Background explosions! Run!
For the first time, we meet the FS-0O Frog, a prototype Buster Machine but aside from that, Enter's plan this time around is to use the Tokyo Enetower to transport all the Enetron in the Tokyo area to Hyperspace! Can the Go-Busters stop him?
This is the first time a Super Sentai movie received a Director's Cut treatment since for most of the time, the movie only runs for at least 20-30 minutes and it is quite rare for a Super Sentai movie to last for an hour, unless if the movie is a Super Sentai Versus movie. To be honest, I was expecting that the Director's Cut version will run for at least an hour, but much to my surprise, its length is similar to the length of longer Super Sentai summer movies, the movie ran for a total of 35 minutes and 24 seconds. This made me wonder, why cut some minutes for the theatrical version? I mean, the Kamen Rider Fourze summer movie ran for like an hour and in the past, some double-billed Kamen Rider and Super Sentai movies ran for like an hour and 30 minutes.
Enough complaining because it is time to talk about the movie! To be honest, the movie for most of the time, felt like they want to promote the TV series with greater emphasis with the "protect the Enetower" stuff and them putting a lot of emphasis with their powers. But compared to your average Go-Busters TV episode, the fights in this movie are flashier than the usual. Aside from the flashier fights, I can't help but notice that the Buddyroids seemed to be more involved when it comes to helping our heroes rather than stay inside the base like they always do.
Even if that is the case, I can't help but notice that Nick is not using his machine guns! For crying out loud, he is the only Buddyroid equipped for fighting, why not use his guns into good use and let the other Buddyroids do the crowd control! This caused me to be bothered for a second, it feels like the writer of this movie intentionally has the Buddyroids be more active in this one compared to most of their TV appearances. It makes sense when the Steamroid appeared and rusted their bodies. And so, the plot of the movie finally starts kicking in.
To be honest, I find the plot a little forced. It feels like the intentionally left the Buddyroids just for them to get rusted so that we can have a plot about the bond of our heroes with these guys... and I was right. The next thing our heroes did is break into the horde of Bugglars, defeat Steamroid and finally, stop Enter's plot in transporting Enetron. Speaking of Enter, I just love that he still wore disguises, act fabulous and competent at the same time. Those are the things I missed about good old Enter before he becomes serious and decides to study humans more. I like him more when he is still in that mode.
As for Jin, aside from telling us what he can figure about Enter's plot, he leaves early in the movie and reappeared just in time for the mecha fight. But hey, at least he has more speaking lines compared to Gai in the Gokaiger summer movie! Also, Jin's disappearance makes sense because for starters, J was also infected by Steamroid's rust, in short, Jin can't transform. With only three heroes doing this all or nothing mission, they realized that all of their Buster Machines are unusable for a time being except for Enetan. Because of this, they have no other option to use the only functioning Buster Machine.
Enetan is one rude little robot. She likes to put a lot of emphasis that our heroes should be grateful to her because she saved their collective asses and that she is giving them a ride even though she doesn't want to get rusted by Steamroid's steam. In short, I like her. Our heroes arrived just in time to face a horde of Bugglars. This is when Ryuji, for the first time forced himself to overheat just to defeat the horde of Bugglars. Considering that they are completely outnumbered, it makes perfect sense to have Ryuji's overheat mode active while his teammates face Steamroid.... and more Bugglars.
To sum up what happened, Yoko faced the remaining Bugglars while as for Hiromu, he will face Steamroid. Hiromu's fight with Steamroid is amazing. For starters, I first find the fight too gimmicky that is until we learned that Hiromu planned something related to the said speed gimmick. It's something I didn't expect and is a sure flag for victory that is until the chicken showed up. Yep, one epic moment ruined by Hiromu panicking because of a chicken movie poster. Conveniently, the others are also at their limit! With that in mind, and Enetan not wanting to save them because of her fear of getting rusted, I guess this is the end for our heroes. That is until FS-0O showed up, and piloting it is no other than Nick!
Our heroes are saved and we have this scene showing us the bonds of our heroes with their partner Buddyroids. The scene is fine I guess, but it didn't moved me compared to the similar scene we have in the next Go-Busters movie (which I will review after the VS Gavan movie) because it feels like they are forcing this issue compared to how most part of the TV series executed it and how the VS Gokaiger movie did it. With Enter using his supply of Enetron into good use by transporting not 1, not 2, not 3 but 5 Megazords in battle, it is time for the climatic final battle.
As always the fights in the movie are fantastic and thankfully, they were able to defeat the Steamroid just in time for the mecha fight! One of the best things about Go-Busters is its mecha fights, now that Enter send 5 Megazords, including his personal unit the Epsilon, it simply means that we should expect a lot great things about this movie's mecha fights. And boy, I was not disappointed by it. The landing of the 4 Megazords is amazing, and I just love that the ground is actually shaking when they landed! What's more, the good use of CGI for most part of Go-Busters' mission to cancel the Enetron transmission is really great.
As for Epsilon, he is just that floating mecha that shoots lasers, that's about it. Aside from Epsilon's debut, this movie also marked the debut of Go-BusterKeroOh, a Megazord configuration involving CB-01, GT-02 and FS-0O. The combination looks fantastic, but that's not all, the one who designed it is no other than Jin! Well that makes sense why Enetan has that spunky personality. She is like the less egoistic version of J and seeing her interact with J is one fun scene to watch. Too bad, we barely see her in the TV series.
Go-BusterKeroOh's debut fight is fantastic. Though it doesn't make sense when it comes to terrain, I just love that water splashes every time Go-BusterKeroOh makes a step. Finally, how they stopped Enter's plan. The way they stopped Enter is kinda simple actually. They just cancel the transformation, Ace will face Epsilon while FS-0O will destroy the transmitter because hey, she is a frog, she can just leap Ace for momentum and destroy the transmitter and ultimately, save the day. And yes, she did it. As for the rest, they were able to defeat the Megazords that they are facing but there is still one problem, FS-0O weight destroyed the tip of the Enetower!
After a montage on how they can fix it, it is time for them to visit the Enetower, which feels like a blatant promotion of the real life site where the said place is based upon, the Tokyo Tower; though I don't mind it for a bit because this is one of those rare times that we see heroes in a day off without any monster attacks or Enetron leaks. Overall, the movie is fun but like I said, it feels like a blatant promotion of the TV series compared to the previous Super Sentai summer movies that I watched which feels like a proper extension of the TV series.
