty disappointing note.

*taken from my LB review*

Takes a good 43 minutes out of this 70ish minute film to justify itself, with such empty, indifferent plotting, but when the reveal happens, it's a pretty emotionally heavy one that starts to bring things into focus and elucidate the parallels between Ko & Teddy and Miku & her grandma.

It's a well-meaning sentiment of fighting to preserve those you cherish and not be complacent to some supposed rules/fate, though there's a lot of hanging details that don't make it as effective as it should be.

For Miku, her motives are rooted in the grief and regret of her future self where her grandma passes away and uses time travel to be able to find an excuse to enjoy the company of her grandma after not making time for her before, but it doesn't seem like the present Miku actually realizes her mistake and grows and instead it's future Miku who got to make the mistake and then go back and use her time again as a second chance while exploiting an Imagin's powers in the process to do so, feels like a morbid "have your cake (spend time with her bf) and eat it too (experiencing her birthday multiple times with different decisions)". It's not like real people have that luxury of being able to explore every option and just undo their regret, seems insincere that she's just able to *fix* it while present Miku was probably able to run off with her boyfriend too for her birthday (?)

For Ko, it's more complicated.
1): He's a character who we've only kind of learned about as a peripheral character across like, 3 movies, so he and Teddy still feel too vague to really get invested in as characters.
2): Kotaro seems to be the one taking Teddy for granted while just casually taking in all of Teddy's assistance like he's just some kind of butler for him, yet Ko takes less of the risk with regards to his contract with Teddy. Sure, he goes out to fight the villain Imagin since Ryotaro is incapacitated so he runs that risk, but the Imagin hardly seems that threatening, and maybe the other good Imagins there could've all pitched in to defeat the baddie (Sieg's inclusion here is pointless and is played off like a lame joke). Teddy meanwhile, runs the risk of permanently being erased by breaking his new contract with the Owner, so him going out of his way to assist Ko has more stakes than Ko trying to take Teddy back by force, even though Ko & Miku taking things for granted is the point.
3): The Owner's contract term just to teach Ko a lesson still feels so arbitrary, while Teddy's apparent revival might in fact only have happened because of his strong connection for Ko, but putting Teddy's existence maybe at risk for some corny lesson under the contract pretense of...helping him buy big spoons (?) is just so odd, this movie has some really bizarre stakes.

Kobayashi ends her Den-O run with one of its strangest, weaker efforts, but maybe just a notch above Onigashima Warship. Disappointing to see all this mostly whatever extra material for Den-O that don't feel especially necessary, even as a fan of the core series.

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Wasted potential for a Yuto epilogue, temper your expectations.

*copied from my LB review*

Yuto's somewhat convoluted but nonetheless tender and tragic story thread from Den-O was always one of its stronger qualities - of a young man from the past heading to the present to stop abnormalities and save his future with the woman he loves. The Den-O series proper ends with a melancholic yet somewhat open finale of Yuto moving on to await his potential future with Airi while leaving the present (iirc). It was a story ripe for a more conclusive affirmation of their love to blossom in a way, and so knowing of this coda series of Den-O films and hoping for a more focused, involved send off for Yuto, I was very much looking forward to this story.

Sadly, this doesn't totally deliver.

On paper, it starts off promising: Yuto contrives a way to be able to look like a hero in front of Airi and find an excuse to be able to encounter her again, but afterwards when they go to talk, Airi tells him that the Sakurai from the future that she fell in love with is now erased, as a fate which isn't set in stone, and that the (Yuto) Sakurai of Airi's affections was an altruistic, self-sacrificing person, who gave up his existence to protect her, but he exists now as a bygone memory (a fated future becoming a discarded past). She remarks to current Yuto that his fixation on Airi and their destiny is bound in that past fate, and now that it is no longer inevitable, and Airi's understanding of the future Yuto is now gone, she believes current Yuto can't live up to that standard, and that he should move on from her.

It suggests a major dialogue of star-crossed lovers being afforded other choices, open to a myriad of other, potentially better possibilities, and an emotionally investing story of Yuto wanting to still try and believe his love for Airi is true and that she will reciprocate him again, a sort of aching existential romance with a lot of potential.

Instead we get a few passing comments from Airi, followed by a bunch of drawn out, hollow silences with angsty gestures and maudlin soundtrack accompaniment, thinking the initial basis of romantic conflict alone with a lot of posturing looks of longing and sadness at nothing is enough to sustain it when a much more rigorous dialogue and focus on these 2 would be required to really make it work.

