Gokaiger x Goseiger x Super Sentai: 199 Great Hero Battle (2011)

During the Legends War all of the Super Sentai teams from Go-Ranger up to the Goseigers are battling the evil Zangyack Empire. In a final desperate attempt to end the war, the Super Sentai teams unite all of their powers. This strategy works and the Zangyack Empire is forced off the planet Earth in defeat but it comes at a price as it means that all of the Super Sentai teams have lost their powers which are transformed into ranger keys and scattered all over space. In the present time, the space pirates the Gokaigers have been collecting the ranger keys and have amassed a treasure chest full of them. The now powerless Goseigers find out that the Gokaiger have their keys and decide to take them back as they don’t trust that the pirates have planet Earth’s best interest at heart. A furious fight occurs between the two teams. During this time the villainous Black Cross King who was defeated by the first Sentai team Go-Ranger years ago returns to team up with the Zangyak Empire to defeat the Super Sentai teams. The Goseigers and the Gokaigers decide that they must form an alliance to fight this threat.  Will they be able to overcome their differences and be able to beat their powerful enemy?

I haven’t been following any Super Sentai series for a long time as I prefer Kamen Rider so I thought it was high time I take a look at a movie featuring them so what better movie to watch than this one which promised a whopping 199 Super Sentai heroes together. This was a special movie to celebrate the 35th anniversary of all things Super Sentai. The majority of the movie focuses on the Gokaigers (the space pirates) and the Goseigers (the angels). I know from reading on forums that the Goseigers weren’t a favourite amongst fans when their series was airing in Japan (why I’m not too sure?). I am familiar with the Gokaigers having seen them in the Kamen Rider crossover movie and I like them a lot. There’s a bit of an edge to the Gokaigers led by the brash Captain Marvellous as I’ve always felt that they weren’t to be trusted being that they aren’t human and all they seek is treasure just like the pirates in the past. Having never seen the series I don’t know if they come across differently in that at all? The first half of the movie deals with the bad blood between the two Super Sentai teams. You can see the difference between the two teams immediately. The Gokaigers come across as being rather dynamic and have more of an attitude whilst the Goseigers are seen as well…………rather bland. Over time they realise that they have something in common with one another such as Luka (my favourite of the Gokaigers) and Moune of the Goseigers that it’s pointless for them to fight and that they should be friends. For a movie that advertises 199 heroes the classic Super Sentai teams aren’t featured that much – they only appear at the beginning and near the climax. A couple of characters such as Deka Pink turn up in a sub-plot but they don’t really have much impact in the main story and are in fact more involved with trying to help an unemployed man who’s mentally in a bad way.  This sub-plot is eventually sewn into the main story but I didn’t think it was done that well.  The guy along with a crowd of people are seen sending positive thoughts to the teams when they’re in trouble and this boosts them enough to beat Black Cross Colossus. Even though the classic characters screen time is limited it’s good for nostalgia value to see the old actors back in their iconic roles again.

The action in the movie is very good and it goes from one exciting set-piece to the next.  I had never heard about the Legends War before but apparently a glimpse of this was shown during the first episode of Gokaiger. The viewer is plunged into a big battle straight away and I thought this was a brilliant start to the movie to get the juices flowing .The pace of the movie is so quick that it’s unlikely anybody will get bored watching it. The fight choreography throughout is great.  I loved seeing all the mechas that have appeared throughout the years teaming up to defeat the Black Cross King who has transformed into Black Cross Colossus even though a lot of it is stock footage lifted from various series. Due to a bigger budget for this movie there are tons of special effects and pyrotechnics going off. The filmmakers have pulled out all the stops to create a worthy movie to celebrate an important milestone in the history of the franchise.

The only thing I disliked about this movie was when the 2 teams are confronted by the past Super Sentai teams when the Black Cross King steals their keys and activates them all. I find it a bit incredulous that 10 rangers can take out 189 heroes. It makes the classic teams look very weak being defeated the way they are. My take on the matter is that the Super Sentai suits were taken over by evil energy and didn’t contain any of the owners inside them. That’s the only reason I can think of why they were beaten so easily otherwise it makes a complete mockery out of them. It does look out of place seeing the two teams fighting their sempais.

This isn’t a movie for people that have no knowledge of Super Sentai as there’s too many nods to previous series – this is strictly for long-time fans. I certainly enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun and very entertaining. Recommended for Super Sentai fans.

Sadako’s Rating: 4 stars out of 5