MOVIE REVIEW: Bravestorm (2017)

In a cross-over remake movie that has to be seen to be believed, the 2017 movie Bravestorm came to me as a result of the YouTube algorithm. I wasn’t sure what I was going to see thanks to the title, but I didn’t think it would be the merging of several obscure tokusatsu series from a single production company in the 1970’s. More on that later, but right now Japan (and the world as a result) is under attack.

You can say THAT again: alien clone servitors under special scanners reveal only part of their anatomy.

Insectoid aliens called Killgis bring a fight against us we can’t win because they’ve poisoned our air using a giant robot called the “Black Baron”. Dr. Kasuga and his family survive the near-extinction of the human race (!!), so to stop this apocalypse he sends three of his children to find their grandfather Kenichiro Kurenai (Hisashi Yoshizawa, Sakurada Reset part I and II [2017], One Missed Call 2 [2005]) into the past using time travel:

• Koji (Shunsuke Daito, Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever [2018], The Violence Action [2022]), intense tough-guy and operator of the “Silver Mask” body armor
• Haruka (martial artist Chihiro Yamamoto, Ultraman GEED [2017, TV], Uzumasa Limelight [2014], Alice in Borderland [2020, Netflix]), who has immense psychic powers
• Kozo (Soran Tamoto, Kamen Rider Fourze [2011, TV], Wonderful Paradise [2020]), the tech expert responsible for maintaining the Silver Mask body armor

The goal for these three is to have the young version of Kenichiro build the Red Baron — a giant robot — to counter the Black Baron, and Koji believes he’s the best choice to pilot the Red Baron. But Kenichiro has other plans: he promised his younger brother Ken many years ago he would build a giant robot so he could beat up the bad guys, so the only way Kenichiro will help his descendants is if they allow his brother Ken to be the pilot.

Looking off into the sunset means they did the right thing: (L-R) Haruka the psychic girl, Kozo the smart one, lancer Koji aka “Silver Mask”, protagonist Ken aka pilot of the Red Baron, and Red Baron’s inventor Kenichiro.

By the time the movie starts (yes all that above is told in flashback), Ken Kurenai (Shu Watanabe, Attack on Titan part 1 [2015], Kamen Rider OOO [2011, TV]) is an aimless young man that likes to fight in underground street fights. His life changes one night when an alien robot assassin disguised as a feeble man takes him down in a fight and nearly kills him. Thanks to Koji and Kozo, he is rescued and brought to his brother Kenichiro (who Ken thought had run out on his wife and was now missing) to be recruited in the plot to save the world. Per Joseph Campbell monomyth, Ken rejects the call to adventure and has to be reminded of Kenichiro’s promise to him when he was a child. This still doesn’t help change his mind…yet somehow his ass ends up in the pilot seat evading the alien Killgis, its chimeric clone servitors, and the android assassin called Borg (stuntman-actor Yuki Matsuzaki, Letters from Iwo Jima [2006], Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles [2017, TV]). When the final battle commences in the glitzy Ginza district of Tokyo, they pull out all the stops to make the fight an amazing one: last-minute switch ups, super attacks, and copious amounts of digital damage to local landmarks. Directed by visual artist Junya Okabe (Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends — The Movie [2009], “Dark Soldier D” [1998, TV miniseries], and the opening cinematic for SoulCalibur II [2003, VG]), the film shows its roots as a showcase for CG effects.

Senkosha Productions tokusatsu properties include (L-R): Silver Mask, Red Baron, and Iron King.

If you don't know anything about the background on all the tokusatsu references, Bravestorm is a weirdly fun sci-fi movie whose title has no relation to the contents that pulls from 2013’s Pacific Rim and its love for giant robots fighting kaiju…and that should be enough. If you DO know anything about the Red Baron giant robot, the Silver Mask metal hero, or the hero called Iron King (more on him later) this movie is either a beautiful love letter from the film’s director to the 70’s Japanese TV production company Senkosha Productions…or a huge letdown. Your mileage may vary.

It’s a Rock’em-Sock’em Robots battle between Red Baron and Black Baron for the fate of the world! Now FIGHT!!!

CHOICE CUTS:

• This is a LOT of names that start with K in the main cast to keep up with. And they’re alliterative, too.
• The scene where Haruka (who at no point earlier had shown any martial capabilities) shreds alien clone servitors with a collapsible sword was God’s gift to us all.
• Sometimes the choreography (or lack thereof) in the fights between Koji and Borg took me out of the movie.
• I love the Engrish phrase “NO MATCH HUMAN”; it’s both true and perfect for the tone of the film.
• They actually do a “Get in the robot, Shinji” moment!
• There’s an ending scene that shows the movie is a THREE-WAY crossover with Iron King (another tokusatsu hero that shares a strong resemblance to Silver Mask). Putting the hero of the show Gentaro Shizuka (played by Yasufumi Terawaki, The 47 Ronin in Debt [2019]) AND the enemy Shiranui robots fighting Iron Mask in the background was a VERY nice touch for anyone who’s a big fan or tokusatsu history! It also means that the apocalyptic future the Kasuga kids came from still happens…and is most likely the result of a time paradox they caused.
• Flying off to the Moon for combat training in a giant robot. Doesn’t make sense, but it is cool.
• The incorporation of Kenichiro’s mind as an AI built into the Red Baron was a weird choice for a security measure.
• Silver Mask (aka Shirubā Kamen) (1971, TV) was a live-action tokusatsu series set in modern day against alien invaders, created by the late Akio Jissoji (Ultraman [1979], Tokyo: the Last Megalopolis [1988]). The hero in the TV series wore a helmet patterned after a European knight helmet with its visor raised, which is why Koji’s armor looks the way it does.
• Before Akio Jissoji died in 2006, he started work on reviving the Silver Mask property with the movie Silver Mask (aka Die Silbermaske): a tokusatsu movie set in 1920’s Japan against a serial-killer alien calling itself “Dr. Caligari”. I couldn’t make that up if I wanted to.
• Iron King was a 1972 tokusatsu series about a giant cyborg hero, which ties into the scene just before the end credits.
• Red Baron (1973, TV) was a live action tokusatsu series introducing the Red Baron robot. Several spinoffs (both live-action and anime) have been made, and the robot frequently shows up in the Super Robot Wars video game franchise.
• The last time all three properties — Silver Mask, Iron King, and Red Baron — were together, it was in a historical book called Senkosha Hero Complete Record about the production company responsible for their shows and the other shows during the company’s brief existence.