And thus, we get a lot of the usual Den-O antics, still focusing too much on Ryotaro and the Taros, and it seems especially weird that Airi probably at some point just passively accepted that the younger version of Ryotaro is just *a thing* now, and he and the Taros just get up to a bunch of directionless stuff about trying to find out why the DenLiner is acting up and stuck within one month bouncing around or whatever and some villain conspiring to kidnap Airi and everything. There's nothing wrong with having those guys there, they are more of the main characters after all, and the more typically Den-O plot shenanigans would necessitate their involvement more anyways, but they just take up way too much of the focus with their schtick and undermining the pathos inherent to the real story here. It was a bit of a strange juxtaposition of tones in the series, but that had the luxury of being a 49 episode TV series able to juggle a bunch of different beats and tonalities, here, it is really intrusive.

Yuto should be the main character of this film, but he feels cursory to Ryotaro and the gang, as he doesn't even directly defeat the villain of this film, they do. He just saves Airi from being kidnapped in some van and then goes to look at the stars and drives off with her while she tenderly puts her arms around Yuto as he drives and he puts his hand on hers, meant to count as a romantic resolution. Even Ura remarks that love requires more than just the heroic savior gesture to blossom, to which the film's idea of "more" to fulfill that is just those small things aforementioned.

And what of the villain of the film? Even just a proper antagonist for a potential love triangle to wedge between Airi and Yuto to drive the conflict, not even strictly malicious, maybe someone who is some charming lover that Yuto has to compete with? No, instead we get some homeless guy who just saw Airi pass by him once and then made a contract with an Imagin to be able to just whisk her off her feet by having the Imagin threaten to attack and kidnap her, meant to parallel Yuto's first act of course, but more dubious is all. While that parallel could further illustrate Yuto's own failings and how he has to change, again, the ending provides little of substance for a meaningful growth in him and a real, thorough dialogue with Airi, in its own way it contrives an ACTUAL new threat for Yuto to literally just swoop in and be the hero and that being almost the end of it, it is incredibly cheap and shallow.

Again, one of Den-O has some strange qualities which are offset by the fun, energetic vibes, eclectic cast and how it is able to juggle and flesh out so much because of its length as a TV series, and Den-O has never had good major villains really, but in more limited formats like individual films, they have to be more focused and emphasized, a good villain really enriches the drama to make stories more interesting after all, but here, Yuto's sad sidestory is now (meant to be) the core throughline which is expressly threatened by the central villain of the piece, but the villain is a pathetic nothing, so that just makes the drama here flounder more, it doesn't really work.

This gets by on Den-O's pre-existing charms like most good Rider series keep their supplementary material afloat in a similar vein, but this is a massive disappointment and continues to prove how frustratingly inessential extra Den-O content is more and more over time. Kobayashi has one more Den-O movie after this to maybe prove otherwise (plus the Yellow film not written by her) but so far everything Den-O related after Climax Deka has continued to be a letdown.

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Essential viewing for Decade & W watchers

*pulled from my LB review*

A solid extended episode for W mixed with a proper conclusion for Decade that actually hones in on the series' raison d'etre, quite good!

The W portion shows us how everything started with Shotaro's mentor, getting the W belt, meeting Phillip and all, Akiko learning of her father's passing and Shotaro's renewed resolve to grow and become a great detective for the city. Fills in some key details the series didn't address thankfully, wasn't totally substantial in itself, but still an important supplement for W.

The Decade conclusion meanwhile provides a proper outlet for Tsukasa's brazen behaviour, though it would've helped if he properly arrived at this personality if he had a proper arc in the actual series that warranted his general standoffish attitude as more of a gradual thing rather than constantly being an outright jackass.

Nonetheless, the direction and context subtly channels his angst with a nihilist bend for him in a kill or be killed scenario where his fate and very existence threatens everyone else's worlds and he just wants to find a world to belong but now must kill everyone else so he can save himself.

Despite killing other Riders, the overwhelming number of people against him, his precise, chaotic counter-offensives and general demeanour show his desperation to live and bemoaning the situation he's in. With his sacrifice to Natsumi as the atonement for his murder in self-defence, he closes this first age of Kamen Riders (in Decade) with him, but his death bringing the subsequent rebirth of them and all their worlds, and it is then that the characters try to do the same for Tsubasa through their memories of how he affected their lives.

