The 80's had a lot of great things. Even for Toku the 80's was a very great time, there were Kamen Rider Black and RX as they still live as fan favorites. For Sentai we had Denjiman going to Turboranger as the 80's were known for being the darker side of Toku. By that I mean the series had more series plot twists for example the Liveman series is a perfect example of that and Kamen Rider Black carried some dark tones. There was one more great thing about the 80's though and that was a whole new franchise! Gavan came in 1982 and made the Metal Hero franchise starting out with the Space Sheriff trilogy. It is 2012 and recently this great hero has been brought back for the 30th anniversary for the Metal Heroes. So the hero is crossed over into Sentai as we get Gokaiger vs Gavan. Gokaiger is mostly known for it's tributes to the Sentai franchise, but they step out and tribute a different franchise and a great actor. The plot is pretty simple with the pirates being attacked by Gavan. They are being arrested for acts of piracy even though they have already been cleared for that by S.P.D. The fight starts in the air and yes the movie begins with this. The team's ship is taken down and Gavan reveals himself. The team decide to fight and that was a big mistake, Gavan easily wins and captures the pirates. He brings them back to a meeting area where a leader appears to execute the team. Gavan catches up on this and quickly saves the team. He actually knew what was going on and used the Gokaigers as bait. For who exactly, a Zangyack chief, but he has some connection to Don Horror! The enemy also made an imitation of Gavan. Gai comes to the rescue for the team and escape as Gavan fights on his own. Marvelous notices something though and hesitates, but the team escapes and Gavan is captured. The crew start to talk about Gavan and it seems Marvelous has been saved by him back in the past. Marve wants to rescue him, but how? For some reason Basco appears and tells the team where Gavan is. He is in the Makku Prison which is known for never letting anyone escape. Now the team need to get there and luckily two veterans appear. Shirou (Battle Kenya) and Oume (Denjiblue) appear out of nowhere and the team think they both look along with looking like Gavan. The two tell the team to get into the Makku Prison which is using the keys of Battle Kenya and Denjiblue. Now the team get into the prison and fight to save Gavan.
Pros- If you love Gavan and Kenji Ohba, you will probably love this movie. There are great tributes in this movie. We get to see Gavan's transformation like in the old series and the Gokaigers even get a narrative for their transformation. I like the little connections like Makku Space and the monster being related to Don Horror, these are nice and are used probably so that Gavan doesn't hog the spotlight. Having Basco actually interacting with the plot was kinda surprising. Usually the other villains just stay out in the movies, but Basco still stays true to himself and uses this to his advantage. Gavan was awesome, first the suit got redesigned and it looks fantastic. It keeps to the original design and gives it more shine like the sliver suit does. Marvelous had a different side of him than usual, but he still acts like himself. The fights were great from Gavan beating down the pirates to them teaming up. Gavan's song is even used in the background and when I heard that, my heart skipped a beat. Another great fight is when Gavan and Gavan Bootleg fight one on one and trust me I was gleaming with happiness thanks to that fight. The mecha fight is great as welll with the addition of Gavan's Dolgarin. Not only there are tributes to Gavan as I said if you love Kenji Ohba you will love seeing all three of his roles come to live in this movies. There are Sentai tributes with Battle Fever, Denjiman, and some nice appearances from past villains.
Cons- Even with nice connections, the villains are just average. Bootleg is silent, but hey he is just a robot. Anyways the design on Bootleg was great like Gavan's. The movie follows a tradition with showing the next Sentai team and I'm sorry, but I'm tired of this. It's random and is just there to get people excited about the new series. Sure they actually make a plot connection as the Busters fight Basco. Still they are there for a fight and that isn't right. I said this before with the villains, but why didn't they interact some more. I know the Zangyack usually leaves things to their commanders, but when they see a new hero joining in I was at least expecting some back up from Insarn. The story is pretty plain, but this movie is for an anniversary and it does that correctly. One thing that disappoints me is that Battle Kenya and Denjiblue don't get a great fight with Gavan, at least they transformed together.
Overall- There are mostly little flaws and there is some lack of tribute to Kenji. The movie is still amazing though with great fights showing that Gavan is still awesome! Also I am hoping there will be more Super Sentai/ Metal Hero crossovers. It would be very interesting to see heroes like Blue SWAT and B-fighter helping a Sentai team. I give this movie an A- because it works greatly as an anniversary movie and it keeps focus on the Gokaigers as the main characters.
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