Thus, we hone in on Tsukasa & Decade's purpose: his life had meaning to those around him, and Kamen Riders, or the very idea of heroism, is borne through the tragedy and inspiration values of others in cycles. Tsukasa came to other worlds to fix them, needed to die at the end because there was no more "purpose" to his involvement anymore, no villains out in the open to defeat and all, then the evils leaked out in the chaos, but the memories Tsukasa made along the way bridging the gaps and anomalies in peoples' lives together, existing in the threshold as an adhesive then called for again.

It speaks to Rider's longevity in a way that reminded me of an optimistic Quantum of Solace - that the world will always need heroes and these positive values pass from generation to generation; the series' point perhaps a bit of a silly meta gesture that takes away from its more specific, individual value, but through this movie it became a decent homage to the franchise at least, almost wish this movie could function without the series given how it does all the heavy lifting for it, but at least it gave weight to the very idea of the journey.

Good combo feature, filled in W's hanging details and made Decade not completely pointless, nice.

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Worst Den-O movie, messy and mostly unnecessary but passable.

*pulled from my LB review*

Whew, this movie is…a lot. Way too many characters, concepts, side threads, tonalities, just the whole works, I don’t know where to begin; such a mess, worst Den-O movie so far, but still fine in its own right I guess.

The story starts out with this slower, more earnest and serious story about a boy named Yu mulling about how he hates living in the country after moving to the city, the reasons for which are touched on passively and in few fleeting details instead of drawing on more of the affecting potential it could have. Yu starts out kind of annoying with his shallow complaints at first (which, would seem less so if they better foregrounded his backstory which makes his angst a lot more warranted) and kind of unhelpful for a bit, taking his time before coming around to helping the Den-Liner crew, but he does come around and the heroes start to assemble and roll forward a bit more.

Part of the problem though is that this movie never really settles into a clear defining motivation and progression enacted by some clear “main character” hero with real presence and/or a more urgent conflict to captivate you to it. Yu is just a civilian along for the ride, not-Ryotaro (more casting conflicts explained with further time shenanigans a la Hana & Kohana) doesn’t have Takeru Satoh’s charm or older age & “star power” look on top of playing a passive part in the story still, Kotaro is still kinda subservient to Ryotaro and the others, Tsukasa and the other Decade characters only have a few minutes to drop in and out, and the Taros feel like they are along for the ride. It feels like some weird, flimsy, overly bloated collective just kinda steering the plot into getting everywhere it needs to go.

And even the plot isn’t that interesting, it’s a lot of just drawn out setup simply to assemble the team before they stop the villains who are these lame demon brothers who wound up being separated by time and are trying to reunite so they can make some battleship and control all of time with some magatama object or some shit? Idk, they’re pretty worthless, and Den-O isn’t known for often having convincing villains, but it especially sucks when you’re looking for SOMETHING to stand out in the film and they feel just as lousy on top of everything else.

What else…the fight scenes all feel so slapped on and boring, made worse by using these goofy slapstick jazz tracks during scenes meant to be more suspenseful as the drama mounts, said drama is undermined by weird pivots into heavy comedy suddenly despite being fairly tame on its comedy beforehand (that fakeout switch plan was just really awkward in timing and all), the Decade stuff is almost totally arbitrary (the movie could’ve maybe used Tsukasa as a proper driving lead but he only makes a few brief interjections too, and while less of the paired series was a mercy with Kiva for Climax Deka, here, it is probably needed) but of course Daiki has to show up for all of like, virtually a minute total screen time and prove why he’s one of the worst Rider characters by throwing a wrench in things for no reason to draw out the final battle more, the subplot with Toki (tying in with Yu’s stuff) doesn’t feel as prominent as it should be and gets relegated to the background until the end really (but that storyline providing one of the few bright spots to the film ultimately), it’s just…too much.

If it weren’t for some of the stuff with Yu and Toki (the twist involving that as well is kinda cute and the film I think is able to hide it from being more obvious by bogging the rest of it down in so much other crap) I would rate this lower, definitely one of the weakest KR movies I’ve seen, but that part on paper is still well-meaning and tender enough that I can respect it. Hoping the more lasting impact, stripped back and focused Super Den-O trilogy movies can fare better, but this was a bit rough, only charming enough.

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Replaces Hibiki's 2nd upgrade episodes well, but still a merely okay story.

*copied from my LB review*

One of my KR hot takes is that Hibiki largely gets BETTER after the staff changes (though not without its faults). The character writing is more rigorous, they start to form more of an overarching plot, something larger with the Makamou and all, and it feels a lot more involved (plus I even kinda relate to the infamous, much derided Kyosuke Kiriya, though his resolution at the end of the series leaves something to be desired).

That said, one of the weakest parts of the back half of Hibiki was the two-parter that introduced Hibiki’s final form, it’s this story about some blowhard higher up Takeshi member who drops in and tests all the Oni to see who is capable of using the special sword, and when none of them are able to do it, and one of the supporting characters tell him that he modified the sword to a level that would be pretty much impossible to wield, he just arrogantly scoffs it off saying everyone is just unworthy and “not working hard enough”, so instead of him facing any repercussions to his ego, instead they just have it so Hibiki just trains hard enough to be able to use it while the guy’s ego remains pretty much unchanged, it’s pretty dumb.

This movie is meant as a bit of lore to the Oni and Makamou centuries ago, painting the Hibiki cast as descendants of these other Oni and villagers from the past, and it plays like a bit of a riff on Seven Samurai, gathering all the Oni to fend off some major Makamou and all while facing some wariness from the villagers thinking the Oni are cursed, bring destruction with them, etc, leading to a brief clash between the Oni about whether to protect the humans who are ungrateful to them or not in spite of their actions and all, but it doesn’t end up being anything major.

Then it leads into a few modest dramatic turns with one kinda decent twist, but the final battle cut away from to get to present Hibiki’s fight with a big Makamou, getting the Armored Hibiki form, etc and then cutting back to the resolution of the past story and all.

It’s serviceable which is an improvement on the egregious part of the TV series this serves as an alternate take on, so I’d take it over that, but the direction is more in line with the first half of Hibiki which I wasn’t as into, felt blasé and dull, especially since this more isolated story here isn’t meant to significantly add to the cast’s characterization and all, just a bit of lore and an inclusive dramatic story which just well, isn’t as dramatic and captivating as it could be, so I think it’s ultimately not as good as the TV series on the whole.

A good replacement to some of Hibiki’s worst episodes, with a callback to the first half’s style that fans of that portion of Hibiki are sure to love, but something I find a bit boring, just serviceable.

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Messy but interesting Blade AU

*pulled from my LB review*

Some of the editing choices give a nice storytelling economy, guiding more expositional and lax scenes along at some light-hearted, comedic rhythms, re-establishing the characters in this alternate route in a brisk and entertaining manner. That said, the editing for trying to fit the story in the short timeframe and all still has lots of subplots just breezed over, and some of its ideas brushed aside, just bit off way more than it could chew with the time allotted.

Kenzaki's feelings of missing purpose without fighting the Undead which he doesn't prepare to reconcile beyond the film credits after the temporary conflict OF the film will surely pass, Mutsuki's PTSD and confused inner feelings, Amane's pubescent angst at missing Hajime and the latter having no real time to directly communicate with her and all, showing up right towards the end and then being sealed shortly thereafter, Shiori's wedding, the villain's motivations, the rapidfire red herrings that have no staying power to affect, etc. All of this brought up and never given time to breathe or properly address, lots of potential in the story laid bare but no time to fulfill it, making a bit of a haphazard mess.

In spite of that however, I do respect the ambition, but this should've been at least a 2 hour movie, could've been quite good if it got ample time to flesh out, maybe some sort of Blade alternate timeline mini-series, because it does all seem intriguing, and the movie still managed to be some snappy fun at the end of the day, still not too bad.

If the Blade series generally dragged and recycled plot lines and drama, this film suffers the opposite of being too short & quick to satisfy the litany of character subplots it raises, though for Blade and general KR fans this may provide adequate surface level action pleasure.

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Recommended supplement for Ryuki

*pulled from my LB review, broad, qualitative spoilers*

TL;DR: Watch before Ryuki's last few episodes.

Miho's story makes the conflict with Asakura more urgent which was a nagging issue with the series, that a convicted murderer and psychopath was running around rampant and everyone was stewing around whether they should kill him or not since he's got the powers of a Rider behind him now or not to stoop to his level, break moral codes, yadda yadda. Of course, they are only at liberty to have her story in the first place because it's like a pseudo-alternate continuity, because Asakura would've been dealt with in series a lot sooner otherwise, and then the series wouldn't be nearly as long (or they'd have to find a way to draw out real, complex drama from more morally clean characters and find grey areas and hangups and such, *gasp* perish the thought!)

The questionable canon nature of this thing with Miho aside, this movie DOES reiterate and expand on Yui & Shiro's story a bit which is good, adds some details which would soften the blow and ease people into Ryuki's infamous ending even a little bit, so I think this should be required viewing while watching Ryuki, before the last few episodes this vaguely takes place in-between, though it would've been nice if this was incorporated into the TV run properly (also would've been nice if the series' ending didn't suck but alas).

The movie's own ending is a weird cliffhanger never resolved and meant to count as the loose ending to a different path of fate, so it's still not great on its own, but does reinforce the branching nature of the story and the TV series' ending decision with the other routes taken into account. Plus, as far as the endings to all the Ryuki timelines go, this is the least offensive oddly compared to the general futility of the 13 Riders special and Shinji's weird 180 at the very end of it, unable to even let a different route play to its conclusion as well as the TV series ending of course.

Ryuki is one of the hardest Rider series to recommend, though not necessarily one of the worst, ending aside, but if one felt so inclined to watch it, this is essential viewing before the final 5-odd episodes.

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A Warm and Sweet First Love

The FL is a new transfer student. Everyone thinks she is arrogant and cold because she refuses to interact with any of her classmates. This doesn’t stop the ML from trying to get to know her. The way our ML looks at the FL on the first day of school when he sees that they are in the same class (homeroom) just melts my cold cynical heart. I love the ML’s character in this movie. He is like a ray of of sunshine, cotton candy, and all that is bright and happy wrapped together. When his attempts to befriend the FL keep failing, their homeroom teacher finally pulls him aside and tells him that after a week, the FL will not remember anyone she has met. He’s devastated, of course, but his positive personality refuses to give up. So, he devises a plan so she will remember him: trading a journal with her. I like that the movie is pragmatic in that it was not a quick, miraculous recovery for the FL, but that it took time and many heartaches for the ML before we have our happy ending. I really did want to reach out into the screen to give the ML a big hug when his heart was breaking because she could not remember him or their time together.

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Connected was an emotional thriller from beginning to end. A remake of the US movie, Cellular, Connected put its own spin on the story.

Louis Koo plays an inept debt collector who doesn't spend enough time with his son due to his job. His sister and his son are taking a flight out of Hong Kong and Bob, yes Bob, HAS to be there to send the boy off so as not to disappoint his son one more time. Being a thriller, we already know his trip to the airport is going to have challenges. Barbie Hsu as Grace Wong, throws him the mother of all challenges. She has been kidnapped by unknown villains and managed to use her engineering skills to make a damaged phone work, at least work enough to make a random call. And her one phone call is to timid Bob racing to see his son. Bring in disgraced police officer Detective Fai, played by Nick Cheung and the band is set to find its way together.

Koo connected with his character and managed to show Bob's development from coward to reluctant hero. Cheung's performance sold an otherwise weakly drawn character. Sadly, Hsu had to make the most out of being a damsel in distress, she was brilliant and resourceful, but still in distress and desperate for Bob's help. Liu Ye was able to make the cartoonishly evil Big Bad entertaining. Motorola should have gotten a supporting role as much as the phones had loving closeups.

Connected started and ended strong, the middle had a couple of slow spots, but overall, the pacing and nerve-racking action stayed pretty consistent. As with a lot of movies of this nature there was a great deal of predictability unless it was your first thriller. It didn't take much to connect the dots, thankfully, the trip between each turning point, even when implausible, kept the story moving at least at 3G speed. And along the way Grace and Bob, who were unable to see each other as they talked, managed to connect emotionally as well, a difficult task when both were facing death over and over.

I found Connected to be entertaining with strong performances. My only complaint, other than a few unbelievable bits is that it ran too long. It's worth giving a try, you can always hang up on it if it's not your thing, I kept Grace and Bob on the line until their conversation was over.

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Tonight, I watched the manga based Jmovie Kingdom, starring Yamazaki Kento as Shin & Yoshizawa Ryo in the double part of Hyo and King Eisei. And it was so, so good! Especially the bromance and mainly the bromance between Shin & Hyo. And it made me bawl so hard. Like literally, tears streaming down my face, stuffed nose, all the jazz.

Because Hyo was amazing. Devoted and loyal and amazing. And his fate was the saddest part of this movie. That he managed to find his way to Shin even mortally wounded because he wanted to see him one last time, that he died in Shin's arms, promising to always be with him, wherever Shin went, that he used his last strength to send Shin - the person he trusted and loved the most - to King Eisei because he knew that Eisei would need someone he could trust and that Shin would be that person... Just thinking about it breaks my heart all anew, honestly!

And the fact that Shin never forgot Hyo? That he always reminded everyone that Hyo died protecting the king, that Hyo was a person whose life also mattered, that Hyo was amazing and kind and loyal... That whenever Shin felt his strength failing, he remembered Hyo. That even at the end, when they won the war, he remembered Hyo. Because not even their victory could bring Hyo back... Gosh!

Theirs was one of the best bromances I've seen. One of those relationships that are so beautiful and so tragic that even just remembering them makes you feel all wobbly.

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Good but where's part 2 :(

I gave it a 2 because it was too violent for me. I clicked the +10 seconds button a lot when it got too gory.
Also, I was bummed at the unfinished ending and wanted a part 2 immediately.
Sorry, I always make my ratings personal, lol.

Loved:
*loved the cast. the acting was perfection. Kim Da Mi is perfection
*loved the story's pacing; it was slow but never felt slow
*loved the dark filming aesthetic... randomly gave me BTS Mic Drop Aoki remix MV vibes? lol...
*loved her quiet relationship with her adopted parents and with the townspeople
*loved the subtle reveals at the end that actually did surprise me (when you find out what different characters actually knew)

Saddened:
*the story was too sad and violent
*so much blood... like, so so so much blood
*so much violence... cringe amount for me... i know, i know, it has a mature rating, i should have expected it... i only watched this movie because i saw a pretty fan edit on youtube, so it's my bad. but i'm being honest here, movies don't need to be that violent! let's just all chill out. let's stop making them so violent. plez.
*they killed Choi Woo Shik? I don't believe it. Don't kill his curly head. i don't think he's dead. i know he's probably dead, but i'm a sucker for redemptions. let's make him not dead and give all the character redemption arcs.
*the ending was cliffhanger? now i have to live on knowing she's still out there somewhere trying to find her peace? No! give her peace! give me peace! give all of them peace! it can be quiet and broken, but make it peaceful!
*ugh, this is what happens when i stray into the mature side of film making. sure, this was a masterpiece, but now i'm sad, so i gotta scurry back to the safety of my own favorite genres that have less violence and less heartbreak... until the second movie comes out. then i'll probably watch that one too, and skip all the violent scenes of that too, just so i can see if Goo Ja Yun gets a happy ending... what can I say, I just always like Kim Da Mi's characters and wish them well.

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Touching, complicated and sad

This movie is just so depressing, while being both beautiful and kind of dull made. The entertainment value here is not very high so if you are looking for fluff or entertainment go somewhere else. The story however is one that needs to be told and is very well made.

I really appreciated how they showed intimacy and sensual sexual scenes between two elderly men. Scenes I would say where very tastefully done showing how they care and lust for each other as well as the growth within their relationship. While at the same time reminding us that one of them is married with the many close ups to the ring on his finger as well as portrayals of his double life as a very caring husband. they do not let us forget for one second that these two men are having an affair, but they also make sure to show us what put them there.

These two men are portrayed as loving fathers and family men who put their families above themselves while hiding who they are, not only out of fear but also out of care. Something that does sound selfcontradictary but if you see this movie you will understand what I mean by that.

The movie combines all kinds of different interactions, the looks those who are out recieve, and extremely powerful dialog to show the complex reality many elderly gay med (but I would assume all parts of the spectrum) have had to deal with at one point or another... And unlike many other portrayals of LGBTQ+ issues this one leaves very little room for hope and rather leaves us in despair...

So yes this is worth watching, but just be sure you enter it on a day you can handle some pain... Also it does have some dull moments...

Bonus: this may or may not be considered a bit of a spoiler so be where:



I am in no way religious but I am going to state some dialog there that shot me like a an arrow straight in the gut... (this may not be the accurate wording but it went something along the line:

Do you know what my son told me to convert me?

I want to be able to find you when we are dead...

Once combined with some other dialog where the men mention how as young people they faced hate and had to hide by marrying women, later on in life they had to hide while raising a family... once the kids moved out they had to hide for even more reasons... As an elderly man shares how he used to get a long with his neighbors but ever since he was shown at pride they completely changed and he was forced to hide... Was just so well done, and did not feel the least like an educational movie while having a very high educational value.

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